Copy 1, Volume 1

The study of medicine. Improved from the author's manuscripts, and by reference to the latest advances in physiology, pathology, and practice / [John Mason Good].

  • John Mason Good
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The study of medicine. Improved from the author's manuscripts, and by reference to the latest advances in physiology, pathology, and practice / [John Mason Good]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    128/784 page 74
    es 7A CL. I. ] C@LIACA. - [orD. 1. Ge. II. tion of the solids, it is ingeniously conceived, that the fact in Srec. ]. some measure explains its effect upon the salivary glands. How-- a P.hy- ever, as the kidneys and other excretory glands also furnish out- abi 4 lets for the old particles of the body, and yet are not affected by ; mercury in the same degree as the salivary glands, this theory cannot be retained.* The fact, however, remains the same, namely, that mercury, whether it possess a specific affinity or not for the excretories of the saliva, acts, from some cause or other, more readily and powerfully upon them than upon any other excretories whatever. Medical In attempting a cure of salivation from mercury, our attention is treatment. to be directed to the local state of the fauces and the general state of the system. ; Garglesand , If the throat be not much inflamed, acidulous gargles and acerb purgatives. fruits, as the sloe, may be employed with great advantage, and should be used freely; but if there be considerable irritation, we must at first content ourselves with emollient gargles of barley- water or quince-seeds}+: and in either case employ, at the same time, purgatives of Epsom or other neutral salts. When the system Opium and is much affected, sulphur and opium have been strongly recom- sulphur. mended, and seem in many cases to have been successful. The former is trusted to, chiefly from its being well known to diminish the activity of mercury out of the body ;—a doubtful reason, how- ever, for our employing it internally.t The latter is certainly of con- siderable use in allaying the general restlessness and irritation of the Cool dry system. The free exposure of the patient to a cool pure air was air. found by the late Mr. John Pearson to be one of the most decided means of checking profuse salivation. The diet should be of milk. It may also be added, that perhaps there is na disease, in which Sarsapa- the Lisbon diet-drink, or compound decoction of sarsaparilla, may rilla. be used with better effect. Taken in the quantity of a quart a day, it carries off the effects of the poison, and supports the system. Emetics. (Some cases of inordinate salivation, recorded by Dr. Haskins, tend to prove, that emetics have considerable power in relieving the disorder.$ ] Mercury Like most other poisons, mercury, when properly directed, may valuable as_ be rendered a most valuable medicine; and is at this moment, in amedicine. jt, multifarious forms, one of the most common, as well as one of the most efficacious, in the Materia Medica. In this place, however, we can only contemplate it as a source of disease. | BP. sensi- A certain degree of active ptyalism is also well known to be pro- awe duced by any high degree of mental or sensorial excitement; in outh- : which case, the discharge most commonly assumes a frothy ap- watering. * See Paris’s Pharmacologia, vol. i. p. 202., 6th edit. + As a gargle, Dr. Thomson recommends alcohol or brandy and water, or the chloro-sodaic solution of Labarraque in water, in the proportion of one part of the solution to four of water. Vol. cit. p. 375. + It is remarked by Professor A. T. Thomson, that the experience of those who have had the best opportunities of judging, has not satisfied them, that it possesses any efficacy in diminishing mercurial action. He adds, that if preparations of sulphur have at any time proved beneficial in checking salivation, the effect is to be referred to their acting either as sudorifics, or purgatives. Elem. of Materia Med. vol. i. p. 375. ; § Philadelphia Journal, No. 2. . a
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3