The pharmacological action and therapeutic uses of the nitrites and allied compounds : including the Croonian lectures for 1893 / by Daniel John Leech ; ed. by R.B. Wild.

  • Leech, Daniel John.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pharmacological action and therapeutic uses of the nitrites and allied compounds : including the Croonian lectures for 1893 / by Daniel John Leech ; ed. by R.B. Wild. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    another occasion, when the tension was at the lowest, he broke out into a profuse perspiration. After the smaller doses he felt no effects. The tracings (Figs 15—18) were taken from the pulse of Mr. Evans, one of our House Physicians at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, after the administration of 100 minims of spiritus setheris nitrosi. I may say that the clockwork of the instrument used has a quicker rate of speed than that employed in the case of V. C. Save for slight eructations of nitrous gas Mr. Evans says he felt no results from the dose he took. As a rule, indeed, the administration of 3j. to 3iss. of spirit of nitrous ether is not followed by any distinct alterations in the feelings indicative of the effect on the pulse which is in- variably produced. This absence of subjective symptoms, when the circulation is so evidently influenced, is worthy of note. Sometimes, however, a full dose of the spirit causes a slight feeling of faintness and depression. I have myself experienced this, and can call to mind instances in which patients have complained of similar effects. A medical friend of mine informs me that even moderate doses invariably influence him in this manner. The tracings show that an increased pulse-rate always accompanies the decreased tension, but I have not yet satisfied myself as to the exact relation between rate and tension at various periods. The frequency of the heart- beat appears not to be increased so markedly as by nitrite of amyl and nitro-glycerine; and indeed at times, especially when small doses are given, the accelerating effect is very small. I shall not here discuss the precise manner in which spirit of nitrous ether produces its effects on the circula- tion. Its action is evidently analogous to that of nitrite of amy], nitro-glycerine, and the other nitrites, and it probably influences the same tissues. D
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