The modern practice of physic, exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas.

Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modern practice of physic, exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    70/696
    aerated waters, wine, cold affusion, and bark*. We may also admi- nister clysters of diluted vinegar +, or crystallized acid of lemons in mo- derate quantities, that they may remain in the rectum, and thereby b« likely to be absorbed. The exhibition of lixed air has been recommenned in this fever. The Rev. Edward Cartwright, having read of the power of fixed air in pre- serving meat from putrefying, was induced to make trial of it on a boy of fourteen years of age who had been ill several da^s of a putrid fever, for which bark and wine had been exhibited without any apparent ad- vantage, and where there was but little hope of a recovery, hie directed tw o table-spoonfuls of yeast to be taken every three hours, w hich having been complied with, the boy found almost immediate relief, and re- covered very quickly. ^lr. Cartwright reports, that he gave the same remedy to above fifty patients in this fever, w ithout losing one. With respect to the use of yeast internally in this fever, some prac- titioners have looked upon it rather as a doubtful remedy, although they readily subscribe to its good effects as an external application in fetid putrid ulcers. I have made trial of it, and,, as I conceive, with some advantage ; nor did it in a single instance excite any commotion or disorder, either in the stomach or bowels of my patients, as some have reported to have happened with them on making use of it. As the good effects of yeast seem to depend on the fixed air w hich it contains, it is probable that we might substitute water impregnated with the gas to great advantage, as we should thereby avoid the disagreeable con- sequences attributed to it. The mode in which I administered yeast w as by adding one or tw o table-spoonfuls of it to a quart of an infusion of malt or mild porter, of which the patient took a wine-glassful very fre- quently. Whatever may be the mode of action of yeast in typhus, the fact appears to be indisputable that fixed air takes off that extreme debility of the stomach so conspicuously marked in disorders of this nature ; and in proportion as that .‘subsides, the pulse rises, becomes slower and fuller, the burning heat on the skin disappears, and a truce is gained for the reception of nourishing supplies. * ft. Qort. Peruv. Crass. 3fs. Rad. Serp. Virg. Juj. Coquein Ac]. Fontan. ftsj. ad fofs. CoJat. adde Tinct. Cinnam. 3j. M. ft. Decoctum, cuius sumnt uncias duas secunda quaque bora cum Acid. Nitros. guttis x.—xv. Vel ft. Pulv. Cinchon. $fs—$j. Tinct. Ejusdem ^ij. Aq. Cinnam. Jjfs. Tinct. Opii gutt. viij. Acid. Mariat. gutt.viij.—xv. M. Pro haustu secunda vel tertia quaque bora sumendo. Vel ft. Dccoct. Cinchon. Jifs. Tinct. Ejusdem ^iij. Acid. Muriat. Oxygenat. gutt. xv.—xx. M. ft. Haustus quaque hora capi- endus. f ft. Infus. Cbamtemel. Flor. §r. Aceti Communis Jiij. M. Pro Enemate. Vel w\ ft. Decoct, pro Enemate Jvj. Aceti Communis Jijfs. M. ft. Enema.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3