On some points in the pathology, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of pneumonia / by C.H.F. Routh.

  • Routh, C. H. F. (Charles Henry Felix), 1822-1909
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some points in the pathology, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of pneumonia / by C.H.F. Routh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    draw fallacious conclusions from statistics of mortality in pneumonia. I proceed now to analyse the results of the treatment by bloodletting. This is a system of cure adopted by many eminent physicians, but amongst these we must give the palm to M. Bouillaud. His method has been called the ‘^jugulating method”, par excellence; and, strange to say, his tables (a splendid specimen of what statistics may, in some hands, be made to prove) confirm the efl&cacy of the treatment. The following is a summary of his plan. He bleeds a patient to about one pound twice in the first twenty-four hours after seizure by pneumonia, in the inter- val applying cupping-glasses. The second day, he repeats the venesection to the same quantity. The third day, the pneumonia usually yields; if it does not, he repeats the bleeding. On the fifth day, he asserts, a cure is commonly observed; if it has not yielded, then further venesection should be carefully and very cautiously persisted in; but, even after this number of bleedings, it may be often prac- tised with advantage. I have here tabulated 21 cases given by Bouillaud, in which this practice was followed, which proves to what extent depletion can be carried by some practitioners. Bed. Bleedings. Cuppings. Leeches. Blisters. Duration. Males... . 1 . . 1 . . 1 57 1 24 dys. » 2 . . 2 . .. — 30 1 5 3 . . 1 . ,. — .. 30 — 11 4 . . 4 . ,. 2 34 ,. 1 11 9) 5 . . 4 , .. 2 ,. 52 — 14 5) 6 . . 6 . . 2 25 ,, ] 11 )> 7 . . 6 . . 1 .. 27 1 — JJ 8 . . 4 , ,. 4 ,, 55 ,. 1 12 }> 9 . . 4 . ,. 2 61 ,, 1 23 5> 10 . . 5 , ,. — 87 — — >> 11 . . 6 . ,. — 50 ,. 1 18 J) 12 . . 3 . .. 2 30 .. 1 8 }? 13 . . 1 . .. 2 6 ,, — 6 n 14 . . 5 . .. 2 50 ,. — 8 a 15 . . 4 , .. 6 20 .. 1 8 )> 16 . . 2 . .. 4 — ,. — 8 Females 4 . . 3 . .. 4 •• 47 •• 1 13 Mean ,. . 4 , .. 2 .. 40 11 on 17* 10 Or, on an average, upwards of 120 oz. of blood. In 21 cases so treated, only 3 died. But these cases
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