A manual of the practice of medicine / by George Hilaro Barlow.

  • George Hilaro Barlow
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of the practice of medicine / by George Hilaro Barlow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to the supply of blood for the purpose. These cases are cha- racterized by the white lips and white cheeks, with sometimes a sallow, greenish hue, the pearly conjunctivae, the dark areola round the eye. There are commonly dyspnoea and palpitation ; there is an anaemic murmur in the ascending aorta, plainest, according to Dr. Hughes, where that vessel overlies the pul- monic artery. There is general weakness and inability for exertion, and the legs and feet are commonly cedematous to- wards night; the nervous system is highly susceptible, and such patients are morbidly timid, and often hysterical. As an addi- tional cause of weakness, there is often leucorihcea. This form of amenorrhoea is most common in towns, and is no doubt much favoured by the want of pure air and sunshine. It must obviously be unreasonable to attempt to relieve such cases by any measures calculated directly to induce or restore the uterine functions, since their non-performance is often a conservative precaution on the part of nature, to save the power of the system. Iron, indeed, has the reputation of being emmenagogue; but it is because it is tonic, and promotes the formation of red corpuscles, and the strength and material being given, the function is performed. The iron may be exhibited in the form eitber of ammonio-citrate or ammonio-tartrate, or the compound iron mixture of the Pharmacopoeia. The two former are the least offensive, and are not so apt to induce head- ache. They may be given in solution, and as the bowels are generally costive, some aperient pill should be given every night or every alternate night. For the latter reason an excellent form is the combination of the iron mixture with the compound decoction of aloes. Where there is much leucorrhcea, the solu- tion of alum and zinc should be used as an injection per vaginam. In the cases of amenorrhoea without chlorosis, the cause of the non-performance of the function is probably dependent upon congestion. The subjects are generally, florid, stout, full- bosomed girls, who, nevertheless, have often a feeble circula- tion. Exercise, free purging, the application of a few leeches to the groins or inside the thighs, when the period comes round, are the best remedies. Many practitioners have faith in the madder and hellebore as emrnenagogues. Dysmenorrhcea is one of the most painful affections which we are called upon to treat. Most females for a few clays before the return of the period, and the appearance of the catamenia, suffer from slight febrile disturbance, with pain in the loins and weight in the iliac fosssa, and across the pubic region, showing thul, I here is an amount of periodical congestion for which the catamenia] discharge affords a periodical relief. In some, how- ever, this congestion appears to assume the form of inflamma-
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