Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : February to December 1848 / edited by Alexander Fleming and W.T. Gairdner.

Date:
MDCCCXLVIII [1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : February to December 1848 / edited by Alexander Fleming and W.T. Gairdner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    accuracy. Tliat the qu.antity entering the blood is extremely small, we do not doubt. In fact, similar experiments were made some time ago by Heller, with the same results.—Ualf-Yearly Abstract, Vol. VI. from Jour, de PAarm. December 1846. [Ur Hebra informed us that the nitrate of silver has been administered to upwards of forty epileptics iii the General Hospital of Vienna. Large doses were given, and in many of the individuals, the use of the drug was continued for several months. The disease was in no case benefited, nor was the slightest tendency to coloration of the skin ever observed.] 41. —Di-Arsenite of Quinine.—This sub¬ stance has been found by Dr Kingdon very efficacious in the treatment of chronic skin diseases. A cure was obtained by its use in a case of lepra, in which the liq. potass® arsenitis had failed. Dr Kingdon believes that it will be found equally useful in ague, tic-douloureux, and neuralgia. The dose is one-third of a grain twice a-day. It is prepared thus:—He dissolves 64 grains of arsenious acid, and 32 grains of pearl-ashes, or sub-carbonate of potassa, in four ounces of distilled water, by boiling it for about half an hour, and then makes it up to four ounces with as much water as may be required, so that each drachm may contain two grains of arsenic. He adds five drachms of this solution to two scru¬ ples of di-sulphate of quinine, previously dissolved in boiling water; immediately a white curdy precipitate is formed, which is the di-arsenite of quinine.—Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, Aug. 1847. 42. Rhatany.—Between the Cordilleras and the Andes, at the height of 12,000 feet above the sea, there are vast tracts of uninhabited table-lands. These are called in the Quichua language, the Puna. The aspect is singularly monotonous and dreary. The expansive levels are scantily covered with grasses of a yellowish-brown hue, and are never enlivened by fresh-looking ver¬ dure. Here and there, at distant inter¬ vals, may be seen a few Quenua trees {Polylepis racemosa), and large patches of ground covered with the Ratanhia shrub, (Krameria triandria.) From the most remote times, the Ea- tanhia has been employed by the Indians as a medicine. It is one of tlicir favourite remedies against spitting of blood, and dysentery. Mostof the Eatanhia exported to Europe, is obtained in the southern provinces of Peru, particularly in Arica and Islay. The extract which is prepared in Peru, and which was formerly sent in large quantities to Europe, is scarcely an object of traffic. For several years past, no Ratanhia has been shipped from Callao, and but very little from Truxillo.—American Journal of Medical Sciences, July 1847, from I)r Tschudi’s Travels in Peru. The decoc¬ tion of the Rhatany root, administered in the form of injection, is very valuable in the treatment of internal hoeraorrhoids, as we have often had occasion to observe in the hospital practice of Professor Trous¬ seau, Paris. 43.—The Chenopodium olidum (Stink¬ ing Goose-foot), in Amennorrlma.—An extract of this plant is recommended by Mr Houlton, in the treatment of amen- norrhoea. He gives from five to ten grains in the form of pill, night and morning, for a fortnight previous to the expected re¬ turn of the catamenia.—Medical Times. 43.— Cutaneous Eruptions induced by various Medical substances—Opium.— The eruptions which- in certain individuals follow the use of the preparations of opium, are always of an exanthematous nature. In general they consist of red isolated patches, not unlike those of measles. This kind of eruption is rare. The Solanece.—The eruptions induced by the ingestion of the preparations of this tribe of plants are also of the order exan¬ themata, and are as uncommon as those which are the effect of opium. The patches are larger and irregular, resembling scar¬ latina. The Oleo-resins.—All the medicinal sub¬ stances of this class are liable to be fol¬ lowed by cutaneous eruptions, but none so frequently as turpentine and copaiba. The eruption very much resembles that pro¬ duced by opium and belladonna, being sometimes measly, at other times scarlati¬ nous in its appearance. It is a rare ex¬ ception to see either vesicles, pustules, or papules. Cod-liver oil.—This medicine sometimes gives rise to a form of eczema, which ap¬ pears generally about the fifth day from the commencement of its use ; it is, how¬ ever, rarely observed. Iodide of potassium.—The eruptions which follow the use of this medicine are far from uniform, sometimes being ecze¬ matous, at others pustular, as in acne. It sometimes happens that the skin escapes the action of the medicine, and that the mucous membranes are attacked instead ; in such cases we observe coryza and con-
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