Transactions of the Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London / edited by W. H. Judd.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Transactions of the Royal Medico-Botanical Society of London / edited by W. H. Judd. 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.

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    ]68 and various topical remedies, such as saturnine applications and mercurials : success attended its internal administration. There is likewise a case of an old man whose body was most severely afflicted with a similar disease; there were fissures and deep ulcers upon the hands and feet, with daily desquamation of scales, which could be collected from the bed to which he was confined in handfuls: his sight and his hearing were likewise affected. By a use of this remedy internally, and also by its external application as a lotion, health was completely restored. Bauau has likewise employed it in various herpetic eruptions, in scabies, in tinea capitis, in old ill-conditioned ulcers, to can- cerous and scrofulous sores, and likewise in some of the exan- thematous diseases. Notwithstanding these testimonies in its favour, I am not aware of its having been employed to any extent by any other practitioner. I felt much disposed to learn its efficacy when an opportunity offered, for, from the views I entertain of the nature of most cutaneous affections, I felt persuaded that it possessed considerable power, and as some instances presented themselves where I could not employ sarsaparilla and mezereon, I was determined to give it a fair trial; and, from many successful cases, I am led strongly to recommend it in those states in which those plants would be administered, and it is not only equally successful in many in- stances, but in others its effects are more speedy and decided. It gently stimulates the kidneys into secretion; the quantity of urine is increased and also the quality; for on application of the Litmus test it will be found that more acid is secreted, and, after some continued length of time, there is a red deposit, which evinces that the bark has been successfully administered : very shortly after this production the diseased state of skin is very quickly exchanged for a more healthy appearance. To those Avho reflect upon the intimate connexion that exists between the skin and the renal excretion, there need be no other cause as- signed for this amendment. It has been the opinion of modern physiologists, that the term alteratives in the Materia Medica