On the use of chloroform as an internal remedy / by A.P. Merrill.

  • Merrill, A. P. (Ayres Phillips), 1793-1873.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of chloroform as an internal remedy / by A.P. Merrill. 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.

    5/12 (page 3)
    Case I. In the summer of 1852 I met a man on the street in^^^i;np)ijs, in search of a physician for his child, wlib, he said, was suffering jiyi^th a convulsion. I took him into my cab and drove with inm dbout a m'lle] where we found a little girl about three'years old in a violent 'tod' general convulsion, which some of the bystanders thought had contihUed with little abatement for three hours, but the parents of the child estimated the time at less than two hours. Her jaws were clinched, and there was foam- ing at the mouth. Believing the case quite desperate, I requested the at- tendant to seize and elevate the lips, into which I gradually poured a full teaspoonful of chloroform. It was some time iu reaching the throat, but as it did so the child swallowed several times, and I felt assured the whole had reached the stomach. In about five minutes the fingers and toes were rela.xed, and in a short time afterwards all the spasms ceased, the eyes were closed, and some of the attendants pronounced the child dead. The pulse, which had been until now wanting, slowly returned, and I sat by her for more than an hour watching the result; when the child opened her eyes and looking round the room with surprise at the number of persons pre- sent, called her mother and said, Give me some bread and butter. I prescribed calomel, and for several days small doses of quinia, and she recovered. Case II. The same season I observed a crowd of men and boys in the street, and upon inquiring the cause was told a man was dying of suu^ stroke. With some difficulty I made my way to him, and found a strong athletic labourer lying insensible, foaming at the mouth, with stertorous breathing, cold feet and hands, eyes open, pupils dilated, and slow, feeble pulse. Having caused him to be turned upon his back, and wiped away the froth from his mouth, I poured from a vial into his clinched teeth a teaspoonful or more of clear chloroform, which after some delay he swal- lowed. The relief afforded was soon perceptible, and in half an hour he was so far recovered as to bear removal to a hospital, where he remained for several days and was then discharged, cured. Case III. Mrs. S., u elderly lady, very fat and plethoric, sent for me to prescribe for her in a fit of cramp colic. She had been subject to such attacks for many years, but had always found relief in the use of .her own remedies without medical aid. This attack had been more severe and longer continued thau usual, and she had become alarmed. She was writhing with pain at the pit of the stomach, upon which she pressed violently with her hands. Her extremities were cold and purple pulse barely perceptible, and eyes blood.shot. She had taken largely of laudanum camplior, peppermint, and brandy, all which she believed had been vomited up. Smapisms and hot footbaths had also been tried, and several active enemata. I gave her a teaspoonful of chloroform, which giving only partial relief, was followed in half an hour by as much more. Iu a few luinutes after the latter dose, she complained of nothing but an inability to keep her eyes open, and expressed the fear that she might die of the effects of the chlorofonn in the impending sleep. But she soon sleot in spite of herself, and awoke at the end of five hours quite well. Three years after- wards she told me she had had no return of the disease. l.v?if.f ^^r ^1.' ^^^^ ^^''^ y^^''' represented to me that he was by trade a finisher, working mostly at a table, seated on a stool • that he was subject to epileptic fits, which generally' attacked hiin while af his