An essay on fevers : to which is now added, A dissertation on the malignant-ulcerous sore-throat / by John Huxham, M. D. fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, and of the Royal Society at London.

John Huxham

Date:: [1785?]

Credit: An essay on fevers : to which is now added, A dissertation on the malignant-ulcerous sore-throat / by John Huxham, M. D. fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, and of the Royal Society at London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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$true pcrlpneumony, but the fore- throat, fcarlct eruption, fteneh of the brc:(th, and even petechlx, very foon coining on, too plainly convinced me what was in truth the difeaf^. I have very often met with this buify or fizy appearance of the blood in the beginning of malignant fevers, and yet blood, drawn two or three days after from the very fame perfons, Jiath been quite loofe, dillolved, and fanious, as it were. Too many in- ftances of this vdry lately occurred to fne amongft the French captives here, who died by dozens'of a contagious peftilential fever, very frequently at- tended with petechias and a bloody dy- sentery. In this fever (as well as all others] the French furgeons bled of courfe every day, or at leaft every 'Ciihtt day.- Arid I feveral times faw the blood of fome af the officers (thus treated) a mere fanious gore on the thiifd or fourth bleeding, though con- 'fiderably fizy at the firft. And yet fo prepofterous was their practice, that, at the fame time they were fo bufy with the lancet, they gorged tlieir pa- tients with the ftrongeft bouillon that •fceef, mutto-n,/ See. could make, and this too though they were in a con- ftant delirium, were covered with black or purple fpors, and had their tongues as black as ink, and as dry and rough as a pumice-ftone. I am very ccrtaii'igreat numbers fell a facri- iicc to this abfurdpraiftice. • This bufFv appearance of the blood, at the very beginning of contagious peftilential fevers, doth not invali- date what I have faid in my ElTay on Fevers, of the efFefl of contagious effluvia on the blood in fuch fevers, •but rather confirms it; tho' they tend to^dilTolve, and afluaily at length to deftroy, the Grafts of the blood, yet EerfoT^s of a very vifcid denfe ftate of lood, may be feized with a con- tagious malignant fever, and the blood may appear very fizy and buffy on bteeding, at the very attack, but i\or\vithftanding this, l!he aftion of the c&ntagious ferment (if I may be allowed the exprefllon) will more and more diflblve the blood, and at lad render it a me e fanious putrilage, and fo it will appear on uibfequent bleedings. And therefore where there is juft rcafon to fear a contagious malignity in a fever, we (hould pro- ceed .with the utmoft caution as to repeated bleeding, efpecially as ic will be cbnftanily found that the pulfe, as well as' the ftrength, fink vaftly after the fecond or third bleed- ing, and truly fometimes very fur- prifingly af?er the firft. But to retu'rn to my fubjefl, v. hen- eVer I was called to perfons feized with this malady, at the very be- ginning I generally, inftead of bleed- ing, ordered aclyfter of milk, fugar, and fait, to be injefled to unlo d the inteftines, efpecially if the patient was coftive. But when a purging attends the attack, a few grains of torrefied rhubarb, with fpecies e fcordio, de- coct, alb. &c. are proper; and if the diarrhoea is profufe, a fpoonful or two of decoft. fracaftorii Fu-lleri may be frequently given, which is, in fuch. eafes-, a very efficacious medicine.— If naufea and vomiting were urgent, I ordered a gentle emetic, efpecially for adults, which was fo far frt)m aggravating the pain of the throat, as might be imaginctl, that it generally greatly relie^'^ed it; nay, in children, it was often necefl'ary to make them puke frequently with a little oxymel. fcillit, eflence of antimony, or the like, otherwife the vaft amafs of tenacious mucus would quite choak them. I then immediately put the patient on a faline mixture of fait of worm- wood, or volatile'fait of hartshorn, and juice of lemon, \vith aq. alexeter, fimpl. to which was addedpulv. con- trayerv^ c. with a fmall quantity of myrrh and faffron ; or thcfe laft were given irt a bolus, with a few grains of nitre if the fever ran pretty high ; the addition alfo of a grain or two oS camphor, was very ufefnl for the adult, where the ftomadi would bca?$