Domestic medicine, or, A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines : containing observations on the comparative advantages of vaccine inoculation, with instructions for performing the operation, an essay, enabling puptured [sic] persons to manage themselves, with engravings of bandages, which every person may prepare for himself, and a family herbal / by William Buchan, M.D. of the Royal College of Physicians, Edingburgh ; to which are added, such useful discoveries ... as have transpired since the demise of the author.

  • Buchan, William, 1729-1805.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Domestic medicine, or, A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines : containing observations on the comparative advantages of vaccine inoculation, with instructions for performing the operation, an essay, enabling puptured [sic] persons to manage themselves, with engravings of bandages, which every person may prepare for himself, and a family herbal / by William Buchan, M.D. of the Royal College of Physicians, Edingburgh ; to which are added, such useful discoveries ... as have transpired since the demise of the author. 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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    bark\ wine, anil suituble iiiitrinicnt. In (en minutes an alleratioii has been perceived for tlie better in the pnlse, wiiicii became more composed and regular. The antisei)tic quality of the yeast, like that of cinchona, evidently tended to check the progress or putrid fer- mentation. An infant in the advanced stage of tliis disease is said to have been recovered in three days, by first vomiting it with the so- lution of tartarized antimony (see Appendix), which quickly acted as an emetic. After the operation was over, the intestines were cleai- ed by rhubarb, and then the child had, every two hours, yeast and water, with wine and cinchona. In Germany, yeast has lately been considered as a specific against putrid fever; they give six or eight spoonsful of it daily. If swellings of the glands appear, their suppuration is to be pro- moted by the application of poultices, ripening cataplasms, c\:c. And as soon as there is any appearance of matter in them, they ought to be laid open, and the poultices continued. I have known large ulcerous sores break out in various parts of tlie body, in the decline of this fever, of a livid gangrenous appear- ance, and a most putrid cadaverous smell. These gradually healed, and the patient recovered, by the plentiful use of Peruvian bark and wine, sharpened with the vitrolic acid. For preventing putrid fevers, we would recommend a strict regard to cleanliness; a dry situation; sufficient exercise in the open air; wholesome food, and a moderate use of generous liquors. Infection ought above all things to be avoided. No constitution is proof against it. I have known persons seized with a putrid fever, by only making a single visit to a patient in it; others have caught it by lodging ior one night in a town where it prevailed; aixl some by at- tending the funerals of such as died of it. When a putrid fever seizes any person in a ramily, me greatest at- tention is necessary to prevent the disease from spreading. The sick ought to be placed in a large apartment, as remote from the rest of the family as possible; he ought likewise to be kept extremely clean, and should have fresh air frequently let into his chamber ; whatever comes from him should be immediately removed, his linen should be frequently changed, and those in health ought to avoid all unnecess.a- ry communication with him. Any one who is apprehensive of having caught the infection, ought inmiediately to take a vomit, and to work it off by drinking plenti- fully of camomile tea. This may be repeated in a day or two, if the apprehensions still continue, or any unfavorable symptoms ap])ear- The persoji ought likewise to take an infusion of the bark and ca-- momile flowers for his ordinary drink; and before he goes to bed, he may drink an English pint of pretty strong negus, or a few glasses of generous wine. 1 have been frequently obliged to follow this course when malignant fevers prevailed, and have likewise recommended it to others with constant success. People generally fly to bleeding and purging as antidotes against mteclions ; but those are so far from securing them, that they often, by debilitating the body, increase the danger.