First principles of medicine / By Archibald Billing.

  • Archibald Billing
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First principles of medicine / By Archibald Billing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    times place the most clear sighted practitioners in a dif- ficult dilemma. In many other instances of irritation, optum opens the bowels, it will do so in diabetes in which the increase of secretion of the kidneys is analogous to that in hys- teria, it will do so in colica pictonum, and other cases of colic from sedatives; on the other hand it is well known to stop the diarrhea of irritation from sedatives, so that as Celsus said of venesection, we may say of opium, that it relieves obstinate costiveness, as well as obstinate diarrhea, the solution being that venesection is efficacious in removing inflammatory irritation with over distended capillaries, with pyrexia; opium in re- lieving irritation with over contracted capillaries from sedatives or the state of local congestion which succeeds that if short of inflammation, or fever; but the mere empyrical assertion without explanation might lead to injurious employment of sedative treatment in colic, or stimulant in enteritis. Many cases of mental derangement are delirium sine febre, and would be aggravated by depletory, sedative, treatment, and the patient would either die, passing into the coma of inanition, or when the constitution began to give way, a change in the diathesis would take place, and a febrile relaxation of the capillaries of the brain change the entire character of the complaint, as we know persons have become sane (or as it has been quaintly denominated, had “a light’’) before death, others have recovered from derangement in consequence of a febrile attack, as we have seen that vice versa a febrile attack may terminate in imbecillity, thus the
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