On the nature and treatment of the cattle plague / by R.H. Allnatt.

  • Allnatt, R. H. (Richard Hopkins)
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature and treatment of the cattle plague / by R.H. Allnatt. 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.

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    The indications of treatment, therefore, are simple and obvious, and point to the necessity of at once relieving the system by the introduction of those saline matters which wiU enter the mass of the circulating fluid. Chloride of Sodium ; or Common Salt, is the chief saline mgredient of the blood, and in the last stage of malignant disease its quantity is found to be greatly diminished. Hence, in all remedial measures the value of this agent in combination. Nitrate of Potassa: the Common Nitre of commerce. This neutral salt, which is a combination of mineral acid with an alkaline base, does not, as I have already remarked, undergo decomposition in the stomach, but passes through the circulation in its pure state. When this is given in diseases which blacken the blood (and the blood is always black in the last stages of typhus), a portion of the nitre will remain in the circulation and produce the same change both in the colour and properties of the blood, as it does when mixed with this fluid out of the circulation. This fact has been proved by the experiments of Dr. Stevens. Carbonate of Potassa has the effect, also, of reddening blackened blood. It, moreover, has the advantage of re- lieving the stomach which is often fretted and irritated by an acrid and decidedly acid secretion. Hence the neces- sity of administering this agent in combination with other neutral salts. Chlorate of Potassa. This salt passes also into the circulation, and exerts a manifest effect upon the diseased and blackened blood. It is not decomposed in the gastric organs, or changed in its properties by the vital ])rinciple. Sulphate of Magnesia: or, Epsom Salt, is a saline pur-
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