The treatment of rheumatic fever with salicin and salicylate of soda / by Edward Headlam Greenhow.

  • Edward Headlam Greenhow
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of rheumatic fever with salicin and salicylate of soda / by Edward Headlam Greenhow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    render them necessar}^, and always as sparingly as possible. The swollen and painful joints were carefully wrapped up in cotton-wool; and where either pericarditis or endocarditis existed an ointment, consisting of equal parts of extract of bel¬ ladonna and ointment of iodide of potassium, was applied over the prsecordia, with a thick layer of cotton-wool over all. In most cases simple effervescing medicine was prescribed on the day of admission, and aperients and occasionally sedatives were given when required ; but, in order to leave full play for the action of the remedy under trial, the latter were employed as seldom as possible. Sometimes they were ordered on the first night after the patient’s admission, but were rarely repeated after the salicin or salicylate of soda was prescribed. In all the cases treated with salicin, and in many of those treated with salicylate of soda, the urine was examined the day after beginning the medicine, and found invariably to yield the characteristic reaction with solution of perchloride of iron. Many cases of rheumatic fever, especially in young sub¬ jects—presenting severe pains in the joints, a moderately high temperature, and even some degree of cardiac complication— improve rapidly after admission into hospital, and become almost convalescent in the course of three or four days, without any treatment beyond the free use of diluents, occasional sedatives and aperients, good nursing, rest in bed, and care¬ fully regulated diet and clothing. Being anxious to exclude a class of cases which might be a source of fallacy in es¬ timating the value of a new remedy, I laid down the rule that no patient should be put on the treatment with salicin or salicylate of soda until he had been from twenty-four to thirty-six hours in the wards, and only then if it seemed clear that the illness was running an acute course. Notwith¬ standing this rule a few jjatients, some of whom appear to have been suffering only from this mild and manageable form of rheumatism, were placed under the special treatment at an earlier period ; and considering it incumbent upon me to place the whole of my experience before the Society, I have deemed it right to include them in my report. The progress of each patient was carefully noted from day to day, and the temperature was taken at stated in¬ tervals, in many cases as often as every two, three, or four hours ; but I have not thought it necessary to quote all these observations, and shall only mention those which appear to bear upon the effects of the medicine.