The cyclopaedia of practical medicine: comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc (Volume 2).
- Date:
- 1849-59
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The cyclopaedia of practical medicine: comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![I'Ut injure the brain and nervous system : L'abus lies liqueurs alcohoiiques, les execs veneriens, ct la masturbation aggravent I'epilepsie et precipitent la porte de la raison. (Georget, 1. c.) The paroxysms of epilepsia cerebralis chiefly occur, to use an expression of Fothergill's, in the plenitude of health; and when this is the case, we ma}' pursue the plan about to be recom- mended with more confidence. In treating this form of epilepsy we apply the principle of revulsion, explaining that term, not as the driving back of the fluids from one part to determine them to another, but simply as expres- sive of the relief to be obtained for an organ in which a morbid process is going forward, by in- ducing a more vigorous state of the circulation in other organs, or by the establishment of a process of counter-action in a remote sympatliizing part. With this view we have to recommend, first, once a month the cupping-glasses and scarificator to be applied to the nucha, and a few ounces of blood to be by that means taken away ; secondly, dry- cupping to be practised between or over the scapula every third or fourth day, two cupping-glasses to be allowed to adhere for a quarter of an hour; thirdly, a caustic issue (which is less troublesome and painful in dressing than a seton) to be made in the back of the neck where the seton is usually inserted ; and, lastly, once in the week, a moxa, or a blister, not larger than a crown-piece, to be ai)plied to the back of the head, behind the upper part of the ear, where there is space for a succes- sion of four such blisters. If a blister be preferred to a moxa, let it be put on at noon, and it will be ready to be dressed before bed-time, by which means the patient's rest will not be broken, as it generally is, by a blister, however small, applied at bed-time. There is abundant evidence of epi- lepsy being moderated while a discharge has been maintained, from a sore either accidentally occur- ring or designedly produced, and being aggravated almost immediately after such discharge has been dried up. In epilepsia cerebralis we wish to promote a inore active circulation in the muscular tissue, and in the integuments, especially of the limbs, which is to be done by champooing and frictions, while the head is kept cool and the shower-bath taken daily. Our hope of cure in this form of epilepsy chiefly rests on persevering attention being paid to diet and regimen, and on topical means; yet although our confidence in the use of internal medicines is not so great in this as in the other species of the disease, they are not to be dis- pensed with, when the functions of the cuta- neous, gastro-hepatic, or nervous systems are dis- ojdered Antimonials are requisite when the skin is in- ictive, and we have known signal benefit afforded by antimony to those persons who, in advanced life, have laboured under the apoplectic epilepsy, as it has been called. The preparation of anti- moiy which we prefer is James's powder, the pulvis Jacobi veri, and the following is the method o( exhibiting it which we recommtnded a good inany years ago, and which has often been adopted since with advantage. (Dublin Hospital Reports, vol. I. p. 315.) The patient is to begin with a v-iry 'noderate dose of the powder, not more than two or three grains at bed-time, and to increase the dose by half a grain every night, till some sensible effect is produced on the skin, stomach, or bowels. Should the stomach at any time be affected with sickness, the dose may be lessened by a grain on the following night. By the addi- tion of a few grains of rhubarb, a larger quantity of James's powder may be administered than the stomach could otherwise bear. If the skin be affected, the dose should not further be increased, but it must be repeated every night for about three weeks; it may then be reduced as it was aug- mented by half a grain every night, the course occupying a period of at least six weeks. We have known eighteen or twenty grains taken every night for a considerable time without inconve- nience, and even when not productive of any sen- sible perspiration, it has often allayed the heat and restlessness which so often accompany irregular determinations of blood. In very cold weather we have directed the patient to make some addi- tion in point of clothing, but have not confined him to the house even when the snow was on the ground ; as we do not consider the system to be more susceptible of catarrhal or rheumatic affec- tions while under the influence of James's pow- der. To this course of medicine the tepid bath will prove a valuable addition. If there be any of those scaly affections of the skin to which epileptics are so liable, a draught as follows may be taken : R Radicis sarsaparillse concisje, ^i. Radicis glycyrrhizae concisae, ^ii. Aquse calcis, uncias x. Macera in vase clauso, subinde agitans, per horas duodecim, dein cola. Divide in haustus sex. Sumat unum ter quotidie. When the eruption is not attended with inflam- matory heat or itching, the aqua picis liquids may be given to the extent of from half a pint to a pint in the day, or as a substitute the piluliB pices. In indigestion with a loaded tongue, the nitro- muriatic acid may be deserving of a trial, two or three minims of the nitric acid, with four or five of the muriatic, in three ounces of distilled water, may be sucked up through a glass tube or a reed, at least three times a day. Where the breath is heavy, the following powder may be given. R Pulveris recentis carbonis ligni, gr. xv. Pulveris rhei, gr. ii. Pulveris ipecacuanhae, gr. i. M. F. Pulvis e cyatho vin. aquae cinnam. bis quoti- die sumendus. If the urine be scanty, with a red sediment, a drachm of Brandish's alkaline solution in water, or an a'kabne biUer draught, may be taken every forenoon and evening. We do not object to the occasional use of mercury, but we have never, in this form of epilepsy, willingly given that mineral so as to affect the mouth. If the bowels are con- bed tim'e '' '''''^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^e given at K Extracti aloes, G. galbani, sing. gr. ii. oaponis duri, gr. i. ]Vf. Or the following powder, which wa< tli^ r](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21116817_0090.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
