A hitherto unobserved effect of the salicylates / by G. A. Gibson and R. W. Felkin.

Date:
[1889?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A hitherto unobserved effect of the salicylates / by G. A. Gibson and R. W. Felkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    although still somewhat small, reacted to light, and it was found at the evening visit that they had returned to their usual size. About mid-day on November 13 the temperature again began to rise; a dose of salicylate of sodium was given, and repeated two hours later. At the evening visit, about nine o’clock, the pupils were found to be once more contracted, and to have lost their normal reaction. The effect had disappeared before next morning. The patient made an excellent recovery. The myosis and loss of reaction to light appeared within eight hours of the commencement of the employment of the salicylate of sodium, and did not entirely pass away until thirty hours had elapsed from the time of its last administration. These facts may be seen at a glance on referring to the ac- companying chart, on which the temperature is shown by a continuous, and the pulse by a dotted, line. Our purpose in describing this pupillary phenomenon is to call attention to a result of the action of the salicylates upon the nervous system which might lead, in cases in which it appears, to an error in diagnosis. In the present instance we were somewhat inclined to conclude that we had to deal with a cerebral affection, and such an idiosyncrasy as the case dis- played may probably be seen again. The salicylates are in frequent use by patients acting on their own responsibility, and it is well to know that a contracted pupil, showing no reaction to ordinary stimuli, may be caused by them.
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