On pepsine / by M. Boudault ; translated by W. Stevens Squire.

  • Boudault, P.C.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On pepsine / by M. Boudault ; translated by W. Stevens Squire. 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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    But with all the obvious advantages with which the reraedy recommended itself to the physician, there was the insurmount- able difficulty of obtaining it in a form fit for general use in- ternally. It was of course necessary to administer it at the same time with the food, and any nauseating substance then given does more harm than good, by taking away the already squeamish appetite. Dr. Latham, who practised in Paris some years ago, informed me that Laennec had a preparation of con- centrated gastric mucus, which he recommended with great enthusiasm. But the matter showed itself in quite a new light when an BoudaiUt's ingenious French pharmacien, M. Boudault, made the very •''^P*^^* elegant and agreeable preparation now so well known to the ])rofession as pondre nntrmentive. It is simply Pepsine from the sheep's stomach dried on starch, with Jactic acid added or not, according to circumstances. When, one day in the autumn of last year. Dr. Waller Lewis showed me some of this powder he had brought from Paris, I saw in a moment that it was what we had been so long wanting, and instantly ordered a kilogramme over for experiment. You have since that time seen me prescribe it to numerous patients in the wards, and I have also employed it frequently in private prac- tice, so that I think we are in a position now to form an idea of its value to the practical physician. The cases in which I have administered it with advantage Successful are—six of phthisis pulmonalis, one of cancer near the pv- lorus, two of gastric ulcer, one of hysterical vomiting, two of nausea, one of hysterical pain after eating, two of atonic pain after, eating, one of atonic gout, one of dilated stomach, one of gastric flatulence, three of low fever, and two of pneumonia. In these, all the benefit which physiological reasoning would lead us to expect from the remedy has followed. I have also injected it per anum, mixed with food, in a case Injection of ulcerated oesophagus, and in a case of manio-hysterical vo- miting and dysphagia. But in neither did it appear to delay death. Probably the ilia are the only part of the alimentary canal capable of absorbing chyme. B