A lecture on the physiological and therapeutical uses of water : delivered to the students of the Ohio Medical College at the opening of the session of 1839-40 / by M.B. Wright.

  • Marmaduke Burr Wright
Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the physiological and therapeutical uses of water : delivered to the students of the Ohio Medical College at the opening of the session of 1839-40 / by M.B. Wright. 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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    until he has been removed from the bath—until you have made considerable effort at reduction, and until the system, under your manipulations, begins to react. I cannot stop to assign to you reasons for delaying the bleeding until this period, but I assure you that in dislocations of long standing, there is utility in an observance of the rule. Cold water wTas employed as a drink in fevers, as far back as the days of Hippocrates. Celsus, Galen, and other ancient and high authorities arc strong in their commendations respecting the use of this fluid. ]n health it is man's natural beverage, and in disease it is alike demanded. Of late years the profes- sion, (or at least many of its members.) have united in an unjust and cruel crusade against *he use of cold water in fever. And why this unmeasured prohibition? To me it seems to have grown out of the immoderate and indiscriminate use of Calomel. Reflection could never have had any thing to do with it. A Physician (so called) takes his plnce by the side of his patient— feels his pulse, and assumes to look wise, but being ignorant, or too indolent to make himself fully acquainted with the disease, and the true indications of cure, administers his large dose of Calomel, and forbids the use of cold water. The disease pio- gresscs—the remedy is repeated, and the same prohibition is ex- pressed. Thus docs the patient pass through a long and distress- ing fever—much longer and much more distressing than if a dif- ferent course had been pursued. In some cases of fever the most intolerable symptom is thirst, and the practice that would inter- dict the use of cold water to cool the parched tongue, mani- fests a stubbornness and want of reflection, that should not re- ceive countenance in this enlightened age of our profession. I do not advocate the use of ice or cold water in fever simply to allay thirst, but (o control morbid excitement. Such is their prominent effect, whether internally or externally used. Every man who has been prostrated by fever, and who has employed ice or cold water freely, can rccal the abatement of symptoms, and the delightful sensations which were experienced. No one can have a knowledge of these things, and not become an advo- cate for these remedies. And what Physician can refuse to prac- tice upon the suggestions which arc thus, in so many instances most prominently presented. Is there any inconsistency in the conjoined use of Calomel and cold water? is a question of some importance. I ask em- phatically, are the two remedies incompatible? To answer this question satisfactorily, it is only necessary to bear in recollection the sedative influence of cold, and the state of the system most favorable for the action of Calomel.
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