Report on the results of the different methods of treatment pursued in epidemic cholera in the provinces throughout England and Scotland in 1854 : being supplemental to the Metropolitan report, addressed to the President of the General Board of health by the Treatment Committee of the Medical Council / [John Ayrton Paris [and others]].

Date:: 1855

Credit: Report on the results of the different methods of treatment pursued in epidemic cholera in the provinces throughout England and Scotland in 1854 : being supplemental to the Metropolitan report, addressed to the President of the General Board of health by the Treatment Committee of the Medical Council / [John Ayrton Paris [and others]]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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whether the opium was given in large doses; in the latter case, the result would seem to correspond with the large proportion of cases of consecutive fever in the metropolitan hospitals, in which the use of opium, combined with chalk, appears to have been attended with like results. In the present stage of these statistical investigations, it is desirable to invite a careful comparison of the results here stated with those recorded at page 14 of the Metropolitan Report. In any future extension of the inquiry, the quantity of the opium to be given is a question to be investigated with especial care. Should accumulated evidence bear the same character as that now obtained, it may lead to a demon¬ stration that collapse may be superseded by the early use of opium, and it may then become a grave consideration how far it may be safe to induce the alternative of consecutive fever as the less unmanageable stage of the disease. Many weighty arguments are worthy of consideration whilst waiting for further evidence ; as, for instance, whether the degree of severity of the collapse may not influence, in a corresponding degree, the severity of the consecutive fever; but the duty of the Committee does not permit them to discuss this subject further, they merely throw out a hint of the nature of the service which these and further statistical materials may render to medical science. Simple and Choleraic Diarrhoea passing into Cholera, Of simple and choleraic diarrhoea passing into cholera, in the provincial districts throughout England and Scotland,— 866 cases are recorded, of which 448 occurred in England, 418 ,, Scotland. Of the 448 cases in England, it is wholly unknown whether 343 were treated or not in either stage. 23 were known not to have been treated. 82 were known to have been treated by medicine, and passed into cholera. In 6 cases diarrhoea is reported to have been C5 ab¬ sent.” Of the 418 cases in Scotland, it is wholly unknown whether 189 cases were treated or not. 74 were known to have received no medical aid. 155 were treated by medicine in both stages, and passed into cholera. In 4 cases, diarrhoea is reported to have been aabsent.”

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