Hysteria : the history of a disease / by Ilza Veith.

  • Ilza Veith
Date:
1970, ©1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hysteria : the history of a disease / by Ilza Veith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    not sufficiently exercise them. It is an agreeeable and a useful recreation, but I suspect its influence as a source of health acts more beneficially on the mind than on the body. I do not wish to undervalue exercise on horse- back ; I do only desire to meet the too general belief that horse exercise can supersede exercise on foot as a means to restore health. Although you cannot cure these maladies by local treat- ment, you can generally mitigate the severity of the pain by the application of opium and other sedatives, but I have the greatest reliance on opium as the most efficient. Do not fall into the error of supposing that a cooling lotion, vi^hich shall contain tincture of opium as a component part, can exercise any sedative property on the pain, but resort at once to the extract known under the name of extractum opii Jluidum. Spread the pure extract on lint, or dilute it slightly with water, and apply it to the breast ; give tonic medicines, especially in the form of bark and iron, such as eight or ten grains of the ferro-cltrate of quinine, or two drachms of tincture of bark, with a pill of two or three grains of sul- phate of iron, twice daily. Tonics are out of place In the after part of the day, and especially after dinner. If the pulse indicates weakness—and it is highly probable It will— give wine frequently, and in sufficient quantity to produce an Impression. It Is not the consumption of a single glass or more than will effect the end you have in view. You must meet the very marked tolerance of wine by an equally positive Increase In the quantity, and adminsterit not once, but twice or thrice in the day, so long as weakness of the pulse and the patient are indicated.