Remarks on the nature and treatment of cholera; being the substance of a paper laid before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh. Addressed to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost of Edinburgh / [John Argyll Robertson].

  • Robertson, John Argyll, 1798 or 1799?-1855.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the nature and treatment of cholera; being the substance of a paper laid before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh. Addressed to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost of Edinburgh / [John Argyll Robertson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    distressing symptom of this disease; the drinks should never be cold, and always of a mild nature. The symptoms of feverish reaction in Cholera dif¬ fer but little, if at all, from those of ordinary fever, except perhaps in the greater rapidity with which they too often run to a fatal termination. Being perfectly aware that the opinions and prac¬ tice above recommended were totally at variance with the system at present pursued and recommended by the different Boards of Health, I thought it my duty to read to the Medico-Chirurgical Society a statement of these opinions at their meeting on Wednesday last, at which were present many distin¬ guished members of the profession and of the Board of Health. My object in doing so was, that if the doctrines I have laid down were incorrect, their fal¬ lacy might be exposed. Only two objections were made, the first, that on the principles I have adopt¬ ed, it would be impossible to explain the suppres¬ sion of urine which takes place in this disease. This objection is in fact a corroboration of the opinions, for it is universally found that a great accumulation of blood in one set of organs diminishes the quan¬ tity sent to others, and hence their secretions are sup¬ pressed. The second objection was the occurrence of perspiration during the stage of oppression, when little blood is circulating through the skin. This does not in fact take place till the previously constricted state of the capillary vessels of the skin has been fol¬ lowed by a corresponding degree of relaxation, al¬ though they still, owing to diminished action of the