Chronic bronchitis : its forms and treatment / by J. Milner Fothergill.

  • Fothergill, J. Milner (John Milner), 1841-1888.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chronic bronchitis : its forms and treatment / by J. Milner Fothergill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Rokitanski, and my own labours, given in my Report to the British Medical Association for Experiments on the Antagonism of Agents affecting the Circulation (1875-6), and my Fothergil- lian Prize Essay on ' The Antagonism of Therapeutic Agents, and what it Teaches,' 1878 ; to which the reader, interested in the subject, can refer for further information. It was found that strychnia was a direct stimulant to the respiratory centre by Rokitanski. Acting upon this, I found strychnia to antago- nise successfully the lethal effects of aconite upon both the respiration and the circulation ; while digitalis did not inter- fere to any perceptible extent with its action upon the respiration, being a purely cardiac stimulant. Proceeding from this to its systematic use in embarrassed respiration, the clinical results were most satisfactory; so much so that I read a paper on ' The Utility of Strychnia as an Expectorant,' before the International Medical Congress last year, when my views were supported by Dr. T. Lauder Brunton, Dr. H. C. Wood, and others. I said, ' In acute bronchitis, when the act of expectoration is difficult, it is useful. In chronic bronchitis and emphysema it relieves the labouring respiration ; and when the right ventricle is dilated, adds to the efficacy of digitalis, most usefully' (extract from published abstract). The ordinary prescription for chronic bronchitis, especially with emphysema, in use with me at the Victoria Park Chest Hospital is : and a very serviceable mixture it is ; the patients rarely asking to have it changed, except when the action of the strychnia upon the bladder is intolerable. When there are also evi- dences of the right ventricle being overtaxed, ten drops of Amm. carb. Tinct. nucis vom. - Tinct. scillae - Inf. serpentariae - lT]_x. - Ter in die. 8