A popular treatise on health and the means of preserving it, or, The dyspeptic's pocket companion / by the late William Turnbull ; with extracts from other medical writers, and notes by the editor.

  • Turnbull, William, 1729?-1796.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A popular treatise on health and the means of preserving it, or, The dyspeptic's pocket companion / by the late William Turnbull ; with extracts from other medical writers, and notes by the editor. 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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    Of the Nasal Mucus. This discharge is intended properly to moisten the surface of the nostrils, and preserve them in that state which is necessary to make them convey the impres- sions they are intended to receive. An additional stimulus, therefore, such as snuff, to render this more abundant than it ought to be, can only produce irrita- tion, and the consequences which must arise from such a cause. The greater number of snuff-takers, therefore, do themselves much injury by this practice; and it is only in those cases where an artificial issue or drain from the head is wanted, that it ought to be indulged in. Hence, in moist habits, subject to defluxions in the eyes, or pains of the head, a moderate use of snuff will be of much advantage ; while in the irritable, weak, and con- sumptive, it will give rise, from its peculiar narcotic stimulus, applied to a situation so near to the brain, to alarming diseases. It has been considered in many cases as a cause of palsy, and used to be mentioned a3 such, in his lectures, by the late celebrated Dr. Cullen. But while deterring his readers from its use, the box lay generally before the Doctor, who jocularly remarked, in spite of the danger of this disease, he found himself compelled from habit to indulge the practice, which he generally reprobated at the same time in strong terms; a proof of the little influence of good advice on the mind, where danger does] not at the moment press upon us. Another bad effect of snuffing, is that of stopping the nostrils ; it impedes the respiration, and gives the lungs more to do. By passing also into the stomach, it is the