Collected papers on pharmacology and therapeutics.

  • Phillips, Charles D. F. (Charles Douglas Fergusson), 1830-1904.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Collected papers on pharmacology and therapeutics. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    be considered palliative, but it moderates some troublesome symptoms. I have used it in various doses in upwards of eight hundred cases, of which I have a record, and am satisfied that it does not cure advanced tuberculosis, although it appears in many cases to arrest its progress, at least for a time ; also to improve the condition of the throat and voice, and to relieve the dry, harassing cough, the pain after food, and even the wasting diarrhoea and night-sweats. It has also removed pleuritic stitches, and seemed to strengthen the general condition ; on the other hand, its use is not free from danger, and requires caution, since it may induce obstinate haemoptysis. These remarks apply also to the hypophosphites. It may be convenient in this place to discuss the modes of administration of phosphorus and the relative value of its salts and compounds, espe- cially as much valuable work has been published on the subject. In the first place, it may be well to note that although phosphorus occurs both in the yellow and red varieties, the latter is less volatile and less soluble than the former. Red phosphorus, owing to the difficulty of absorp- tion, is practically non-toxic when taken by the mouth. The two forms are, however, equally toxic when injected under the skin. It must also be remembered that phosphorus exists in forms which may be termed inorganic and or- ganic. Respecting the difference to their mode