A text-book of practical therapeutics : with especial reference to the application of remedial measures to disease and their employment upon a rational basis / by Hobart Amory Hare.

  • Hare, H. A. (Hobart Amory), 1862-1931.
Date:
1897
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A text-book of practical therapeutics : with especial reference to the application of remedial measures to disease and their employment upon a rational basis / by Hobart Amory Hare. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/782 (page 31)
    marked sedative properties in addition to their astringent power, and can therefore be used freely in acute inflammations when locally applied. They are nitrate of silver, subacetate or acetate of lead, and the subcarbonate or subnitrate of bismuth. Bitters are remedies designed to increase the activity of the mucous membrane of the gastro-intestinal canal by increasing its tone. They may be divided into simple bitters and complex bitters. The first depend upon their bitterness solely for their activity; the second class is well represented by quinine or strychnine, both of which are exceedingly bitter, but, in addition to their local effect on the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, act as stimulants to other por- tions of the oi'ganism. A good example of a simple bitter is columbo. Many bitters contain so much tannic acid that they are not generally useful, and for this reason very few can be used with preparations of iron, since a tannate of iron would be formed. Cardiac sedatives are drugs which decrease the force of the heart, and, as a class, the amount of blood expelled at each beat of the ven- tricles. They are indicated in arterial excitement, contraindicated in arterial depression. Cardiac stimula)its are drugs which increase the force of the heart, thereby increasing the quantity of blood expelled from the ventricles. This may be accomplished by an increase in the rapidity of the beats or by a greater output of blood at each contraction, the diastole being sufficiently prolonged to admit of the ventricles being well filled. They are contraindicated in the presence of arterial excitement, and indicated in arterial depression. Carminatives are remedies given for the purpose of expelling flatus, particularly if there is reason to believe that the wind has accu- mulated because of intestinal torpidity. Many of the carminatives are necessarily possessed of irritant properties, and are therefoi-e con- traindicated in the presence of flatulence due to intestinal atony aris- ing from inflammation. The best carminative is spiritus setheris com- positus, or Hoffmann's Anodyne. Cathartics.—These are drugs employed when a positive and decided action of the bowels is desired. They occupy a position between the purges and the di-astics. (See Purges and Drastics.) The best example of a cathartic is probably jalap. Cholagogues are used when it is desired to exert a stimulant influ- ence over the flow of bile, without necessarily increasing intestinal ])cristalsis. Nitro-hydi'ochloric acid is, perhaps, the best type of a pure cholagogue, while podophyllum rcpi'esents the class of chola- gogues which increase intestinal peristalsis in addition. Cholagogues nre contraindicated in the presence of acute inflammation of the Lmll- b I adder or liver. Coitnier-irritants are remedies used to produce irritation at a spot distant from a painful or inflamed area, in order to relieve the diseased parts^ by reliex action exerted through the nervous system upon the painful nerve or disordered capillary network. J)enndcenfs are substances used to protect any exposed parts of ttie body from irritation.