Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain : to Charles William Quin, M.D. ... from William Patterson, M.D. ...

Date:
1794
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain : to Charles William Quin, M.D. ... from William Patterson, M.D. ... Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    the difeafe being a common fever, was contradi£led by the Do£lor, who accordingly permitted the ad- miniftfation of ‘James's Powder y the confequence of which was, as might be expeded, that the flupor very foon came on. t If Dr. Quin had felt even a faint conception of the prefent theory, would he in this cafe have pre- fcribed, early in the difeafe, a remarkably flrong vomit of Ipecacuanha and Antimonial Wine ? Blood indeed was twice drawn j but it does not feem to have been done from any novel indication. On the contrary it appears, that he held only a common opinion of the diforder, moft probably that of its being a bilious fever. For he fays, “ the ferum was apparently bilious, the craffainentura not in- flamed ‘y* and this idea is carried through the greater part of the hiftory. And, upon the fame principle, we may prefume, that the Blifter, which was applied between the fhoiilders, was deferred uit«; til an advanced period of the difeafe. Now, from thefe grounds, I would draw the fol- lowing inferences : That Dr. Macbride, who muft have been a reading man, in all likelihood acquired his opinion of the nature of hydrocephalus internus from the above work of Morgagni; that Dr. Wither- ing drew his ideas of the difeafe from the fame fource; and that your father, from whom you de- rive, if he did not read Morgagni, took the hint from Dr. Macbride, with whom he could not fail of having frequent converfation, they being cotem- porary
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