On neurotics / by John C. Peters.

  • John Charles Peters
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On neurotics / by John C. Peters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ally when the irritation and congestion lie in the corpus stria- tum ; for by arresting the generation of nerve force and irrita- tion in this part, we will, he thinks, be trying the best means of relieving the excitement and congestion. I have often given it with benefit in paralytic and apoplectic attacks, to^'aid possibly, in the absorption of the effused blood before it becomes coagu- lated ; but more especially to soothe the irritation produced by clots, even if paralysis be present. If there be much conges- tion or inflammatory irritation, I give aconite with the conium. I cannot leave the subject of conium without allusion to another allied remedy, which is much neglected in obstinate and chronic nervous affections, especially of the spasmodic and convulsive kind, viz., lead. This should be used more frequently than it is in rebellious and tedious epilepsies, especially those springing from reflex irrita- tion from the abdominal nerves. It is certainly a far safer and more generally applicable remedy than nitrate of silver, which is supposed to be an excellent medicine in some epilepsies aris- ing from gastric irritations ; and is more active and reliable than the oxides of zinc or iron. Lead has been styled the mineral opium, but it may much more justly be called the mineral conium. In the chronic constipation of flushed and plethoric persons, with large, relaxed, yet perhaps congested colons, lead may be used just as iron is in the costivenessof anaemic and feeble persons with distended, relaxed, and bloodless large bowels. Of course the palliative combination of a laxative like aloes or colocynth is always required at first, for temporary relief. Thorowgood (see Materia Medica, page 121) goes still further and says: In cases of obstinate obstruction of the bowels, due to spasm and invagination of the intestine, he has more than once employed the acetate of lead [in order to relax the spasm]. In one case the bowels had been obstinately confined for eight days, and neither opium nor injections thrown up with a long tube pro- duced any effect. Belladonna alone was useless, but on combin- ing it with acetate of lead, after five grains of the latter had been taken, copious relief from the bowels was obtained. Soon after he related this case before the Medical Society of London,