A System of midwifery : including the diseases of pregnancy and the puerperal state / by William Leishman.
- William Leishman
- Date:
- 1875
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A System of midwifery : including the diseases of pregnancy and the puerperal state / by William Leishman. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![mending with any confidence, but it is proper that attention should be called to the sulphites and sulphurous acid, both of which have been strongly supported by some recent German writers; and it is well to remember that if the sulphites are freely employed, a purgative action, which we are desirous on other grounds of producing, will be induced. The cold water treatment, which has so undoubted an effect in reducing temperature, has received the support of Schroeder, but it is more than doubtful whether we would be justified in anticipating from this any more reliable effects than from the specific remedies hitherto suggested. Blisters to the abdomen have been thoroughly tried, but without any very satisfactory results. Among modem authorities, Dr. Churchill seems, however, to retain some belief in their efficacy, and says that, from the cases he lias seen, he is inclined to think blistering useful, and it affords an opportunity of applying mercurial ointment to a highly absorbent surface/' Iodine has also been suggested, but the external applications which find most favor are either warm poultices or turpentine fomentations. The asthenic character which has been so generally observed in the more recent epidemics has led many, whose experience has been con- fined to cases of this type, to discard all treatment in favor of a stimu- lant and tonic regimen from the first. Dr. John Clarke gave bark in powder and decoction, with opium and wine. M. Beau found great benefit in the use of quinine in doses of fifteen to thirty grains in the day. Certainly, the results of free stimulation have been such as t<> warrant us in persevering, while life lingers, in the use of this, which is perhaps the most valuable class of remedies at our command. It has lately been proved by Mr. Spencer Wells that, in ovariotomy, benefit is derive I by boldly tapping and withdrawing large quantities of turbid serum, in cases in which extreme effusion ha 1 come on in connection with other symptoms of septicaemia. It remains t<> be determined by the experience of the future, whether, by puncture from the vagina or in the abdominal walls, the withdrawal of similar effusions may. in puerperal fever, be attended with equally favorable results. The topical treatment of the most probable centres of septic infection must never be lost sight of. It is to he feared that the dread which attaches to this disease renders practitioners sometimes culpably timid in regard to the manipulation of the genital organs, and BO duties are left absolutely to the nurse, which ought at Least to have our careful supervision. If. in any case, foetor or any other abnormal symptom should arise in connection with the discharges, antiseptic injections are indicated : and, if necessary, carbolic dressings Bhould be applied to the lacerations, and even weak solutions of carbolic acid injected into the uterus. This, with the strictest attention to cleanliness, will go far to check o]- modify the progressof the di-ease. The question of prophylactic treatment, which naturally BUggestS itself here, is second in importance t«> no point relative to our subject. The rules of lying-in institutions are generally frame I with the \ie\s of prohibiting students who are engaged in the dissecting-room from the practice of midwifery, or, at least, point to the strictest precautions](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21016112_0733.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
