On the speedy relief of pain and other nervous affections, by means of the hypodermic method / by Charles Hunter.

  • Hunter, Charles, 1834 or 1835-1878.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the speedy relief of pain and other nervous affections, by means of the hypodermic method / by Charles Hunter. 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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    tetanus was treated hypodermically; the patient had been admitted into St. George's Hospital with a gunshot wound. The injection in tliis case was morphia, which gave the patient sleep, but the spasms continued unaffected. I have treated a second case of traumatic tetanus, with morphia and wourali by injection, with benefit—giving sleep and diminishing the spasms, but the patient died from exhaustion, partly due to the length of time the friends allowed to elapse be- tween the periods of feeding him. Since that time, many cases of lockjaw have been treated hypodermically, and a few cured. The agents that have been injected in this disease, have chiefly been the woorali, atropia, nicotine, morphia, and aconitina; the operators, MM. Vella,* Briquet,-f- Courty,| Claude Bernard,§ rollin,|| Spencer 'Wells,][ Dr. Benoit de Giromagny,** Fournier de Souisson,-f-f &c., &c. In einlepsy, the effects of atropia injected seem superior to the stomachic effects, being more permanent in curing the fits, and in lengthening the duration of time between the fits in chronic cases. There seems, indeed, to be a kind of tolerance of atropine in epilepsy, as there is in chorea in children, and occa- sionally in tic doloreux of centric origin; one-eighth or one- tenth of a grain will perhaps produce symptoms far milder than 1-30 or 1-40 of a grain will in other and milder affections. In paralysis, strychnia seems in some cases more beneficial than when given by the mouth. Limited space prevents me from entering further upon this class of cases, interesting as the results are, of atropia in epilep- tic seizures, and of strychnia in painful and paralytic cases; these may form a subject for future consideration. I pass now to another important object with which the hypodermic treatment may be used—namely, to diminish vas- ctdar action and inflammation. When morphia and atropia are given by the mouth very little effect is perceptible upon the pulse. If they make the patient sick, the effect of depression, &c., is secondary ; but injected beneath the .skin, a primary, direct, and very different effect is produced upon the heart and arteries by these two agents : the one as quickly lowers as the other excites the pulse. Dr. Harrington Tuke felt the pulse of a patient with • Medical Times and Gazelte, April 16th, 1859. t Medical Times, Octobur 1, 1859. t Medical Times, October 22, 1859. § Bnllelin de Thpxnpoutiqnes, Nov. 30, 1859. II Archlvea Gmerulcs, Oct., 1864. ' T Medical Times, Dec. 3, 1859. Medical Times, Dec. 3, 1859. ft Archives Generules, vol. 59, p. 577.
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