A treatise on Asiatic cholera / edited and prepared by Edmund Charles Wendt, in association with Drs. John C. Peters, Ely McClellan, John B. Hamilton, and Geo. M. Sternberg.
- Edmund Charles Wendt
- Date:
- 1885
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on Asiatic cholera / edited and prepared by Edmund Charles Wendt, in association with Drs. John C. Peters, Ely McClellan, John B. Hamilton, and Geo. M. Sternberg. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.
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![tincture of chloroform, e.g. ]J. Chloroform, f3ij; sp. camph. et. tinct. opii, iia f3is.s: ol. cinnamon, ^tt. viij; alcohol, f3iij- M. et fiat tinctm'a. Dose, from five to tliirty minims, or more, as recpiired. The most aihuirahie effects have been witnessed from the administration of chloroform, as above combined, in malignant cholera. ( Eecently Dr. M. Desprez' has also advocated the employment, both externally and internally, of chloroform. He believes that by this means from 80 to 90 out of every 100 persons in the alg'id stage of cholera could be saved. He bases this extravagantly hopeful view on his own experience and on that of other physicians in Asia Minor, India and Cochin China. The following is his formula: Chloroform ..... 1 gram (15 minims) Alcohol 8 grams (2 drachms) Acetate of Ammonia ... 10 grams (2|- drachms) Syrup of hydrochlorate of morphia . 40 grams (1| ounce) Water ...... 110 gi-ams (3i ounces) Dose: A tablespoonful every half hour. Without sharing Desprez's sanguine views,we nevertheless have reason to believe that chloroform may often be used with advantage, especially for pur- poses of inhalation. But ether is objectionable, and nitrite of amyl either inhaled or injected beneath the skin has not realized the expectations that were formed concerning it. Another common symptom that may become so distressing as to require the inhalation of chloroform is singultus. But before having re- course to this means, the hypodermic use of morphine, an epigastric sinapism, a spice poultice or a blister should be tried to stop the hiccough. Where there is reason to believe that a limited amount of absorption still takes place in the alimentary canal, various stimulants may be administered in a tentative way, in order to secure the prevention of collapse. Alcoholic beverages, such as Burgundy, Tokay wine, port wine, brandy and water, or champagne, may then be given. In the same way, if indicated by the condition of the patient, various excitants such as the ammoniacal prepa- rations, camphor an(i musk may be employed. But, as previously pointed out, if collapse comes on in spite of their moderate exhibition, they should be at once discontinued. Even then an attempt to stimulate cardiac action by the hypodermic use of similar medicaments, including brandy and ether, may be made. But this too must not be persisted in. Obviously it is impossible to lay down fixed ]-ules for the guidance of the practitioner in this direction. But, as already stated, the general principles governing intelligent action are by no means as obscure as might be supposed from the confused and conflicting statements of many autliors. 'The writer may be permitted to say here that he strongly deprecates the blind tapping aljout among various supposed remedies, in the vain hope that a lucky accident may result in the discovery of a really curative agent. The physician should make every honest effort to stay the march of the disease by employing those means the action of which he is familiar with. But to use the living bodies of cholera patients as suitable material for blind pharmacological and other experimentation seems to the writer as irrational as it is inhuman; nevertheless perhaps in desperate cases ap- ' Du Traitement Rationnel de la Periode aigue du Cholera Asiatique. Paris, 1884.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20996421_0407.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
