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

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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$therapy of cholera conchides that the following measures will meet all pos&sible indications. Premonitory diarrhcea must be combated by opium and anti-spasmodics, as well as iodoform in the shape of pills, lie believes that the multiplication of the specific microbes may thus be held in check. In the algid stage of an attack, the inhalation of nitrite of amy!, in- jections of ether, practised coup sxr amp until a decided effect is obst-rved, are necessary. liydro-therapy and inlialations of oxygen are likewise to be recommended. If absorption appears to have come to a standstill, he urges the employment of copious intravenous injections, frequently re- peated. Finally he points out that the practitioner can only hope to treat his patients Avitn success, if he is able to visit them repeatedly and at short intervals, so that all the varying indications may be immediately acted upon. The presence of soda ni the mtestinal contents and its diminution in the blood are due, Tardani thinks, to endosmosis.' The indication is, therefore, to arrest this process, and this is to be accomj)lished Ijy the in- troduction of a small amount of sulphureted hydrogen together with an acid fluid into the intestine. The author injects into the bowel six or seven grains of sulphide of sodium dissolved in thirty times its weight of water, and follows this at once by another injection of two ounces of water acidulated with sulphuric acid. In a little pamphlet from the pen of Dr. Hanhart ^ a regime of thirst '^ is recommended as a prophylactic during the prevalence of epidemic cholera. The author means thereby a considerable reduction in the amount of fluitl ordinarily imbibed. Should an attack nevertheless occur, the patient must refrain altogether from taking liquids. Frictions always calm the restless- ness. Nitrogenous and carbonaceous food is alone admissible. xVccordingly the patient must eat tender meat, preferably prepared with vinegar or lemon-juice. Also oil, rum, brandy, and sugar. Chocolate also ansAvers the same ])urpose. In fact, whatever dries the body is useful. This author forgets to publish the results he has obtained with this extra- ordinary and unique plan of fighting cholera. It is quite obvious, how- ever, that his method of treatment has nothing in its favor. It is mentioned only in order to be condemned as utterly irrational. M. Bui-q, the tireless champion of tlie therapeutic efficacy of metallo- therapy, published a little brochure ^ shortly before his death, applying these princii)les to the treatment of cholera. In this he urged as a cei-fain means of prophylaxis the charging of the system with copper. Each person was advised to take, according to his age, from one to six pills containing each \ grain of binoxide of co]iper. Among the immediate followers of Burq the copper treatment Avas regarded with much favor. But the results were, as might have Ijcen foreseen, indifferent or unfavor- able. Further trials of this medicament are not called for. Dr. Iluguef maintains that all that is necessary is to remove the morbific agent of the disease from the economy as speedily as possible by the natural channels. To accomplish this end he stimulates all the excre- tory functions of the lungs, the skin, the kidneys, the intestines and the ' Sohition du Probleme du Cholera Morbus, per Gaetano Tardani, 3d edition, Paris, 1884. ■•' L;i kitt(! centre le Cliolera, par H. Hanhart. Paris, 1884 ^ Du Cuivre contrc le Cholera et la Fievre Tviilioi'de. Paris, 1884. ■• Extinction ilu Cholera. GuerisonenquelquesHeures. uar la Methode naturelle. Paris, 1884.$