A few remarks on the uses and mode of applying the new materials lately introduced by the Patent Epithem Company, as a substitute for poultices and fomentation cloths / [Alfred Markwick].

  • Markwick, Alfred, 1822?-1881
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A few remarks on the uses and mode of applying the new materials lately introduced by the Patent Epithem Company, as a substitute for poultices and fomentation cloths / [Alfred Markwick]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    second, renders it a bad conductor of heat; conse¬ quently, and the evaporation being at the same time pre¬ vented by the caoutchouc backing, it retains its warmth and moisture for a much longer time, and produces much more beneficial results than any poultice or fo¬ mentation can do. The aqueous vapour, which is thus effectually prevented from passing off by the india-rubber, keeps up the temperature of the Epithem, and greatly promotes for a considerable time, and without the necessity for frequent renewal its soothing and relaxing action. Indeed, so true is this case, that when \t has been allowed to remain even for twenty-four hours, it has been found, at the end of that time, perfectly warm and moist; and it is to this very important property of retaining the temperature of the fluid for so long a time, that l attribute the very beneficial and highly satisfactory results that have fol¬ lowed its employment in numerous cases. (See a Report by the author, in The Medical Times, for Sep¬ tember 19, 1846, of two cases, in which it w;as applied after poultices had failed, with very marked good effect.) Besides these advantages, its little bulk, its extreme lightness, and its perfect freedom from any unpleasant smell, render it of very extensive applica¬ tion. Thus it is well adapted for all parts, however uneven, and for all cases, where heat and moisture are required, of no matter how painful a character, as in the former it can be retained in its place with the greatest facility; while in the latter it causes not the slightest inconvenience to the patient. For the head and face, likewise, it constitutes a delightfully clean, soft, and soothing epithem ; and for the groins, where the ordinary poultice can be but imperfectly retained in consequence of its weight and pultaceous nature, is ex¬ tremely useful in enabling the working-man, whose maintenance, as well as that of his family depends upon his exertions, to go about his usual avocations with the swelling covered by a comfortable, light, convenient, and beneficial poultice. Another great advantage of this newly invented article is, that it can be had of various shapes, as