A text-book of pharmacology and therapeutics, or, The action of drugs in health and disease / by Arthur R. Cushny.

  • Arthur Robertson Cushny
Date:
1899
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A text-book of pharmacology and therapeutics, or, The action of drugs in health and disease / by Arthur R. Cushny. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    92/752 (page 82)
    ment of local anaesthesia, with the object of rendering the surface more sensitive In many forms of skin disease, mild irritants are fomid to be of benefit • this is sometimes attributed to their antiseptic action, but the shght irritation is undoubtedly of some importance.^ Counter- irritants are used in a large number of diseases, often without any definite idea of what precise effects they will elicit, but merely because they have been found to give relief in similar conditions.^ As a general rule they are placed over the affected organ, and this corresponds fairly in most cases of disease of the trunk with Head's areas of skm tenderness In the head, however, the segmental arrangement has been rendered very irregular by the compression in development, and counter-irritants are often found to be most effective when placed at some distance from the seat of pain, e. g., behind the ear m some forms of facial neuralgia. They are used in acute inflammation of the lun^s and pleura, in gastric disorders accompamed by much pain m colic and in neuralgia and neuritis. Their action is very uncertain but their application is often followed by great relief, more especial y of pain They are also used occasionally in shock or collapse not_ tor their effect on any individual organ, but to elicit the reflex alterations in the circulation which have already been described. A blister is often recommended in internal hemorrhage, and may very pofsibly lessen the bleeding by altering the distribution of the blood m the organs, although it is difficult to estimate how far the improvement is due to the remedy, and how far it is spontaneous. In order to produce any marked effect on internal organs, the more powerful irritants must be used such as mustard or cantharides. It is not necessary, however, to produce actual vesication in the great majority of cases. Formerly blisters were opened and fresh irritants applied on the raw surface m order to prolong the effects, but this treatment was extremely pamtul, besides being liable to set up suppuration and ulceration, and it is very questionable whether any equivalent benefit followed. ^ ^ Counter-irritation must be applied only with the greatest caution m weak, badly nourished, or yevj old persons, as it may cause sloughing. In diabetes, the tendency to gangrene contraindicates blistering, and in very young children only mild irritants are used. Bibliography. Naumann. Vierteljahrsch. f. prakt. Heilkunde, Ixxvii., p. 1, and xciii., p. 133. Zulzer. Deutsche Klinik., 1865, p. 127. Edhrig. Ibid., 1873, p. 209. Edhrig and Zuntz.^ Pfiiiger's Arch., iv., p. 57. Paalzow Ibid., iv., p. 492. Wertheimer. Arch, de Phys., 1894, pp. 308 and 724. Heidenhain. Pfiiiger's Arch., m., p. 504 ; v., p. 77. Biegel. Ibid., iv., p. 350. ... Mantegazza. Schmidt's Jahrb.cxxxm., p. i5d. Jacobson. Virchow's Arch., Ixvii., p. 166. Head. Brain, xvi., p. 1 ; ^^vii., p. 339 Schuller. Berl. klin. Woch., 1874, p. 294. . Winterrdtz. Arch. f. exp. Path, und Pharm., xxxv., p. 77 ; xxxvi., p. 212. Boqer. Arch, de Pliys. [v.] v., p. 17. .Samuel. Virchow's Arch., cxxvii., p. 467. Hay. Saline Cathartics, pp. 128-144.