The treatment of spasmodic croup with opium / by Arthur V. Meigs.

  • Meigs, Arthur Vincent, 1850-1912.
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of spasmodic croup with opium / by Arthur V. Meigs. 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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    ME] GS, administration of an emetic, and for this purpose, if it be necessary to have a prompt result, nothing will be found better than a teaspoonful of powdered alum mixed with a teaspoonful of syrup of ipecac. If emesis does not occur in ten, or at the outside fifteen, minutes, the dose may be repeated; the second, however, will not often be necessary. This is much better, if it seems desirable that an immediate result be attained, than any other of the emetics—ipecac alone, sulphate of zinc, or any of the preparations containing antimony. The latter I have always looked upon as unnecessary or even dangerous on account of the severity of their effects, though I con- fess that my personal experience with them has been of the most limited description. I have heard older members of the profession say that in former days, Avhenitwasthe custom to administer Coxe’s hive syrup or antimonial wine in large doses, and to place chil- dren in a warm bath, they had frequently seen them die of the complaint, and anyone who has read the letters of Gui Patin, who lived in the reign of Louis XIV., and at a time when almost a crusade was be- ing preached by the physicians of France against the drug on account of the manner in which it was abused, will realize how much mischief it is capable of doing when injudiciously prescribed. For my own part, I am satisfied that any results to be had by its administration in croup can be obtained better, and much more safely, by other means. The effects of most emetics in children, it must always be remembered, are sooner over and less severe than in adults, and, therefore, their use is