On the theory of inflammation : inaugural dissertation / by J.J. Drysdale.

  • Drysdale, John James, 1817-1892.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the theory of inflammation : inaugural dissertation / by J.J. Drysdale. 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.

    69/80 (page 61)
    i i 1 ( i 1 ) >i (t •. b -sible to the inliamed part. And, again, if coun- tter-irritants in reality belonged to the class of remedies which diminish action, such as deple- tives (with Avhich they are often, but incorrectly, •classed), they ought to be proper at the very com- mencement of inflammatory diseases; but we know ^that in many they are useless, or even injurious, till the excitement of the heart has been partly jsubdued. Let us now examine whether counter-irritants really do, under other cmcumstances, cause dimi- nution of action at distant parts, as they are sup- ] posed to do in inflammation. Blisters and other ' counter-irritants are never said, by their local sti- mulant effect, to diminish the action of the gene- Tal system, but are, on the contrary, avowedly . general stimulants, and as such recommended and found useful in typhoid fever. They are as cer- tainly stimulants to the parts in the neighbour- hood of which they are applied ; else for what reason would they be used in paralytic affections, along with electricity, galvanism, strychnia, &c. ? I Tliis is indeed generally acknowledged by authors on the Materia Medica, for we find in Duncan’s i Dispensatory (art. Cantharides), that one of tlie in- dications for the use of blisters is “ to increase the activity of a ])articailar organ.” Such being the