Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:: 1908-1909

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$i'Hli STANDARD ITHSICIAX Cholera Morbus Cinchona '1 T ■> patient to abstain entirely from food for twelve hours. Tt is ad\’isable to administer a brisk cathartic at the very first signs of trouble, in order that the decomposing food which predisposes to the catarrhal conditions may be thoroughly evacuated from the intestinal tract.- Castor-oil is usually effective. As soon as fiee ev'acuations hav'e been secured, the ])hysician may administer medicines to again quiet the digestive canal. A moderate and carefully chosen diet should then be adhered to for a few dav’s more. CHOREA.—See St. Vitus’s Danxe. CHOROIDITIS.—See Eye, Diseases of. CIMICIFUGA. The loot of the black snakeroot, or Cimicifitga ycicemosci, a plant about six or seven feet in height, growing in damp, shady places. It is used most commonly for St. Vitus’s dance in children, acting very satisfactorily) especially when given with some preparation of iron and laxatives. Brain-ache is a sign to discontinue its use. Too large doses cause dizziness, with severe headache and general prostration. CINCHONA.—The bark of a number of trees growing naturally in the northern and western parts of South America. Several varieties of these trees are utilised, and are extensively cultivated in various parts of India, especially in the Himalaya Mountains and in Ceylon and Java. There are numerous preparations of cinchona used in medicine, all having the same action because of the presence of the active alkaloid quinine. Quinine sulphate, in which form the drug is generally used, is a white crystalline powder, having a very bitter taste. Its most important use is in the treatment of malaria, in which disease it has a direct curative effect. This is due to the fact that quinine, even in very dilute solutions, is poisonous to the germs which cause the disease by invading the patient’s blood-cells. It is best to precede the administration of quinine by a dose of calomel, and then, starting four hours before the expected chill, to give five grains of quinine evxry hour for four hours, so that a large amount has been taken before the chill would naturally occur. If the dose is large enough, there is no chill. This treatment is continued long enough to eradicate the germs from the blood, other drugs being required in the convalescent stages. In severe cases it is sometimes necessary to administer quinine by injections under the skin or by rectum. To prevent infection in a malarial district, about six grains a day should be taken. Quinine is used also to reduce fever in other conditions, but it is not as satisfactory as some other measures. In combination with,other drugs it is often given as a tonic. A large dose of quinine will cause ringing in the ears and some deafness. Certain people are very susceptible to its influence, and notice this disturbance after a small dose. People who live in malarial countries, and who are accustomed to take the drug, sometimes take enormous doses without any unpleasant effect. Very large doses are said to have caused temporary blindness or deafness, and various eruptions on the skin.$