A universal formulary : containing the methods of preparing and administering officinal and other medicines the whole adapted to physicians and pharmaceutists / by R. Eglesfeld Griffith.

  • Robert Eglesfeld Griffith
Date:
[1854]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A universal formulary : containing the methods of preparing and administering officinal and other medicines the whole adapted to physicians and pharmaceutists / by R. Eglesfeld Griffith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    558/696 (page 552)
    should be tied round the tail of the leech when it is to be applied within the mouth, to prevent it from being swallowed—an accident which has occasionally happened, and has been productive of serious consequences. Leeches should never be forcibly detached, as their teeth are apt to separate, and, being left in the wound, to cause an erysipelatous inflammation of the part. They should be permitted to drop spontaneously, which being the result of a temporary suffocation (asphyxia^, all muscular energy ceases in the animal, and, the teeth shrinking, it drops off entire. A bread-and-water poultice, not too hot, should then be laid over the bites, to encourage the bleeding. The invalid should be kept warm in bed, when it is necessary to abstract a large quantity of blood. In general, the bites soon cease to bleed ] but, in some instances, a copious flow takes place; and therefore, to prevent exhaustion, the poultice should be frequently examined. This exhaustion is more likely to occur in children than in adults; and, for the same reason, leeches should not be applied upon children late in the evening, unless they are very urgently required. It is also proper, in young patients, to select for their application a part which admits of pressure; for example, the thorax and temples, where the bones are covered with a thin layer of soft parts. Sometimes the hemorrhage continues so as to become alarming; in such cases, where pressure is unavailing or cannot be practiced, creasote or some of the styptics applied to the bites will be found useful. Powdering the spot with rye flour has also proved effectual. When these means fail, cauterizing the bites by means of a fine point of nitrate of silver, or with a red-hot probe or knitting-needle generally proves successful. Scarifications are slight incisions made in a vascular part, in order to relieve the engorged capillaries; they are practiced in inflammations of the conjunctiva, and in those of the tonsils, with much benefit in many cases. The operation is very simple, consisting merely in dividing the surface of the inflamed parts to a slight depth with the point of a lancet or scalpel, and encouraging the bleeding by means of warm water.