A general state of the Whitehaven Dispensary, : for the year 1801.
- Whitehaven Dispensary (Whitehaven, England)
- Date:
- [1802]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A general state of the Whitehaven Dispensary, : for the year 1801. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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!['which had been preceded by an intenfe degree of heat, and long con-1 tinued drynefs. To the influence of thefecaufes may be added the abundant fupply j] of recent, particularly (lone fruit, and the neceflity which compelled I the lower clafs of people to employ unwholefome provifions ; efpecially j four, decayed bread. This difeafe, as conveyed to us, aflumed rather a ! chronic than acute form, and the treatment adopted by the celebrated ! Drs. Cullen and Zimmerman was befl qualified to remove its I caufe, mitigate its fymptoms, and prevent their recurrence. Hence .appeared the propriety of allaying irritation by mucilaginous and laxative articles. Preparations of barley, tappioca, and the maranta, ; or Indian arrowroot, w^re employed, in common diet, and cajlor oil, .tamerinds, cream of tartary or neutral falls > occafionaily and alternately 3 taken. The cure of the difeafe, fimilar to that of continued fever, particu- larly in the early periods of it, ffiould always commence with the exhibition of a gentle emetic ; which might afterwards be repeated, in iuch a fmall quantity as to determine its operation to the bowels; in order to obviate that flate of conftri&ion and fpafm, upon which the violence of the fymptoms depends. Opiates have been adminiflered with confiderable benefit; but their combination with emetics., in fmall dofes, and aromatics, was always mofl efficacious. AJlringents, in va- rious forms, were fornetimes neceflary, when the difeafe had been long protra&ed : the languid Hate of the fyflem then alfo required a courfe of tonics, with a nutritive an&.cordial diet. As no difeafe is more apt to recur, with violence, from any imprudent expofure to cold and moif- lure, or fatiguing exertion of the body, the greateft care and caution, relative to exercife, in the open air, were flrittly enjoined. The Epidemics of children which required the aids of this Charity, were the hooping cough, fcarlet fever, and fmall pox. To the two former, from the mildnefs of their fymptoms, excepting in one in fiance, there was rarely any neceffity for medical affiflance ; and the latter, from the number and confluence of its puflules generally became fatal. In the few cafes which required our attention, application was never made at the D ispens ar y till the advanced periods of the difeafe, when .a flate of malignant putrefcency prevailed : 9 patients were admitted ; of whom 3 died. Notwithflandiog the mortality of this contagion, during the iafl and prefent year, which very much exceeded that of any former period,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2204324x_0008.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
