Outlines for a proper theory and cure of cholera / [John Wilkinson].

  • Wilkinson, John
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines for a proper theory and cure of cholera / [John Wilkinson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    What would be the result were the action of the lower part of the canal to continue long severe, without ex¬ tending to the stomach? Pup.—Inflammation and its con¬ sequences. Ev.—And what the result, should it extend to the stomach, or originally commence there ? Pup.— Purging, and vomiting, with sickness, and if long con¬ tinued, great pain, with spasm partial or general, pale¬ ness and coldness of skin, depression or extinction of the energies of the heart, and of the other vital powers. Ex.—And how does it happen that vomiting brings on these fatal symptoms so much more rapidly than diar¬ rhoea ? Pup.—Vomiting is not merely an encreased action, like diarrhoea, but it is a morbid, or diseased action. It is a principle in Physiology, if I am not mis¬ taken, undisputed and indisputable, that the other vi¬ tal powers, the lungs and the brain, depend for support on the energies of the heart; and reciprocally the heart and all the other organs depend for support on the en¬ ergies of the brain, and spinal marrow; it is, likewise, equally clear to me, that in sickness of stomach and vomit- ing, the heart always sympathises with the stomach, and that by this means its energies may be depressed even to total extinction : Now, with the knowledge of these facts before us, we can easily see whence all the rapidly fatal effects of cholera may proceed, without seeking them where they cannot be found, and that with violent vomiting and sickness, or even, perhaps, sickness of stom¬ ach alone, the energies of the heart sink, thepowers of the nervous system fail, and with it the whole man perishes. Ex. —Is there any evident nervous connection between the stomach, heart, and lungs? Pup.—Yes, very evi¬ dent. 'Thepars vaga of the eighth pair of nerves, by one continuous cord, unites, and gives nervous energy to the pharynx, the larynx, the lungs, the heart, the oesopha¬ gus, the stomach; and unites with the nerves that go to