On the frequent spontaneous cure of pulmonary consumption, and the indications furnished by pathology for its rational treatment / by John Hughes Bennett.

  • Bennett, John Hughes, 1812-1875.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the frequent spontaneous cure of pulmonary consumption, and the indications furnished by pathology for its rational treatment / by John Hughes Bennett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    The indications for treatment, tlierefore, are Ist, to overcome tlie dyspepsia and acidity in the alimentary canal; 2d, to furnisli the material necessary for the formation of a healthy chyme ; and 3c?, to combat the local inflammation. The principal difficulty in the treatment will be found to consist in removing, at the same time, general imperfect nutrition and debility, together with a local inflammation and the irritability dependent on it.* The dyspeptic symptoms frequently continue throughout the disease, they often become uncontrollable, and the extreme irritability of the mucous membranes is evinced by vomit- ing, diarrhoea, bronchorrhoea, and laryngitis. These symptoms with the dyspepsia are frequently to be alle- viated by naphtha, when all ordinary means have failed. The boasted good effects of this remedy are I think attributable to its great power of allaying the irritability of the stomach, and thus enabling the patient to take nourishment.-j* The imperfect nutrition will be best overcome by an easily di- gestible and nutritious diet; milk ; substances abounding in olea- ginous rather than albuminous principles, and an equable warm climate, whereby, in conjunction with the diet, the excess of oxy- gen in the system may be diminished. In following this second indication, I can now, after four years* employment of ii in private as well as in dispensary and hospital practice, strongly recommend cod-liver oil g,s a most valuable remedy.;]: The local inflammation must be combated by topical blood-let- ting in the first stages, as leeches and cupping. (Dr Graves as strongly recommended mercury, to cause absorption of the exuda- tion.) In the latter stages, by counter-irritation, especially stimu- lating embrocations, tartar-emetic ointment, blisters, and the moxa. It were easy to dilate upon the mode of employing these diflPer- * This point has been ably treated by Dr Evans of Dublin Lectures on Pulmo- nary Phtliisis. I have now given naphthi, first recommended by Dr J. Hastings, to several phthisical cases with great benefit. In three cases at present in my female ward in the infirmary, it immediately checked the vomiting ;ifter every other remedy had been found useless. One of these individuals had vomited after every meal, and whenever the cough was urgent, for a period of four months. This symptom ceased after two doses of the following mixture, and she is now improving under nutritious diet and cod liver oil. ^ \\. NaphtfioE mediciiialis, 9t6.; Tr. Card. c. Si; Aq. Camphorae, Sv. Mist. Cavt. X* Jwk Icr die. ^ X Large quantities of cod liver oil are now made in Edinburgh and Leith for medicinal purposes, and its consumption is very great. It is of considerable purity, nearly tasteless, and may be procured at all the respectable druggists in this city. Since the publication of my Treatise on the Therapeutic Properties of this sub- stance, its value in PMliisis pulmonalls and Tinea favosa therein spoken of, has been confirmed by Dr Peyreyra of Bordeaux. With his experience of its benefit and its general effects, mine entirely coincides. See a little brochure, Du TraitC' vieut dc la Phthine Pulmonaire, par ^Emile 1,1. Peyreyra., Mtdecm Titiiliiire de VHopital de Bordeaux,^'—a work worthy the perusal of every practical physician.