The Therapeutical Society of New York.

Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Therapeutical Society of New York. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/12 (page 66)
    Dr. Kinnicutt lias administered ether with cod-liver oil in fifty cases, and has not met with a single Jhstance in which the combination was not well borne. He has repeatedly prescribed the pure oil, and found that it disagreed, while the same patients afterward took the etherized oil with perfect ease. He quotes two such cases: “ January 26, 1878.—Hew York Hospital, out-patient department. K. B., aged eight months. Delicate anaemic child, with scrofulous dia¬ thesis. Ordered ol. morrh. 3 ss. t. i. d. “ July 1st.—Patient is unable^ take the oil, invariably vomiting imme¬ diately after its ingestion. Ordered spts. etheris TTt jss. in each dose of oil. uJuly 13th.—The first dose of the etherized oil was retained, and it has been given with the same success since. In connection with the above case I would mention that I have notes of a number of similar cases among very young children. “February 1, 1879.—M. G., aged twenty-five. Patient is an anaemic woman, with scrofulous diathesis. Under treatment since August, 1878. 01. morrh. was prescribed, but patient was unable to take it on account of nausea and vomiting produced. She has been able to take the etherized preparation with perfect ease, and its use has been attended with improved nutrition. On one occasion, through a mistake of the druggist, one half < of the usual quantity of ether was»<used in the preparation of the prescrip¬ tion. The first dose was vomited, and subsequent ones, until the mistake was rectified. Thq first dose of the corrected preparation was retained.” In my own case I have not prescribed the etherized oil, unless I found by trial that the plain oil could not be borne. I have met with six such cases, in which the addition of the ether was completely successful. In four other cases, in which the patients could not take the oil either plain or in emulsion, or with brandy, the difficulty was not overcome by prescribing ether with it. The Committee are of the opinion that the evidence before them war¬ rants the following conclusions: 1. That the addition of ether to cod-liver oil in about the proportion jflj of fifteen minims to each half ounce (or an equivalent amount of the com- $3 pound spirit of ether) will succeed in the vast majority of cases in ena- b bling the patient to take the oil, even though it previously disagreed. 2. That in some cases in which the oil still disagrees after the addition of the ether, the difficulty may be overcome by giving the ether separately from fifteen minutes to half an hour after the oil is taken. Ho facts have been laid before the Committee having a bearing upon the question as to whether the etherized oil is superior to the plain oil in its ultimate effect upon nutrition/supposing them to be equally well tol¬ erated by the stomach. \ %