A report of the method and results of the treatment for the malignant cholera, by small and frequently repeated doses of calomel; with an enquiry into the nature and origin of the complaint / By Joseph Ayre.

  • Ayre, Joseph, 1781-1860.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report of the method and results of the treatment for the malignant cholera, by small and frequently repeated doses of calomel; with an enquiry into the nature and origin of the complaint / By Joseph Ayre. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ease in Kurope, having avowedly adopted my views of the nature of the English disease, and applied them to explain the nature of the foreign one; and who used the divisions which I made of it into stages, and the very terms employed by me to designate them, as suited to its character and course.* ‘The discovery of a truth is always to be part of my life of the diseases of the digestive organs. I adopted the pathological views of this disease given by Dr. Ayre in his practical work on the disorders called bilious, which were con- firmed by the perusal of that part of Dr. James Johnson’s work on diseases of tropical climates relating to this disease.” He afterwards adds, “ Founding my practice on the pathological views which I have alluded to, I used a modified Indian prac- tice; and, having frequently experienced the good effects of twenty-grain doses of calomel in high excitement of the frame, Thad no fear of giving such a dose to those who had no pulse at the wrist.” This gentleman does not state the amount of his success, but it does not appear to have been great. See also “ Papers relative to the Disease called Cholera Spasmodica, published by authority of the Lords of His Ma- jesty’s most Honourable Privy Council.” * The following extract from my work, referred to above, will afford the reader an opportunity of judging of the view given of the symptoms and pathology of the English disease, and of its suitableness to the nature and appearances of the present epidemic : — “ The cholera morbus begins with a disturbance in the func- tions of the stomach, and, perhaps, of the bowels; the mucous membrane lining those parts probably taking on some morbid action, which produces, by sympathy, a disturbance in the func- tions of the liver. The effect of the disorder in the latter organ, however induced, is an interruption to the secretory action, which leads to a congested state of its secretory vessels, and to a similar state of the venous system of the chylopoietic organs, the