The action of medicines in the system, or, On the mode in which therapeutic agents introduced into the stomache produce their peculiar effects on the animal economy : being the prize essay to which the Medical Society of London awarded the Fothergillian Gold Medal for MDCCCLII / by Frederick William Headland.

  • Headland, Frederick William.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The action of medicines in the system, or, On the mode in which therapeutic agents introduced into the stomache produce their peculiar effects on the animal economy : being the prize essay to which the Medical Society of London awarded the Fothergillian Gold Medal for MDCCCLII / by Frederick William Headland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the tissues, and will form the first class. A second set of sub- stances act so as to expel from the body certain humours and secretions. Another class exalt the tone of the nervous sys- tem, and through it stimulate the system at large. A fourth set depress the same. And a fifth group do none of these things ; but their action results in certain obvious changes in the chemical nature of the secretions. Dr. Duncan. Alimenta. Diluentia, Demulcentia. Evacuantia. Diaphoretica, Errhina, Expectorantia, Cathartica, etc. Stimulantia. Topica (irritants, etc.) Generalia Permanentia. Generalia Transitoria. Deprimentia. Refrigerantia, Narcotica. Chemica. Acida, Alkalina. As far as it extends, this classification seems to be founded on correct data. The smaller divisions are natural. Thus Evacuants are grouped according to the part of the system at which the evacuation is made. General Stimulants are divided into those which are transitory in action, and those whose effect is permanent, as Tonics. Dr. Duncan is concerned only with the ultimate effect, and enters into no theory respecting the action of Tonics. I regard them as medicines acting primarily in the blood, and, applying my terms with a view to the modus operandi, I would restrict the term Stimulant to medicines acting on the nerves, whose effect is transitory. The great fault of this arrangement is the omission of the very im- portant class of Alteratives. We have medicines which increase secre- tion ; medicines which exalt or diminish the vital energy ; but where are the remedies which act in the blood ? Where, for exaniple, shall we place such medicines as Mercury, Arsenic, and Iodine, which neither act by eliminating, nor by stimulating, nor by depressing, but appear to counteract in the blood the agency of certain morbid poisons ? In an arrangement founded on ultimate effect, they should be grouped in a class as Alteratives, as medicines which result in altering for the