Practical observations on diphtheria and erysipelas / by Charles Bell.

  • Bell, Charles, Sir, 1774-1842.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on diphtheria and erysipelas / by Charles Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    INTRODUCTION. The substance of tte following observations on diphtheria was published in the ' London Medical Review/ in the com- mencement of 1861, and they were reprinted soon after, by Messrs. Condy and Co., for more general circulation. I should, therefore, have remained satisfied with the amount of publicity they had thus probably attained, but on perusing the paper on the same subject read by my friend Dr. Begbie to the Medico-Chirugical Society of Edinburgh, on the 9th of April, 1862, and the discussion it gave rise to on the occa- sion, I felt that my views and mode of treating the disease had not received the general attention they appear to me to merit. I have, therefore, resolved to republish the observations, along with some additional remarks suggested by my in- creased experience in the treatment of diphtheria, and by fuller consideration of the subject. I feel encouraged in carrying this resolution into effect from observing that my views in regard to the nature of the disease are supported by Dr. Begbie in his paper just referred to, and by Dr. Handy- side in his remarks thereon at the meeting of the society, while my treatment appears to have been adopted by both of these eminent practitioners. It was for the purpose of making this treatment more widely known that I wrote my paper; and as I have now employed it with invariable success in at least thirty cases of diphtheria, some of which were very severe, I can un- hesitatingly recommend it to the notice of the profession in general. Dr. Begbie, in his interesting narrative, gives a melan- choly picture of the virulence of diphtheria in Edinburgh,