Reports on the diseases of London, and the state of the weather, from 1804 to 1816 ; including practical remarks on the causes and treatment of the former ; and preceded by a historical view of the state of health and disease in the Metropolis in past times ; ... / By Thomas Bateman.

  • Bateman, Thomas, 1778-1821.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports on the diseases of London, and the state of the weather, from 1804 to 1816 ; including practical remarks on the causes and treatment of the former ; and preceded by a historical view of the state of health and disease in the Metropolis in past times ; ... / By Thomas Bateman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    of a dark colour. The strength of the patients was not greatly depressed, so that many were not confined to bed more than the space of one or two days. The application of bUsters to the external fauces, in all the cases in which the tonsils were enlarged, was attend- ed with marked advantage. A laxative of calomel and jalap, preceded, when the patient was seen in the commencement, by an emetic, and the use of a gargle acidulated with the muriatic acid, was all the medi- cinal treatment that appeared to be requisite. The lavatio frigida was generally recommended, and ejm- ployed in different degrees of extent, and with invari- able relief to the heat, irritation, and other febrile symptoms : in a few cases I stood over my patients while the skin was washed with cold or tepid water^ and witnessed the almost instantaneous diminution of the frequency of the pulse, as well as of the pungent heat of surface, the anxiety of countenance, restless- ness, and so forth. , Dysentery has been very prevalent, especially in September and November, as it was also in the spring months. Physicians have differed about the nature of the disease, to which they have applied the terra dysentery, from the time of Hippocrates to our.own. It was applied to all ulcerations and hasmorrhages of the intestines by Hippocrates; and ulcerations were believed to be the origin of the dysenteric symptoms by writers in general, until Willis and Sydenham show- ed that the symptoms occurred independently of ulcera- tion *. Dr. CuUen considers dysentery as invariably ' • * A neat sketch of the medical history of dysentery is given by Sir J. Priiigle On Dibease^5 of ihc Army/' Part 111. Chap, G.