Physiological therapeutics : a new theory / by Thomas W. Poole.

  • Poole, Thomas W.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physiological therapeutics : a new theory / by Thomas W. Poole. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    ■as'starch. What is here necessary to do is to bring the poison in contact with the raw surface, and then to excite inflammatory action, speedily and completely, as thereby the tumor is destroyed, and absorption of arsenic prevented.* In the treatment of ague, arsenic is far inferior to quinine, where the periodicity of the stages are well marked and of regular occur- rence ; but where the typical periodicity is less marked, and the coldness and heat alternate irregularly and more frequently, while their respective duration is shorter, arsenic is usually preferable. How these and some other drugs antidote this state is unknown. If stich a thing as malaria exists and influences the system through the agency of poisonous germs, their antidotal qualities as antisep- tics, destroying these germs, might bQ quoted. But as grave doubts have been thrown upon the existence of such a thing as malaria,| and since the effects attributed to it have been referred to sudden changes of temperature, which shallow or marshy bodies of water favor by free evaporation during the day, and condensation at night; we may after all be compelled to attribute the curative ef- fects of these drugs to their special nutritive effects on nerve tissue, and probably also on blood plasma. 453. We have been led into remarks of this length rather from the interesting character of this drug than from its intimate connec- tion with our general subject Arsenic in poisonous doses, is, then, a sedative and paralyzer, and also a tissue irritant. Its true med- icinal action in small doses, points to its association with other drugs which act as stimulants to nerve function, and among these we place it accordingly. 454. Q UININE S ULPHA TE.—Scq last series of drugs, (p. i S2) and former remarks. (§ 186, 236, 371,) ■ 455. STRYCHNIA.—The food-action of this drug should naturally find a place here ; but it has already been considered in connection with our general argument. (§107, 237, 363.) 456. JAB OR AND/.—This is the Indian name of the plant pilo- carpus pennatifolius. Its active principle is a powerful stimulant, especially to the functions of the skin and salivary glands, the se- cretions of which it increases in a remarkable degree. Jaborandi is evidently a stimulant to the nervous system ; and like other members of its class, the flushing it produces is, after a certain dose, followed by pallor and some degree of prostration, in- dicating that besides its stiniulating qualities, it also possesses narcotic properties. As a stimulant it excites the vaso-motor, as well as other nerves, quickens the heart, restores regularity where the pulse is intermittent, dilates the arteries, causes increased flow of blood to the brain,—as seen in the contraction of the pupils,— *Dr. Ringer, p. 216. fDr. T. Inman, Brit. Med. Jour., 1875, p. 172. Braith. Re- tros., July, 1875, p. 18.