On the use of ether and etherised cod-liver oil in the treatment of phthisis / by Balthazar W. Foster, M.D.

  • Foster, Balthazar Walter, 1840-1913.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of ether and etherised cod-liver oil in the treatment of phthisis / by Balthazar W. Foster, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    oil, I now, generally, give Elher mixed with cod-liver oil, in the pro- portions mentioned. In my second and systematic inquiiy, I treated fifty cases taken as they presented themselves at the Dispensary, each patient being carefully examined on admission and at least once every fifteen days during treatment. A brief record was kept of the pro- gress of each case; but, from former experience, I determined in this inquiry not to accept the statement of the patients themselves as evi- dence of improvement, but only to consider those patients better in whom the result of a physical exploration of the chest, in addition to decided increase in weight, confirmed the statements made. I therefore weighed every patient once a week. As it would be impossible to give a record of each case in a communication such as the present, I must confine myself to a brief statement of the results obtained in the fifty cases. Sixteen were admitted in the first stage of the disease; nineteen in the second stage; and fifteen in the third stage. Of the Sixteen in the first stage (or stage of deposition), seven im- proved in general symptoms and in physical signs, gaining on an aver- age over 7ilbs. each; five remained stationary, all gaining weight slightly; and only four became worse. Of the Ninetee7t cases in the second stage, six improved in all respects, gaining, on an average, about 8 lbs. each, two cases gaining 14J lbs. and lolbs. respectively; six remained stationary; and seven became worse. Of the Fifteen cases in the third stage, seven improved, gaining, on an average, about 5lbs. each; five remained stationary; and three be- came worse. Of the total Fifty cases, Twenty improved, Sixteen remained station- ary, and Fourteen became worse. Six of the cases treated, in no instance for a less time than three months, and observed over a period of many months, retained their weight; were troubled by no symptoms, and maintained the im- provement in their physical signs. Only one of these was observed over a less period than fifteen months, three over two years, and two over eighteen months. These cases may be considered, 1 think, as ex- amples of the arrest of the disease, for the patients have returned to their ordinary avocations, and are able to earn their livelihood untroubled by their former disease. The only other remedies used in those cases were croton ointment, as a counter-irritant, Dover's powder occasionally to relieve the cough, and, in a few cases, a little linctus morphiae. But, as cod-liver oil was administered as well as Ether, the objection may very naturally be made that the improvement was due to the use of the oil. For my own part this objection has not much value, for I had long used oil largely without obtaining any results at all equal to those stated. In order, however, to meet this objection the Ether was stopped in ten instances and the oil continued; six times there was a fall in weight during the following three weeks. In one case the patient, who had taken Ether for some two months, continued to gain weight. In the three other cases the gain ceased, but was again observed in these patients, as it was in all, when ether was again administered. These results are not only instructive, as showing the effect of Ether in increasing weight, but also as showing that the digestion of fatty food is restored to its normal state, in many cases, after a long course of Ether. In the cases which have done best under treatment, that is, the cases which I think we may consider instances of arrested Phthisis, the power of taking fats, which was at one time much impaired, has returned, and the gain in weight has been maintained over a period of many months.