An inquiry into the origin and effects of sulphurous fumigations : in the cure of rheumatism, gout, diseases of the skin, palsy, &c., illustrated by numerous cases / by J. Revere.

  • Revere, John, 1787-1847.
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the origin and effects of sulphurous fumigations : in the cure of rheumatism, gout, diseases of the skin, palsy, &c., illustrated by numerous cases / by J. Revere. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    tice, and inventing an apparatus, by which this powerful agent may be applied to the surface of the body, with- out the hazard of injuring any of the internal organs. By his indefatigable exertions, he has succeeded in de- monstrating the perfect safety and great efficacy of this remedy. At the time he began his investigations, he was chief apothecary to the Hospital of St. Louis, which is solely devoted to diseases of the skin. He was led to adopt this practice in the course of a series of experiments, on the nature and causes of psora (itch.) The cause of this loathsome disease has not been long absolutely ascertained. It was not considered by the ancient physicians a mere local affection of the skin, but was supposed to proceed from an acrimony of the fluids, a corruption of the blood, &c. Avenzoar, an Arabian physician, in the twelfth century, first suggested the idea that it arose from a minute insect. This hint, how- ever, did not attract attention until the sixteenth cen- tury, when Thomas Moufet, an English naturalist, having accidentally read the passage referred to, took some pains to investigate the subject in his Theatrum Insectorum. But as the insect is extremely minute, and of the same colour as the skin, and as at that time microscopic instruments were not invented, his obser- vations were necessarily very imperfect. But in 1C85 the subject was taken up by Cestoni, an Italian natu- ralist, who made a great number of curious observations on the figure, habits, &c. of this insect, which he called the acarus scabei. He was enabled to distinguish the eggs which it had deposited, and he found that by means of its very sharp head, it perforated the cuticle, and in- sinuated itself between it and the true skin.* * Dictionaire ties Sciences M^dicalcs.