Pathological and clinical observations respecting morbid conditions of the stomach / by C. Handfield Jones.

  • Jones, C. Handfield (Charles Handfield), 1819-1890.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and clinical observations respecting morbid conditions of the stomach / by C. Handfield Jones. 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.

    348/370 (page 338)
    the acetate, the citrate,—act more especially on the skin. They have little direct action on the liver or the kidney, but are our most esteemed sudorifics. In indigestion, soda is more generally useful than potash, probably from its more direct effect on the liver. The bicarbonate of soda alone, or in conjunction with rhubarb, or calumba, or gentian, has long been a favourite remedy in the stomach disorders of persons in the middle and upper classes of society who take too little exercise and live freely. It is taken occasionally some hours after meals by most persons prone to acidity of the stomach and heartburn, for the mere purpose of neutralizing an excess of acid in the stomach, and, in the form of soda-water, is generally resorted to for the purpose of setthng the stomach after a debauch. In the kind of indigestion common enough in persons who take little exercise and live freely, that consists in impairment of appetite and nausea and disrelish for rich dishes, with a furred tongue, and defective action of the liver, and costive bowels, no remedy is more effectual than the bicarbonate of soda, in doses of fifteen grains, three times a-day, before meals, in conjunction with an occasional small dose of blue-piU to increase further the secretion of the liver, and with colocynth or aloes to keep up regular action of the large intestine. If there be a sense of heat in the stomach, or if the secretion of urine be scanty, a few grains of nitre may be added to the soda. Soda may be given at any time to neutralize an excess of acid in the stomach; but, as Dr. Prout remarked, it will not always prevent an excessive formation of acid; on the contrary, if it be given at improper times, it may,