A dictionary of treatment, or, Therapeutic index : including medical and surgical therapeutics / by William Whitla.

  • Whitla, William, 1851-1933.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of treatment, or, Therapeutic index : including medical and surgical therapeutics / by William Whitla. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    965/1014 (page 959)
    makes an incision, exposing the vein at the juncture of the upper and middle third of the thigh, and divides it between two ligatures, fixing the limb for 10 days in cotton wool and a firm bandage. VARIOLA. The treatment of small-pox differs in no way from that of the other eruptive fevers. The principles of treatment as applied to the management of Measles (pages 537-541), of Typhoid Fever (pages 919-936), and of Typhus (pages 936 -939), maintain also in the treatment of this affection, and need not be again enumerated in detail. They have been also enumerated under Scarlatina. The sanitary surroundings of the patient demand the most careful attention, not only on account of the highly infectious nature of the disease, but also because of the extensive suppuration. Hence the most rigid isolation and the necessity for thorough ventilation. The details referring to the choice and arrangement of the sick-room and the patient's bed should receive special care. In severe cases, as in Confluent Small-pox, the pain in the back may be relieved by small doses of Antipyrine, administered, not with the view of producing a fall in the temperature, but with the intention of obtaining the analgesic action of the drug. For this purpose the dose should not exceed 5 grains, nor need the remedy be pushed for more than 24 or 36'hours. J. W. Moore, in his valuable contribution to medicine, advises for this purpose dry- cupping and the use of the India-rubber hot-water bag. For the general condition there is no special treatment. At present we do not know of any agent possessing specific action over the disease. Antiseptic drugs have been extensively employed with the view of destroying the organism causing the fever, but it does not yet appear that any marked results have been obtained. Sansom's plan of administering the Sulphite of Sodium in 20 or 30 grain doses, or the Sulphocarbolates in similar quantities, can do no harm; and though they have generally failed in making any very decided impression upon the constitutional symptoms, they may possibly sometimes turn the scale in the struggle against the microbe. Yeo has forcibly shown that slight modifi- cations in the environment of the parasite may materially modify its activity. Carbolic Acid, Corrosive Sublimate, and Salicylic Acid have been extensively employed, and of the latter drug Baudon has reported successes. J. W. Moore, as the result of his extensive experience, states that in Quinine in 5 grain doses and in Tincture of Perchloride of Iron in 20 to 30 minim doses we possess the two most valuable antiseptics known, so far as small-pox is concerned. Bianchi carries out the antiseptic treatment to the fullest extent, with apparently excellent results (no deaths in 96 cases). He renders the surface of the patient, his bedding, room and all his surroundings as aseptic as possible.