History and medical treatment of cholera : as it appeared in Sunderland in 1831 / by W. Haslewood and W. Mordey.

  • Haslewood, W. (William), 1802?-1866.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History and medical treatment of cholera : as it appeared in Sunderland in 1831 / by W. Haslewood and W. Mordey. 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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    which he lay, in the hope of obtaining some relief from the pain he was suffering. The spasms were relieved by tight ligatures (handkerchiefs) round the affected muscles. When the violence of this paroxysm (for it was truly such) had in some measure subsided, the patient was replaced in bed ; and though still suffer- ing severely from pain, and evincing, by his cries and his actions, a strong degree of vitality, it was observed with surprise that the action of the heart had apparently ceased, and that no pulse was to be detected at the wrists, or any other part of the bodv. Whether this cessation of the heart's action had preceded, or accompanied, or followed the attack of spasm, it is now impossible to say: for that attack was too sudden and too violent to admit of any examination being made until it was too late to determine the question in this instance. Nor has any opportunity since occurred of pro- secuting the enquiry in a satisfactory manner, or of ascertaining whether a paroxysm of vomiting or purging without cramp is ever preceded, or accom- panied, or immediately followed, by a similar event. Nor will the true connection between these various phenomena (cramps, vomiting, purging, and sus- pended pulsation,) ever be detected until opportu- nities for quietly watching the natural progress of the disease through all its stages present themselves, and to men also who will have forbearance enough to take advantage of the same. As the cramps ceased the patient gradually became quiet, and again assumed the ghastly appearance he had presented on admission : it was G