Syllabus prepared for the use of the class / by S. Henry Dickson.

  • Dickson, Samuel Henry, 1798-1872.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Syllabus prepared for the use of the class / by S. Henry Dickson. 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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    The modes of administration by which we apply our ordinary remedies, are four, viz. 1st. By the prime vire or surface of the alimentary canal. 2d. By the cutaneous surface. 3d. The pulmonary surface. 4th, By introduction into a vein, or insertion into a wound. There are, besides these, some mechanical, and in a certain sense, che- mical remedies, not directly referable to cither of the above heads as fric- tion, percussion, acupuncture, electricity, and galvanism. Medicaments may act when applied in either of the above modes.—1st. Upon the extremities of the nerves immediately, and through the sensorial system upon the whole body. 2d. By introduction into the circulation and actual mixture with the mass of fluids. Instances of the first kind may be found in the instantaneous death which follows the swallowing a large quantity of alcohol,—the same result is produced by touching the eye or to»;gue of an animal with strong prussic acid—and in the effects of stimulating volatiles upon the body through the olfactory nerves. The latter, I believe, is common in the agency of our ordinary medi- cines. The effects of medicine, introduced into the stomach, are exactly similar cr identical with those which they produce when injected into a vein. Opium, dissolved and thrown into a vein, produces sleep and stupor, —ipecacuanha vomiting—jalap and castor oil purging—and arsenic more readily brings on gastric inflammation when inserted into a wound, than when swallowed. It is only on these tissues or systems, the vascular and sensorial, that medicines can act primarily. They affect the first, by actual admixture with the circulatory fluids. They affect the sensorial system by a direct impulse or impression upon the extremities of the nerves, which we do not understand, and cannot describe. They are separable, then, fairly into two classes, as they affect one or the other of these systems. Friction,—percussion,—acupuncture—act upon the nerves directly sub- jected to their influence. These they irritate, vascular determination en- sues, (ubi irritatio ibi fluxus) and thus prove remedial on the principle of revulsion. Acupuncture is maintained, by many theorists, to owe its effi- cacy to electric impressions. Electricity and galvanism seem to exert as pervasive an influence over living, as upon inanimate matter, and act with wonderful force upon all the solids and fluids of the living body. They are stimulants or high value and general adaptation. The operation of each and every medicament, is specifically directed upon some particular organ of the body. Besides this specific operation, which it has a tendency to produce under all circumstances, there are other influences which may be derived from it, depending either upon the quantity employed, or upon the condition of the recipient. 1st. The Direct or Specific Operation of Medicines—we see in the emesis from tart antimon and ipecac—in the sleep and stupor from opium, in the dilatation of the pupil from belladonna, &c. We may even point out more minutely, distinctions as to the modes of effect, when their action is upon the same organ, thus ergot causes the uterus to contract, affecting its fibrous structure— guaiac acts upon the secretory vessels, causing them to pour out their due fluids—cathartics act differently on the bowels. 2d. The Indirect or Consecutive—these may, or; may not, include