Report on the climate and principle diseases of the African station; compiled from the documents in the office of the Director-General of the Medical Department, and from other sources: in compliance with the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty / Under the immediate direction of Sir William Burnett. By Alexander Bryson.

  • Bryson, Alexander, 1802-1869.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the climate and principle diseases of the African station; compiled from the documents in the office of the Director-General of the Medical Department, and from other sources: in compliance with the directions of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty / Under the immediate direction of Sir William Burnett. By Alexander Bryson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    256/292 (page 236)
    The liver has also long been considered in the fevers of hot climates as one of the most peccant organs in the system^ and to require for its safety the abstraction of blood: why, it would be difficult to discover, as it is seldom, during the progress of the disease, that it indicates by pain or tume- faction any great danger from inflammation or congestion, nor is it frequently found otherwise than in a normal condition after death, unless in the bodies of those who have led an intemperate life for a considerable length of time: it is an organ of which it may be said that it is more sinned against than sinning. Before proceeding to the abstraction of blood, therefore, in fever, it might perhaps be as well for us to be guided less by the arbitrary rules of practice, and more by a common-sense view of the case before us ; to satisfy ourselves, in as far as may be possible, that the means we are about to adopt are calculated to produce the objects we have in view j otherwise we may be greatly disappointed. By glancing at the preced- ing pages, it will be observed, that the system of active deple- tion, after the most painful proofs of its inutility, has been generally abandoned, or at least practised with much more dis- crimination by those who have had the courage, independent of established doctrines or educational bias, to think and judge for themselves. They found that by blood-letting, they could generally, although not always, moderate for a time the vio- lence of the disease, but that, with the returning paroxysm, pyrexial action returned with undiminished vigour; while all that had been gained, or rather all that had been effected, was the loss of so much of the circulating medium, which could not by any artifleial means be afterwards recovered, were it necessary to determine the favourable issue of the disease; they had in fact reduced the force of the vital energies, with- out moderating the violence of the fever. A second bleeding on the recurrence of a paroxysm, only served to increase the physical prostration, and so it proved even to the fourth or fifth bleeding at Fernando Po : on that island, indeed, it mffiht