A dictionary of domestic medicine and household surgery / by Spencer Thomson.

  • Thomson, Spencer, 1848-1883.
Date:
1897
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of domestic medicine and household surgery / by Spencer Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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143/772 (page 123)
CEL sweet taste. It is prepared by the distillation of rectified spirit, off chlorinated lime and puri- fied by reclistillation. ... » A_ Its power of producing anesthesia or insensibility to pain, when inhaled, is now too universally known to require comment, it is, however, too potent an agent to be t™stedin unprofessional hands, except, indeed, un direct medical sanction and direction inl each ] ar- ticular case. In the more painful and the lar er operations of surgery it is one ol the greatest boons conferred upon suffering humanity, and its use tends to diminish the average mortality after them. Fatal cases have, however, followed its inhalation, and although these have been in very small proportion compared with the numbers in which it is daily and hourly administered, still the fact of then laving occurred, is sufficient to make us pause before incurring even the remote chance of so serious a result, for the sake of avoiding a momentary though sharp pain. Moreover, cases do occur, in which very disagreeable effects, such as headache, sickness, hysteria, &c., have suc- ceeded the use of chloroform. No one s.iould ever be tempted to inhale this agent, without being certain beforehand that no tendency to organic disease exists, especially ol the heait or nervous system. On account of numerous fatal results 110m the employment of chloroform singly, it is customary now to give it in conjunction wit 1 sulphuric ether, which possesses the same anaistlietic properties. Different inhalers arc employed for the purpose, from the towel or pocket handkerchief to the more- elaborate apparatus introduced by Mr. Clover, consisting of a large bag charged with the mixture, to which a bellows is attached, the object of the inhaler being to reduce and dilute the strength of the vapour that it may be administered with greater safety. . . , The late Sir J. Y. Simpson, who first intro- duced the amesthetic uses of chloroform to the notice of the medical profession, employed it largely in midwifery practice, and in this branch it has been attended with most beneficial results, and with apparently less danger. Its power of relaxing the muscles and producing uncon- sciousness has caused it to bo used extensively in lock-jaw, convulsions, in colic, and_ in the passage of renal and biliary calculi, and in other spasmodic affections. The greatest care is required in the administration of chloroform, and it should never be attempted unless under • the guidanco of a medical man. Should any threatening symptom appear in the course of inhalation, such as faintness or great difficulty of breathing, it is necessary to desist for a time and resort to means of artificial respiration. Although chloroform by inhalation is not to be carelessly indulged in, yet its external application, in the form of liniment or as an addition to other liniments, may bo employed with perfect safety in numerous neuralgic CEO affections, and in some skin complaints attended with intolerable itching. It has also been found serviceable as a stimulating liniment to produce a certain amount of counter irritation on the chest, in cases of bronchial and pul- monary disease. When ^ taken interna y, chloroform allays pain and irritability of the stomach, and is much used as a remedy °r preventive for sea-siclcness. Its sedative pio perties have caused it to be used with good effect in spasmodic cough, asthma, cancer, and neuralgia, when it acts without producing any increased action of the circulation. Ihe sp of chloroform (chloric ether) is most used, for internal administration ; it is given m doses varving from ten to thirty minims m a table- spoonful of water. But perhaps the most convenient form of administering chloroform internally, is by small capsules of gelatine, which are easily swallowed and prevent the pungency of the chloroform being felt in the mouth. _ CHLOROSIS—a form of anaemia m -which the skin takes on a greenish-yellow tint, generally accompanied with amenorrhcea, and common among young women who follow sedentary occupations. The _ countenance is marked with a sickly look, with a dark ring encircling the eyes, and attended with languor, lassitude and a disinclination for active em- ployment. Treatment consists in fresh an- and tonics.—See Ancemia. CHOCOLATE.—See Cocoa. CHOKE-DAMP.—See Carbonic Acid. CHOLERA—Asiatic or Malignant.— So far as our knowledge goes, the first com- mencement of Asiatic cholera among our countrymen in India occurred in the year IS 17, when it took its rise in a swampy dis- trict at the mouth of the Ganges, from whence it spread over India to various parts of Asia and Europe, and finally reached England m the year 1S31, where it continued till the end of 1832, disappeared for seventeen years, and re-appeared in a more virulent form than before in the year 1S49, in which latter visita- tion it carried off, in London alone, people, and in the entire kingdom, not less perhaps than SO,000. Another epidemic of a less extensive character occurred also in t ic year 1S66, since which time the disease has been absent from this country until the years 1892-93 when, each autumn, a limited number of cases occurred. Cholera is endemic in In- dia, and especially Lower Bengal, and when it appears in this country it is invariably im- ported ; on its transit it has been fairly con- clusively proved to follow the lines of human communication. Dirt, bad air, bad water, bad food, insufficient clothing, and irregular and vicious habits, are all the favourers of cholera, and were it not for those, singly or combined, it would, in all probability, pass comparatively lightly over our land. Although, since 1866, the sanitary surroundings of the people have vastly improved, we have by no means reached