Reports of the practice in the clinical wards of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, during the months of November and December 1817, and January 1818, and May, June, and July 1818 / by Andrew Duncan.

Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of the practice in the clinical wards of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, during the months of November and December 1817, and January 1818, and May, June, and July 1818 / by Andrew Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    ine that week of listlessness and chilliness, which frequently precedes the distinct rigors from which we date the accession of the true fever. In cases where the patient suffered from rigors or coldness of the extremities, the pediluvium was of the greatest benefit. Laxatives and evacuant enemas of every kind were also powerful auxiliaries to the preceding re- medies ; but, although I did not scruple to use pur- gatives when indicated, I commonly contented my- self with emptying the bowels, and keeping them free, and seldom attempted to counteract the fe- brile excitement by drastic purging. I found, or thought I found, the lancet and leeches more cer- tain, and more under my control ; and I had some fears that the function or structure of the intestines might be deranged by acting upon them too powerfully during a disease which is apt to direct its attack upon any weakened organ. Emetics I did not find often necessary, as I pre- ferred exciting the stomach to evacuate its con- tents in the natural direction. With this view, I combined with other purgatives which act upon the intestines, small doses of emetics, such as ipecacuan with rhubarb, or tartar emetic with saline solutions, under the idea that they act es- pecially upon the stomach and upper part of the intestinal canal, and, if they also produced vomit- ing, it was perhaps beneficial. Mercury I sometimes ordered as a purgative, in the form of calomel, or the blue pill, but