Causes of cholera, its treatment and cure / by William Grove Grady.

  • Grady, William Grove.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Causes of cholera, its treatment and cure / by William Grove Grady. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    other means would have been utterly hopeless, I tried large doses of it in conjunction with opium, and was * invariably successful; and though the received opinion of the profession is, that any dose beyond hall a grain is dangerous, I can say that I never saw any bad conse- quence from administering it in doses of several grains in cases of Cholera. Colic is said to be one of the com- mon consequences of it, but I never saw colic arise from the use of it as 1 prescribed it. It is beyond doubt a powerful poison; but in Cholera I never had any apprehension in administering it in large doses. I myself took upwa^’ds of 15 grains of it betAveen one o’clock in the afternoon and six in the evening, when labouring under an attack of Cholera, caught in the dis- charge of my duties, and to it I attribute, under God, the saving of my life. I can therefore say, that there is no danger in administering it to the extent to which I did in Cholera. I used it chiefly in combination with opium, because I believe its poisonous properties were rendered less noxious in that combination; but where I saw danger of congestion or consecutive fever, I used it by itself. The foi'mula I used was R Acetatis Plumbi, 5i9i Pulv. Opii. gr. xivi Divide in Pil. xxx. Four or six to be taken immediately, and two or four repeated every second, or third, or fourth hour in suc- cession. When I had occasion to administer it uncom- bined with opium, I did not alter the proportions of the acetate of lead. When it happened that the stomach could not retain the medicine, I administered it by the rectum in the form of an enema, and generally used from a scruple to a drachm at a time. This I found an exceedingly safe and efficacious mode of administering it; and it may be adopted by those who may be apprehensive of administering it in large doses by the mouth. In