An improvement in the mode of administering the vapour bath, and in the apparatus connected with it; with plans of fixed and portable baths for hospitals and private houses, and some practical suggestions on the efficacy of vapour, in application to various diseases of the human frame, and as may be beneficial to the veterinary branch of medecine [sic].

Date:
1809
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An improvement in the mode of administering the vapour bath, and in the apparatus connected with it; with plans of fixed and portable baths for hospitals and private houses, and some practical suggestions on the efficacy of vapour, in application to various diseases of the human frame, and as may be beneficial to the veterinary branch of medecine [sic]. 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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    fed by the spoon. The next morning, July the 20th, 179S, I found that the vomiting had never returned; and that the child had slept well in the night, accompanied with a moderately soft skin. By a repetition of the above plan, as agreeing with tiie stomach, to promote digestion, with milder doses o?’vital air to support the livng principle, administered by the lungs, I had the satisfaction, to see the child daily advance in strength ; and after thirteen or fourteen farther applications of this ne^7 remedy, all local irritation of the stomach and bowels ceased ; so that in three weeks time my attention v/as no longer necessary. Observations on the preceding Case, To every man of real science, liberality, and feeling, in the profession, this case will afford singular satisfaction. It opens a new scene to ob- servation and reflection; which, if pursued in all it’s extent, with mode- rate, candid, and judicious experiments, will bring us to a point, where medicine has long been deficient. In all stages of low nervous fever this remedy cannot fail of being infinitely useful. Having always endea- voured, in my professional experience, to extend my views from one- given practical point to another next in analogy, I cannot forego men- tioning here, that, from the very decisive and immediate recovery of this child, I was led to recollect, what my former very extensive practice in midwifery had taught me, that many children, from various obvious causes, are still born : and hence I naturally considered, how aj)plicable and compendious this operation with vital air would be In such cases, and far more philosophical and rational than any other means heretofoi e attempted. Although many children, from mechanical injuries, cannot be supposed capable of being brought to life; yet, if fiv^e out of twenty can, by these means, be recovered, the discovery of vital air, thus applied,