On some of the most important diseases of women : with other papers / prefatory essay by R. Ferguson.

  • Gooch, Robert, 1784-1830.
Date:
1859
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some of the most important diseases of women : with other papers / prefatory essay by R. Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    two grains of Kermes' mineral. In what doses and with what fre- quency this was giveUj is not stated; was it a potion for one day, or one dose ? The same remedies were used the next, and every day until the symptoms of the disease had subsided; the woman recovered, and the same treatment was employed in every subsequent case. Trom losing every patient, he now lost none. During four months nearly two hundi-ed were. cured; five or six refused to take the medicine, and aU these died. The success of the remedy depended on its being gwen at the monmit of attach ; the loss of a few hour^s, however, was not always irreparable. When this account arrived in England, it produced, as may easily be supposed, a strong sensation, and the practice was tried by variou.s physicians with different results. Dr. Walsh said it was infallible; Dr. Denman that it was eminently useful; Dr. Lowder that it disappointed him; Dr. John Clarke that it was injurious; and it soon feU into disuse. Was it ever fairly tried in tliis country ? that is, not after the disease had established itseK for several lioui's, but at the moment of attack, and with the potion of almond oil and Kermes^ mineral.* Dr. Boer of Yienna was for a long time physician to the large lying-in institution and director of the midwifery school in that city, and was much distinguished for liis practical acuteness. Many years ago he thought he had discovered an almost infallible remedy for puerperal fever. Of this discovery he gives the following account. I might abridge it, but the reader wiU prefer his own interesting narrative. ' I once lost in one day two lying-in women from puerperal ' fever; the one I attended alone, the other in consultation with ' the ordinary house physician. —At the same time I had also in ' the practical school (of midwifery) two lying-in women ill with ' the same disease. The next day one of them died, and in the other death was approacliing. It was the seventh or eighth day * Kennes' mineral, or the poudre des Chartreux, was made by boiling four pounds of antimony, one pound of the solution of fixed nitre per deliquium, and three pounds of rain water, for two hours, and then filtering I he lioiling liquor through paper. This, on standing, deposited a yellow powder; the liquor was poured off, and the powder washed and dried. ' This precipitated sulphur,' says Quincy, ' is really, as I am con- ' vinced from facts which have fallen within my own observation, the most certain and ' powerful antimonial medicine that can be given with safety. It has been recom- ' mended in fevers, but the use of medicines of this class is not yet enough authorised 'by experience to render such a practice eligible. The doses given have been from 'one grain to four, but it is best to begin first with the smallest dose, especially with 'young persons,as the force of its operation varies greatly in different constitutions.'