Volume 1

Elements of materia medica and therapeutics : including the recent discoveries and analyses of medicines / by Anthony Todd Thomson.

  • Anthony Todd Thomson
Date:
1832-1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of materia medica and therapeutics : including the recent discoveries and analyses of medicines / by Anthony Todd Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    resorted to until the local affections are subdued in intensity, if not wholly removed. But, where the paroxysms return with much severity, and are likely to be productive of dan- ger in weak constitutions, it would be improper to delay the use of Tonics; for, the local affection often owes much of its aggravated character to the impression made by each recurring paroxysm. In such cases, however, the least sti- mulating Tonics should be selected; such, for example, as Quassia and Calumba. In remittent fevers, the utmost caution should be observed in prescribing Tonics. The remission should be complete, or rather the disease should be transformed into the intermittent type, before they can, with propriety, be employed: indeed, nothing is so likely to change a remittent into continued fe- ver as the injudicious employment of Tonics. In infantile remittents, notwithstanding the high authority of Dr. Clarke, of Newcastle, who, in his work on fever, recommends bark to be immediately resorted to, after the administration of an emetic, I accord with those who delay the use of Tonics until the advanced stage of the disease, when it proves obstinate : then the Cascarilla, which is generally preferred in such cases, maintains the tone of the stomach and bowels, and en- ables us to proceed with the alterative and purgative plan of treatment. I have already mentioned the circumstances un- der which Cinchona and other Tonics are likely to prove useful in hectic; but, in this modification of fever, it must be confessed that little reliance is to be placed upon any class of medicines. Upon the whole, it is necessary that Tonics should not be confounded with Stimulants ; and, although it is proper to pre- scribe them with caution in any form of fever complicated with local inflammation, yet, we ought not to be prevented by the dread of inflammatory symptoms from employing a class of remedies so well calculated to restore the strength and vigour of the nervous system essential for carrying on the functions of life: we must always recollect that tone is not excitement, nor strength increased vascular action. END OF VOL. 1.
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