Observations on the principal medical institutions and practice of France, Italy, and Germany : with notices of the universities, and cases from hospital practice : to which is added an appendix, on animal magnetism and homœopathy / by Edwin Lee.

  • Lee, Edwin, -1870.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the principal medical institutions and practice of France, Italy, and Germany : with notices of the universities, and cases from hospital practice : to which is added an appendix, on animal magnetism and homœopathy / by Edwin Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    20/102
    .remuneration is altered, the better will it be both for practitioners and patients. . On the other hand, baths, which are constantly used on the ^™nen J' are but seldom resorted to in England as a remedial means. Although I cannot say much of the advantage of tepid bathing in febrile and in- flammatory diseases, I have no hesitation in stating my opinion, thai the more general use of baths in chronic complaints, particularly in derar isti the symptoms, and shortening no doubt that the tendency to these complaints, as well as to bronchial irritation and rheumatism, would be diminished, if persons in health were accustomed to regulate the functions of the skin by this means more frequently than is generally the case. It is a curious circumstance, that notwithstanding the numerical disproportion of inhabitants, and greater density of its atmosphere, London possesses fewer bathing establishments than perhaps any other large metropolis. The practice of abstracting blood and applying irritants at a con- siderable distance from the seat of the disease, on the principle of re- vulsion, might be more frequently adopted with advantage in England, especially in affections connected with cerebral irritation or congestion; these cases are often singularly benefited by a small bleeding from the ankle, a few leeches to the thighs or anus, blisters to the legs, sinapisms to the feet, &c. An important advantage is possessed by French over most English practitioners, in the investigation of the morbid phenomena which take place in the thoracic and abdominal viscera, by means of auscultation and percussion, by which much of the obscurity and uncertainty enve- loping several diseases is removed. The importance of these essential aids in the formation of a correct diagnosis cannot fail to be properly appreciated in England, as a knowledge of them becomes more exten- sively diffused. It is true that long observation and practice are requi- site to enable one to define accurately the more minute varieties of structural change, and even the most experienced may be led into error if the general symptoms be not taken into account. This, however, is no argument against the study of auscultation and percussion being urged upon pupils following the practice of public institutions, espe- cially as the patients are subjected to little inconvenience, and the prin- cipal diagnostic signs furnished by these means may be learned in a short time. In several points connected with the treatment of surgical disease, there exists a material difference between England and the Continent. The most prominent of these consists in the absence of internal treat- ment in most surgical cases, by which surgery is reduced to little more than the application of dressings and the performance of operations. In France aad Italy scarcely any medicine is given in surgical diseases the means of relief being principally restricted to rest, the general and local abstraction of blood, local applications, including counter-irritants and, lastly, operations ; which are often performed in cases where their necessity would be obviated in England by the timely adoption of