Warning and admonition to the British public on the introduction (now well ascertained) of the cholera of India / by Sir Gilbert Blane.

  • Blane, Gilbert, Sir, 1749-1834.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Warning and admonition to the British public on the introduction (now well ascertained) of the cholera of India / by Sir Gilbert Blane. 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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    as a remedy. Warm purges are preferable. Lord Hastings told me the tincture of rhubarb had a great share, in his own case, in keeping it off at the first mo- ment of seizure, acting at once as a preventive, a cordial, and a remedy. If in two or three hours after the first administration of these remedies no professional assistance should arrive, let the same dose of laudanum and spirits be repeated, and even a third time in case the like circumstances should render it necessary, toge- ther with 20 grains of calomel. With regard to the difference of dose as proportioned to age, let one-third be given to those about seven, one-half to those about fourteen : ordinary good sense will regulate this. The secondary re- medies are the essential oils of fresh aromatic vegetables, such as Peppermint and Cajeputa, in doses of 20 drops in three table spoons- full of plain water. The essential oils of the dry spices, such as cin- namon and nutmegs, are not ad- missible except in doses of five or six drops, on account of their much greater acrimony. The re- medies on which most dependance has been placed next to those above mentioned are calomel, in the dose of 20 grains, and blood- letting. It is highly probable from analogy, that oil of Turpen- tine, in doses of two drachms or more diluted, could not fail to be beneficial. In conclusion, it is not out of place here to insert the answer made by Dr. Franklin, when agent of the States of America at Paris, to a question put to him regarding the prevention of infection : De s'Eloigner assez tot, d'aller assez loin, et d'y rester assez long terns. But considering the great variety of ways in which infection is en- gendered and propagated, this in- junction seems much too laconic though so characteristic of the ge- nius of that great man. In case the reader should dis- cover some want of proper style and arrangement in the preceding pages, the writer begs to offer as, an apology, his age and infirmities, as well as the urgent necessity of a speedy circulation of the know- ledge contained in them, and that it was necessary to depart somewhat from technical words and phrases, this tract being chiefly intended for the perusal of those who may be designated laymen, as distin- guished from those who are mem- bers of the profession, and who (as has been already said) have to do with the practical measures more than professional men. Since the circulation of the first impressions of this Warning, the most studious pains have been taken to counteract their salutary effect by letters in all the Daily Papers, pretending to shew that this disease is not contagious, and the consequence predicted* has fol- lowed 3 for these letters, though full of the most glaring sophisms and mis-statement of facts, have already operated so far on the Ma- gistrates of Sunderland, that it is certain no sufficient means have been taken to counteract the infection, and it has actually broken out there in its genuine, and publicly admitted, character, and must do so in other places unless a different conduct is observed. * See Page 2, Column 1, of tins Tract.