On the use of the alcoholic stimulants in fever: a paper read before the Glasgow Southern Medical Society, on the 19th Aug. 1847 / [John Leech].

  • Leech, John, -1870.
Date:
1848
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of the alcoholic stimulants in fever: a paper read before the Glasgow Southern Medical Society, on the 19th Aug. 1847 / [John Leech]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    alcohol, if not alone, yet most certainly principally, that we are to attribute the active benefit in fever;—I say that without this assistance we are certain to incur the loss of a heavy per centage in fever cases, that might otherwise have been successfully carried through by its timely and judicious administration. Besides, a large majority of such as survive the fever, when the legitimate stimulant has been neglected, give indications of the in¬ jury sustained in consequence of this omission, by a train of morbid symptoms indicative of chronic disease, affecting some important function; which, though it may not often prove mortal, may yet render the future life of the unfortunate one of endurance rather than of enjoyment, and thus a continued memento of the unhappy neglect. Hence the vital importance of a thorough and accurate acquaint¬ ance with three circumstances to be briefly considered. 1st. At what stage of fever is the use of alcoholic stimulants required? 2d. What are some of the more immediate symptoms that in¬ dicate the necessity of their employment? 3d. What are a few of the principal rules to guide us iii regu¬ lating, 1st, the quantity; and, 2d, the particular form in which alcohol is to be prescribed? Qy. I. At what stage of fever is the use of alcoholic stimulants required? Writers on fever seem generally to agree in considering that alcoholic stimulants are seldom advisable during the early stages of fever, much, of course, depending upon the peculiar type of the fever; —the constitution, and previous habits of the patient. Dr. Armstrong says, “ perhaps the period is fast approaching when the diffusible stimuli will be universally prohibited in the earlier stages of all ardent fevers, and it may be laid down as a principle that they are very detrimental during the stage of excite¬ ment. It has, indeed, been contended that wine does not stimulate so much in fever as in health, and, strange as it may appear, it is still the custom of some practitioners to pour in large quantities of wine indiscriminately throughout all the stages of genuine typhus. “It may happen that the energies of the constitution may prevail against the combined injury of the treatment and the disease, and this injudicious system have the merit of the recovery falsely attrib-