Remarks on the efficacy of matico, as a styptic and astringent. With additional cases, mode of exhibition, &c / [Thomas Jeffreys].

  • Jeffreys, Thomas, 1774?-1852.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the efficacy of matico, as a styptic and astringent. With additional cases, mode of exhibition, &c / [Thomas Jeffreys]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/42 (page 15)
    x symptoms of head affection, leeches were ordered, which, by his own de¬ sire, were applied inside of both nostrils. The bites bled profusely, and there was a difficulty in stopping the bleeding : cold applications to the head, and plugging the nostrils, &c., were tried without effect; when the Matico in leaf was applied over the bites, pressed on with the point of the finger, the remedy proved immediately successful. This is, in my opinion, a good and decided case, happening in the person of an intelligent and ex¬ perienced medical man. He describes the feeling produced by the leaf, to be one of increased heat and throbbing, which continued for about five minutes, when all unpleasant sensations went. off. Others, to whom it was applied, described their feelings as very similar to those just mentioned.* The Matico was also applied to a man brought into this hospital with a wound of the right temple; a considerable branch of the temporal artery had been divided. The wound was dressed, and a compress and bandage applied, but still the blood burst out; cold water was several times had re¬ course to, still the bleeding returned after a while ; at last the Matico was used. At first I stuffed the wound with the powder, but found it not to an¬ swer so well as the leaf, being soon washed away from the wound in the vessel. I then pressed in several pieces of the leaves, holding them firmly for some time with the point of the finger. The result was, that we had no more haemorrhage. We had a somewhat similar case of a man with a wound of a branch of the palmar artery, which resisted graduated compression and bandages, and in which the Matico was used with the best success. “ From these cases I cannot doubt but that the Matico has most decided qualities, and that it may become a very valuable addition to our Materia Medica. It will afford me pleasure if I can give you any further testimony of the effects of this substance, in which you seem to have a peculiar interest. I shall persevere in trying it in cases where I think it appropriate, whether medical or surgical. Mr. Crichton, my successor for the following year in the Infirmary, has promised to follow up the experiments with the Matico ; and the house-surgeon takes an interest in the matter, so that I hope to give you further proof of its good effects as a styptic. “ I remain, dear Sir, “ Yours very truly, “WILLIAM MONRO.” Extract of a Letter from Dr. Kendrick, of Warrington, to Dr. Jeffreys, of Liverpool, June 8, 1842, “ On the subject of the cultivation of Matico, I procured as many seeds as I could from the packet I last received, and placed them in the hands of a gardener on whom I could depend, for the purpose of sowing them. I am sorry to say, not a single seed has vegetated,—and that, I suspect, from the * The sense of heat in the part when applied is a strong proof of its being likely to succeed.