A dictionary of practical surgery: comprehending all the most interesting improvements up to the present period: also an account of the instruments, remedies, and applications employed in surgery; the etymology and signification of the principal terms; a copious bibliotheca chirurgica; and a variety of original facts and observations / [Samuel Cooper].

  • Cooper, Samuel, 1780-1848.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of practical surgery: comprehending all the most interesting improvements up to the present period: also an account of the instruments, remedies, and applications employed in surgery; the etymology and signification of the principal terms; a copious bibliotheca chirurgica; and a variety of original facts and observations / [Samuel Cooper]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    removal. When it cannot he exactly de- tected, we are recommended generally to employ such remedies, as will lessen the sensibility of the nerves, and render them less apt to be affected by the irritation, of whatever kind it may he. Sometimes the irritation is both dis- coverable and removable, and still the ef- fect, that is to say, the blindness continues. In this circumstance, Richter thinks, that the surgeon should endeavour to obviate the impression, which the irritation lias left upon the nerves, by the use of ano- dynes, or, eke, he is of opinion, that the practitioner should try to remove the tor- por of the nerves by the employment of stimulants. But, according to Schmucker, Richter, and Scarpa, the curable imperfect amauro- sis commonly depends on some disease, or irritation, existing in the gastric system, and, in some instances, complicated with general nervous debility, in which the eyes participate. Hence, the chief indication, in the majority of cases, is to free the sto- mach and primes vim from all irritating matter, to strengthen the gastric organs, promote digestion, and reanimate the ner- vous system in general, and the nerves of the eye in particular. Emetics and internal resolvents answer the first purpose, and tartar emetic should be preferred to every pharmaceutical pre- paration. When afterwards administered, in small repeated doses, it also acts as a resolvent remedy, which operation may be rendered stronger by joining it with gummy saponaceous substances. Dissolve three grains of the antimonium tartarizatum, for an adult, in six ounces of water, and give a spoonful of this solution, every half hour, until nausea and copious vomiting are produced. The next day exhibit some resolvent powders, consisting of an ounce of cream of tartar, and one grain of tartar emetic, divided into six equal parts. The patient must take one of these in the morning, another four hours afterwards, and a third in the evening, for eight or ten days in succession. This remedy will create a little nausea, a few more alvine evacuations, than usual, and, perhaps, in the course of a few days, vo- miting. If the patient, during the use of these resolvent powders, should make vain efforts to vomit, complain of bitterness in his mouth, loss of appetite, and no reno- vation of sight, the emetic, as at first di- rected, is to be prescribed again. This is to be repeated a third, and fourth time, should the morbid state of the gastric sys- tem, the bitter taste in the mouth, the ten- sion of the hypochondria, the acid eructa- tions, and the inclination to vomit, make it necessary. The first emetic often pro- duces only an evacuation of an aqueous fluid, blended with a little mucus; but, if it be repeated, a few days after the resolv- ent powders have been administered, it then occasions a discharge of a consider- able quantity of a yellow, greenish, matter, to the infinite relief of the stomach, head, and eyes. The stomach having been thus emptied, Schmucker’s, or Richter’s, resolvent pills &re to be ordered. These are composed as follows: }?/ Gum. Sagapen. ) Galban. > an. 3j Sap Tenet. ) Rhei optim. 3iss Tart. Emet. gr. xvi. Sue. liqu rit 3i ^ant pilul® gran, quinque Three of these pills to be taken every morning and evening for a month, or six weeks. Gum. Ammoniac. A Ass. foetid. f Sap. Arenet. V an. 3'j Rad. Yaler. s p. V Summit. Arnicae. 1 Tart. Emet. gr. xviij fiant pilulai gran, quinque. Six to be taken thrice a day for several weeks. The pills are here directed to be made larger, than Schmucker and Richter order, that the number in one dose may be di- minished. To prescribe 15 pills three times a day would seem absurd to the generality of patients in this country. The following are the usual effects. The patient, after having vomited copiously, experiences a general calm, and an easi- ness not felt before. Sometimes, he be- gins to distinguish the outlines of objects the very day on which he takes the eme- tic; at other times, he does not reap this benefit till the fifth, seventh, or tenth day ; and, in some instances, not before some weeks have elapsed, after the exhibition of the emetic, and the uninterrupted use of the resolvent powders and pills. When the patient begins to recover his sight, the dilated state of the pupil diminishes; the iris contracts more on being exposed to the vivid light of a candle; and, in proportion as the power of seeing things increases, the contraction and moveableness of the pupil augment. On the whole, the cure is very seldom completed in less than a month, during which time the employment of such remedies, as are calculated to re- vive the languid action of the nerves of the eye, must not be neglected. When the above plan has rectified the state of the stomach, and partly effected the restoration of sight, such remedies must be employed, as strengthen the di- gestive organs, and excite the vigour of the nervous system in general, and of the nerves of the eye in particular. A powder is to be prescribed, composed of an ounce