An inauagural discourse : on the policy of establishing a school of medicine in the city of Memphis, Tennessee / by the editor.
- Cross, James Conquest.
- Date:
- 1847
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An inauagural discourse : on the policy of establishing a school of medicine in the city of Memphis, Tennessee / by the editor. 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.)
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![more common occurrence than any other,—which, in itself or in its varied effects, is very often combined with all other modes of dis- eased action, and is more or less concerned in producing a large share of the mortality in every part of the world, no great princi- ple of pathology has been established; especially if this great prin- ciple consists in the universality of a phenomenon, or the invaria- bleness of a relationship, or of observed uniformities that can- not be resolved into more general laws, or of a truth admit- ted either without proof, or considered as having been proved. What is the therapeutical principle that is universally applica- ble to the treatment of inflammation ? If there is one that has more generally received the suffrages of the profession than any other, it is that which is deduced from the assumption that there is an actual increase of vital action in the vessels of an inflamed part, and that, conseqently, ultra depletion by every available means, is the therapeutical principle. But do all therapeutists concur in admitting the truth of this principle? Certainly not, for besides the fact that the recognized indications for blood-letting frequentlylead into error,* at this very moment, the ablest author- ities differ as to its value, some asserting that it has no effect,! others that it is positively injurious,]: and others who rely upon tonics and stimulants.|| *Thus have we seen a physician of days gone by, prescribe bleeding after bleed- ing for a chlorotic patient, simply because she complained of pain in her i ide< and her blood presented a buffy coat. Is the practitioner who is aware of the real value of the burly coat, the conditions of its formation, the deficiency of red corpuscles; and the in- fluence of iron in producing an increased production of them, to be charged with a dangerous use of hypothesis, because in such a case he prescribes ferruginous medi- cines instead of venesection? Surely not. The danger is on the side ol the practi- tioner, who presumes that a buffy coat and pain in the side are indications of inflam- matory action; and who, adopting the lancet as his chief instrument for combating that inflammation, reduces his unfortunate patient to a state of almost absolute anae- mia.'1—British and Foreign Medical Review, Fulnes of the vessels is very frequent in acute affections of the brain, and is to be recognizedby fulness and frequency of the pulse, and injection, and a swollen condi- tion of the superficial veins. But, remarks M. Pinel, ''a remarkable fact which has repeatedly been proved by observation, is that this excess, often far from augmenting the acuteness oi the cerebral symptoms, appears to calm and act as a sort ofsede upon them. Although the curative indication be to disgorge th< ous system, the indication must be followed up with extreme reserve. I have often Been women at the Salpetriere, who had been treated iporary delirium, admitted in a state of furor supervening after abundant loss of blood to which they had been submitted. And a little further n,i: we often observe that the only effect ot blood- letting is to diminish the state of hyperemia, and the intellectual disturbance continues in spite of it unaffected.— 1 tlvlr. Louis remarks:—UI1 resulte desufaits exposes dans cechapitrequela saigneen'a euquepeud'influencesnrla marchede la pneumonie, de I'irysipele de la faceetdel'an- gine gutturale, chez les mala i h observation; quefjon influence n'a pas tt6 plus marquee dans leseasou elle a etl copieuse el rfpetfee, que dans ceui ou, elle a unique el pen abondante; qu'ou ne jugule pas les inflammations, comme on ^e plait troup souvent a la dire; quo dans lea ca3 ou il parait en etre autrement, e'est sane](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21112009_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
