Essays on infant therapeutics : to which are added observations on ergot ; history of the origin of the use of mercury in inflammatory complaints; together with the statistics of the deaths from poisoning in New York in the years 1841-2-3 / by John B. Beck.

  • Beck, John B. (John Brodhead), 1794-1851.
Date:
1852, ©1851
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on infant therapeutics : to which are added observations on ergot ; history of the origin of the use of mercury in inflammatory complaints; together with the statistics of the deaths from poisoning in New York in the years 1841-2-3 / by John B. Beck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    power and value. Besides acting on the stoma-eh, it extends its influence to the mucous membrane lining the pulmonary organs, promoting secretion in the first placCj. and then aiding in dislodging and ejecting morbid accumulations; accordingly, in pulmonary affections, there is nothing so effica- cious. During the first week or two after birth,, the best plan perhaps is,, if vomiting is indicated, to excite it by giving a little tepid water and then tickling the fauces with a feather.. 2. The vomiting induced by the preparations of antimony ought to be resorted to with great cau- tion in very young children, and should never be used except in those cases where a sedative effect is required,, and can be borne with, safety. Inflam- matory excitement ought then always to be present to justify its use in a young child. Where the object is simply to evacuate the stomach, it ought never to be thought of In such cases as croup and pneumonic inflammation, it may be justifiably and beneficially used. In these cases it will be found, that the system can bear the sedative in- fluence of the article much better than it can in the ordinary conditions of the system.* Even * With regard to the use of tartar emetic in croup, Dr. Stokes, of Dublin, makes the following statement: For the introduction of this inestimable remedy in the treatment of the croup, the science is indebted to Dr. Cheyne. In his essay on Cynanche Trachealis, published in Edinburgh in 1801, we find the treatment recommended ; and it is no small evidence in its favor, that in the year 18C2, after an experience greater than falls to the lot of most men, the opinions of this philosopliical investigator of disease have remained unaltered. How changed