Dosimetric medicine, or, A reform of pharmacy & therapeutics : an address to the physicians of Great Britain / by Dr. Burggraeve.

  • Burggraeve, Ad. (Adolphe), 1806-1902.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dosimetric medicine, or, A reform of pharmacy & therapeutics : an address to the physicians of Great Britain / by Dr. Burggraeve. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    But such is not medical practice; it is, at most, a dietetic treat- ment as understood by Hippocrates. Had the father of medicine known the resources of modern pharmaceutical chemistry, he would certainly have made use of them. He would not have hesitated to administer the alkaloids, because they act as febrifuge remedies, that is to say, as excito- motors which oppose paralysis of the vessels, and, consequently, the inflammation of which the phenomena of heat, pain, and swelling, are the effects and not the cause. The great fact of modern physiology regarding the vaso-motor nerves, thus finds its clinical, or therapeutic application, in the administration of the alkaloids at the commencement and during the progress of all acute affections. Let us suppose an eruptive fever (variola, scarlatina, measles); the eruption cannot come out because the skin is hot and dry, just as a seed cannot sprout in a dry hot soil. We have seen practitioners, in such cases, have recourse to cold water; it is, however, a dangerous remedy, and moreover, incon- stant. Others have recourse to bleeding, but the weak state of the patient is often a counter indication. Others, again, employ calomel to liquefy the blood ; but gastro-intcstinal irritation often proves an obstacle to its use, and it only causes an increase of reflex or cerebro-spinal symptoms. Finally, some resign themselves to an expectant treatment, only holding themselves in readiness to oppose any complication that may arise ; but then it is often too late. What physician does not know that encephalitis, carditis, pleurisy, and pneumonia, are almost constantly fatal in the course of eruptive fevers ? It will be replied to this that the medical man is not always summoned in time, as a consequence of the ignorance or careless- ness of parents or others. But, then, the responsibility only affects the latter. But even admitting that bronchi-pneumonia already exists ; by means of the alkaloids, such as strychnine, aconitine, veratrine, etc., there is still a chance of saving the patient, whilst with ordinary allopathic resources, all hope is apparently lost because they only burn their vessels. In fact, what is to be done after bleeding and the administration of counter-stimulants, evacuants, revulsives, and stimulants ? We must wait to allow nature to act, which often means nothing less than death. The jugulation of acute diseases is therefore the dominant fact of Dosimetry, and one which, by itself alone, ought to recommend