An effectual and simple remedy for scarlet fever and measles : with an appendix of cases / by Charles Witt.

  • Witt, Charles.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An effectual and simple remedy for scarlet fever and measles : with an appendix of cases / by Charles Witt. 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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    to cause the mischief which followed. The swelling, how- ever, quickly disappeared, and the recovery was perfect. And here a caution may be added against applying leeches to enlarged glands in these cases ; the bites are apt to ulcerate, leaving ugly marks on the neck. Even where matter does form, simple poultices alone are required. Case No. 2.—Scarlatina. The ammonia is administered with advantage at any of the earlier stages of the disorder, and may also be substituted with the best effect at an advanced stage for any other treat- ment. Scarlet fever had broken out at a large school, not far from London, and about a dozen boys were attacked. One of the most severe cases was a fine healthy lad of about twelve years of age, a member of a family in which two other children had, on a former occasion, suffered from a severe form of scarlet fever, and both had been successfully treated with ammonia under the author's care ; consequently he was requested to see the present case. A grain of calomel had been placed on the boy's tongue, the action of which had left him in a suitable state for the operation of the ammonia. The medical adviser of the school had never heard of this treatment, but no time was lost in its immediate adoption. The case exhibited all the usual symptoms of the disorder in a most marked form. The skin throughout was of the colour of a boiled lobster ; there was sore throat, foul tongue, headache, pulse 120, with restlessness and depres- sion, and more or less delirium. Five or six days had elapsed since the commencement of the attack, but the erup- tion showed no tendency to decline, nor was there any abatement of the symptoms. As the boy afterwards ex- pressed it, he felt as if his blood were all on fire. Five grains of the sesquicarbonate of ammonia were now given