On the efficacy of carbonic acid gas in the diseases of tropical climates : with directions for the treatment of the acute and chronic stages of dysentery / by John Parkin.

Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the efficacy of carbonic acid gas in the diseases of tropical climates : with directions for the treatment of the acute and chronic stages of dysentery / by John Parkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    “CAUSE.” In entering on an inquiry respecting the treatment of the diseases of tropical climates, it is necessary, in order to understand the modus operandi of the medicine about to he proposed, to consider, first, what causes are chieflv concerned in the production of such affections. Unless clear and distinct notions are entertained upon this point, our practice, instead of being scientific and based upon sure and fixed principles, would be waver- ing, uncertain, and altogether empirical. We will, therefore, shortly consider what are the probable causes of the complaints about to be brought under considera- tion ; and, in so doing, follow the distinction usually made by other writers in dividing these causes into two, viz. the remote, and the proximate. The remote cause may be defined, the circumstance, or combination of circumstances, by which the Agent productive of these morbid phenomena is formed, or becomes generated. It is not, however, my intention, at the present moment, to enter into any discussion as to the mode by which the poison productive of these diseases is itself produced, as this will require a separate and distinct consideration, and as it is my purpose to recur thereto on a future occasion. It is sufficient at present to state, that, in certain localities (more particu- larly in tropical climates) a gaseous or other substance having been generated, by certain causes, in the bowels of the earth, is afterwards extricated in greater or less abundance from the surface, and becomes diffused throughout the surrounding atmosphere. In this situa- tion it is liable to be taken into the lungs together with