A treatise on therapeutics, and pharmacology or materia medica (Volume 1).

  • Wood, George B. (George Bacon), 1797-1879.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on therapeutics, and pharmacology or materia medica (Volume 1). 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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    tageously used in varicocele, and in hemorrhoidal and aneurismal tumours. It has been employed also to aid in the reduction of strangulated hernia, in which it is supposed to be useful by dimi- nishing the bulk of the contents of the sac, in greater degree than it contracts the hernial orifice, so as to favour the return of the former through the latter; but this is scarcely an example of the mode of operation here referred to. For fulfilling the third indication for the use of astringents, that, namely, of obviating early inflammation by emptying the vessels, cold is an admirable remedy; but it is still more useful in that affection as a sedative, and will be fully treated of, in relation to its antiphlogistic action, under the head of sedative remedies. 3. Modes of Application. Cold as an astringent may be applied by means of cold air, cold water, ice or snow, evaporating liquids, and frigorific mixtures. Cold water may be applied upon linen rags or towels, by means of the douche, or by affusion, and may vary in temperature from 32° to 60°, according to the amount of effect de- sired. Ice and snow may be' applied in bladders, or wrapped up in cloths; and the former may be used in larger or smaller fragments, or finely pounded. Ether is the liquid most frequently employed with a view to the production of cold by evaporation; and its effects in this way may be greatly increased by blowing on it, by means of a pair of bellows, as it is dropped upon the surface. The most convenient/r'/^07*//ic mixture^ in the absence of cold water or ice, is made by mixing, in a pint of water, four ounces of sal ammoniac and the same quantity of nitre, which may be applied in a bladder. The following applications are made of cold in one or another of the above forms. Cold air is sometimes useful in arresting trau- matic hemorrhage^ and checking profuse perspiration. In the same kind of hemorrhage, very cold water or ice may sometimes be ad- vantageously resorted to, when the bleeding vessels are too small to be tied, or not conveniently reached, as in some operations about the rectum, vagina, &c. In ejnstaxis the water or ice may be applied over the nose, to the back of the neck, to the genitals in obstinate cases, or by affa- sion to the head. The same application may be made, in very obstinate hsemopity- sis, to the breast or axilla; but in this variety of hemorrhage the remedy should be used with caution, from the danger of producing congestion in the pulmonary parenchyma. In hxmaiemesis, the most effectual method of employing this