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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    SUBSECTION I. Primary Operation through the Circulation.—Absorption. It was at one time thought by many that medicines never entered the circulation. The absorbents were supposed to afford the only avenue of foreign bodies into the system. Substances incapable of being assimilated to the blood, were believed to pene- trate no further than the absorbent glands, which were so many sentinels placed to guard the system against the intrusion of nox- ious agents. This notion was purely theoretical; and, even at the time when it was most strenuously maintained, was opposed by known facts which prevented its universal adoption. Subsequent experiments and observations, extremely numerous, and diversified in almost every conceivable manner, have established the conclu- sion, beyond all possible doubt or cavil, that medicines are very frequently absorbed, and, entering the blood-vessels, are circulated with the blood throughout the body. The following proofs of this truth may be adduced. 1. When medicines are applied directly to any surface of the body, and produce their characteristic effects elsewhere, it may often be noticed that portions of them have disappeared, without any possibility of accounting for their disappearance except by their absorption, or at least their entrance into the system. 2. The sensible properties of the medicine, its odour, taste, and colour, are frequently perceptible, either unchanged, or somewhat modified, in the breath, the secretions, and even in the various solid tissues. The effect of garlic in diffusing its odour and taste is universally known; rhubarb gives to the urine the property of staining linen yellow; and madder not unfrequently imparts its red colour to the bones. 3. The peculiar medicinal or poisonous effects of certain sub- stances, are occasionally produced by taking into the stomach the liquid secretions of individuals under the influence of these sub- stances. Thus, medicines given to the mother not unfrequently operate on the suckling; and numerous other illustrations of a similar kind might be adduced. 4. Effects produced by medicines in distant parts, may be pre- vented by ligatures around the blood-vessels proceeding from the part with which the medicine is brought into immediate^contact. 5. In many instances the characteristic effects of medicines