A dialogue between a bilious patient and a physician / by James Henry.

  • Henry, James, 1798-1876.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dialogue between a bilious patient and a physician / by James Henry. 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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    stimulus, and does not regard it; the purgative re- peated has no effect, and the bowels remain shut up; the patient becomes alarmed, and doubles the dose; and thatfailing, has recourse to new and more powerful drugs; he succeeds at last, and the bowels are opened, only to relapse into still more obstinate costiveness, to be in its turn overcome by remedies more powerful still; until at length the delicate membrane of the intestinal tube becomes irritated, and the setting in of dysentery but too plainly indicates that inflammation or ulceration has taken place. Patient. You draw a terrifying picture, Doctor; and I only wish that I had less experience of its close resemblance to nature. I have been injured by those strong, drastic, irritating purgatives, and am ready to join in your reprobation of them. But you will surely not pronounce the same sentence of condemnation against those mildly opening and alterative medicines, which neither sicken nor gripe, but merely give a gentle stimulus to the bowels, and assist their natural action; I mean such medicines as Gregory’s powder, or the blue pill, which are so gentle and safe in their operation, that many persons keep them constantly at hand, and use them as occasion requires, without ask- ing any medical opinion upon the subject. Physician. The milder the purgative, the less dan- gerous of course it is. But as a mild purgative is apt to be ineffectual, unless it is given in a large dose, it comes to pretty much the same thing whether you use the large dose of the mild purgative, or the small dose of the strong one. Every medicine, strong or weak, which is strong enough to move the bowels, and is rfsed habitually for that purpose, comes within the scope of my objections. The evil is in the purging,