Observations on the Asiatic cholera, during a residence in St. Petersburg in 1848, and on its prevention and cure : with an account of the sanitary regulations proposed to be adopted against the spreading of the disease in this country / by Adair Crawford.

Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the Asiatic cholera, during a residence in St. Petersburg in 1848, and on its prevention and cure : with an account of the sanitary regulations proposed to be adopted against the spreading of the disease in this country / by Adair Crawford. 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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    Cholera.—Chloroform. To the Editor of the Record. Sir, Two such remarkable cases of the almost instantaneous cure of Indian cholera have taken place in my parish that I feel it right to em- ploy the medium of your paper to make them known to the public. I give the medical account both of the attack and of the remedy in one of these cases. The merit of the discovery and the application of the remedy is due to a Mr. Brady, a medical practitioner in this place. I may add, that two other medical men, in other places, have been led to use the same means, and they have done so with the same success. The report of Mr. Brady is as follows:—“ On my arrival I found the patient presenting all the symptoms of malignant Asiatic cholera, in an advanced stage ; the features collapsed and ghastly; extremities and tongue cold; burning sensation in the stomach and oesophagus; pulse rapid and scarcely perceptible; voice diminished to a whisper ; stomach exceedingly irritable, and the dejections from the bowels presenting the characteristic rice-water appearance ; the sight gone, and all the volun- tary muscles affected by spasm, so that the patient writhed with agony. I immediately administered a large teaspoonful of the chloroform mix- ture (containing about six minims of chloroform and forty of turpentine, in a glass of dilute brandy ; and applied mustard poultices to the calves of the legs, the abdominal and thoriac muscles. Thirst was relieved by drinking plenty of water, nearly cold. Notwithstanding the irritable state of the stomach, I had the satisfaction to find that the chloroform draught was retained, as well as the fluid drunk after it, and was followed by no dejection. I now (half an hour after the draught) gave a pill with a few grains of calomel. In another hour I again administered the same dose of chloroform, and soon after repeated the pill. The stomach retained both ; the pulse rose in power and became slower ; the spasms less frequent; and in an hour after the second dose, she was bathed in a profuse perspiration, and expressed herself comparatively free from all uneasy sensations. The attack was completely subdued, leaving behind it a good deal of debility, from which she is rapidly recovering.” It is remarkable that the chloroform thus taken internally does not affect the brain, and appears not to be followed, like brandy and other stimulants, by the smallest prostration of strength. The second case to which I have referred varies in no one leading particular from this, and these are the only two which have occurred in the village. I send this statement in the hopes that those who have larger oppor- tunity will put this remedy to a more extensive test. My own convic- tions are so strong of its efficiency that I should not hesitate to apply it if the necessity arose. I am, your obedient, &c. Sept. 19, 1848. c' London: Printed by Wili.iam Clowks and Sons, Stamford Stroet. For Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.