Health on the Congo : hygiene and medical treatment in south-west Africa, specially the Congo River comprising familiar letters / by Prosser James.

  • James, Prosser, 1836-1918.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health on the Congo : hygiene and medical treatment in south-west Africa, specially the Congo River comprising familiar letters / by Prosser James. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and unqualified instruction. But we are learning. Then, too, very much has been learnt during recent years as to reduction of temperature. Since the Franco-Prussian war a system of strong forcible abstraction of heat by the application of cold—water, in baths, packs, and in the form of ice—has been in vogue, especially in Germany, on a very large scale, with the result that in fevers mortality has been reduced one-half. Now our medical advisers recommend persistent use, with proper precautions— watching pulse and giving stimulants if necessary—of baths, packs, and occasionally strong douches. Had anyone suggested this in former years, without this good authority, we should have felt the responsibility of using such strong measures too great. We are learning. Many comparatively new medicines too—e.g., pilocarpine, anti- pyrin, &c.. have been brought into commoner use, and having won their way into ordinary prescriptions, can be used by us. To practise on ourselves and each other with new and only partially proven drugs is not right. We are rather behindhand on the Congo in our medical treatment as well as in most other things. I had no idea of writing such an extensive introduction to our little Congo vade mecum for fever. I meant but to earnestly impress upon my brethren the utmost importance of carefully studying the medical instructions given by Dr. James. If we want to teach the Congo tribes we