On the use of belladonna in enteric fever / by John Harley.

  • Harley, John, 1833-1921.
Date:
[1872?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of belladonna in enteric fever / by John Harley. 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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    a direct and powerful stimulant to the sympathetic nervous system. Let us now inquire what are its effects on the blood-vessels. If we observe the small arteries and capillaries during the operation of moderate doses of belladonna, we shall find that they are maintained for hours in a tonic and slightly contracted condition. The blood is equally distributed, and the circulation in any given part is so tight and rapid, that it really contains a little less blood than when in a quiescent state, and the tissue is consequently a little paler, but the quantity that passes through it in a given time is greatly increased. It is to be expected that a drug which is capable of producing such intense excite- ment will, if given in excessive doses (and these will be still as to quantity very minute), produce exhaustion. This is actually the case; dilatation of the minute blood-vessels and stasis of the blood being the effe.cts of improper doses. As these observations on the use of belladonna in enteric fever were made about seven years ago, and before belladonna juice was admitted into the Pharmacopoeia, I may mention that the succus employed was pre- pared by Messrs. Jacob Bell & Co., in the manner and propor- tions since prescribed in the Pharmacopoeia. The following were the effects of rqxxx (a dose given to many of the patients whose cases are narrated below), as noted in six healthy adults, male and female. Belladonna action was fully developed in all within an hour, and completed as far as could be determined by any appreciable effects at the end of the second hour. The pulse in one was accelerated only 10 beats; in another, 20; in a third, 26; in two others, 40 beats; and in the sixth (a youth of twenty), the cardiac systoles were more than doubled, the pulse rising from 60 to 140 beats. No effect on the respiratory movements were observable in any. The individual in whom the acceleration of the pulse amounted to 80, did not throughout the 45 minutes during which this the maximum acceleration continued, manifest the slightest disturbance of the breathing. The respiration never exceeded 18 ; and at the time when the cardiac excitement first reached its acme and afterwards the inspirations numbered 15 or 16, and were natural and easy. When the patient is taking thirty minims of belladonna juice every four hours for days together, moderate or excessive sym- ptoms (of which active delirium is the chief) are developed ac-