Mr. Liston on the respiration of sulphuric ether.

  • Liston, Robert, 1794-1847.
Date:
[1847]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. Liston on the respiration of sulphuric ether. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    7/32 (page 29)
    THE ♦ BOSTON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL. Vol. XXXVI. Wednesday, Febritary 10, 1847. No. 2. ALPHABETICAL NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE TREATMENT OF DYSPEPSIA. By Robert Dick, M.D., London. As an interval, unexpectedly long, caused by other engagements, occurs between the author's former paper* and the present, he thinks it necessary to remind the reader, that his proposed plan is, to notice, in alphabetical order, and as curtly and practically as possible, subjects connected with the pathology and treatment of dyspeptic derangements. Aconitum Napellus.—In one case of obstinate dyspepsia, caused (as a post-mortem examination proved, and as, during the life of the patient, was suspected) by scirrhus of the pylorus, aconite certainly afforded some relief. Scirrhus of the pylorus seems to affect the stomach in two ways, or rather, to be accompanied by two different conditions of that organ. In one, there is erythema of the gastric mucous membrane, accompanied with what is usually called irritable dyspepsia ; in the other, there is de- fective circulation in the gastric mucous membrane, and the accompany- ing dyspepsia is of the atonic form. It is in the former of these varieties that aconite is useful; yet I am not satisfied that its good effects are at all specific, and not dependent on that sedative property which it possesses in common with hyoscyamus, conium, and even humulus and lactuca. Like the last of these, it appears to be slightly endowed with diuretic and diaphoretic properties (most substances which act in the one way, act also in the other) ; and, perhaps, to these, as well as to its sedative powers, is due the relief it gives in the irritable dyspepsia of scirrhous pylorus, which is usually accompanied with a degree of febrile excitement, and hot hands, feet, and skin, during which both the cutaneous surface and the kidney act inefficiently. The alcoholic extract of aconite is its best preparation. Induced by the seeming success of the case above referred to, I have tried it in one or two other cases of suspected scirrhus of the pylorus, and with apparent advantage. These cases I afterwards lost sight of, and I am therefore unacquainted with the terminations of them, and whether my conjectures as to their nature were well founded. They were characterized by extremely slow digestion ; a feeling of obsti-uction at the angle of the right ribs, and a circumscribed fulness and hardness there, perceptible to the touch of the examiner. They were also accom- • See No. i), \ol. XXXV., of this Journal.