Homoeopathy : report of the speeches on irregular practice delivered at the Nineteenth Anniversary Meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Brighton, August 13 & 14, 1851.

Date:
1851
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Homoeopathy : report of the speeches on irregular practice delivered at the Nineteenth Anniversary Meeting of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, held at Brighton, August 13 & 14, 1851. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    SI 4. Describe the treatment of iritis. Answer. Mercury is the chief remedial agent, preceded by general or local abstraction of blood, if the strength of the patient will bear it. It should be given in small, frequently-repeated doses—half a grain or a grain of calomel. In small doses, first, because the system is more brought under the action of mercury when the doses are small and frequently repeated ; and second, because opium being contra-indicated, owing to its eifect in producing contrac- tion of the pupil, it ought to be given in doses that will not irritate the intes- tinal mucous membrane, producing diarrhoea, by which it would be carried out of the system, and not absorbed into it. In the strumous diathesis, the mercury should be given with caution ; the doses should be smaller; and the bichloride often acts better than the chloride, in such cases. In the gouty and rheum- atic diathesis, colchicum may be combined with the mercurial; and iodide of potassium is advantageous in some forms of the disease. Besides the local treat- ment by leeching, the external application of belladonna and the exclusion of light are most important means to prevent the closure and adhesion of the free margin of the iris. Counter-irritation may be demanded, in addition to other treatment. 5. Describe the treatment of acute laryngitis. Answer. The treatment consists in active antiphlogosis, bleeding, leeching, etc.; the exhibition of mercury (calomel, two grains, every two, three, or four hours ; but this may be preceded, in most cases, by nauseating doses of tartar- emetic (one-sixth to one-fourth of a grain), every two, three, or four hours. Leeches should not be applied over the larynx, owing to the difficulty of using pressure to stop the bleeding. Cupping in the nape of the neck is often better than leeches. 6. Describe the treatment of enteritis. Answer. Antiphlogistic treatment here must not be so rigorous as in many other inflammatory affections, as there is a tendency to prostration. Local abstrac- tion of blood, fomentations and poultices ; the exhibition of mucilaginous drinks with the cautious exhibition of calomel or hydrargyrum c. creta, in combination with opium or Dover's powder, include the principles of treatment. In this disease, the exhibition of opium alone, with other means tending to diaphoresis, will often be sufficient; and, under this treatment, the action of the bowels will become restored without the use of purgatives, which, in this disease, are questionable in any of the ordinary forms. 7. Mention the treatment of the various forms of intestinal entozoa. Ans2cer. For the tape-worm; the best remedy for ejecting it is the oil of turpentine, given in doses of from three drachms to five drachms, with castor-oil. The lumbrici are expelled by many purgatives, which have the effect of produc- ing mucous stools, as calomel and jalap, scammony, &c. Ascarides may be got rid of by using, in addition to the above, enemata of infusion of quassia. In all cases of worms, the tone of the digestive apparatus should be improved by tonics and alteratives. Although the above extracts from Dr. Hale's written answers specifying the mode of treatment he is in the habit of adopting, and the doses of the medi- cines which he prescribes [see the note to our third Examination Paper], are, 1 think sufficient to demonstrate that he cannot be a homo3opath, I may add the additional evidence afforded by some portions of his oral examination in materia medica. Dr. Anderson was his examiner, but I was present, and noted down the questions and answers. ^ Dr. Hale stated that the doses of bichloride of mercury, when given as an aiterative, varied from one-twelfth to one-sixteenth of a grain ; that in croup (in the case of a child of three years of age), he would give one-sixth to one-fourth ot a grain ol tartar-emetic every four hours ; and that in the pneumonia of adults he would give half a grain of the same medicine every three or four hours; that m prescribing hyoscyamus as a sedative, he gave eight or ton grains of the extract; and, finally, that he used arsenious acid in certain forms of skin
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