An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in GermanyMonro, Donald
History
An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany
Monro, Donald
Medicine, Military; Military hospitals; Military hygiene; Seven Years' War, 1756-1763 -- Medical care
[76] Dr. _Hillary_, in mentioning the Remitting Fever of the
Island of _Barbadoes_, says: In those who were blooded, and
took an Emetic afterwards, and then the saline Draughts, the
Fever was generally carried quite off by a critical Sweat on
the seventh or ninth Day; in some few it came to intermit
regularly after that Time; and was soon cured by the _cortex
Peruviana_, given with the saline Draughts, and seldom
effectually without them; though these irregular ingeminated
Fevers often remitted, and sometimes seemed to intermit; yet
if the _cortex Peruviana_ was given too soon in the Disease,
before it intermitted regularly (as I have more than once
seen, where it had been injudiciously given), it generally
caused the Fever to become continual and malignant.
_Observat. on the epidemic Diseases of Barbadoes_, p. 22.
[77] Mr. _Cleghorn_, after giving a very accurate Account of
Tertian Fevers, as they appeared in their various Forms of
true, of double, and triple Tertians, and of Semi-Tertians,
in the Island of _Minorca_, tells us, that he first attempted
the Cure by profuse Evacuations; but afterwards learnt from
Experience, that they were unnecessary; and that Bleeding and
Purging once or twice in the Beginning, was all that was in
general requisite; and if on the fifth Day the third
Revolution was not attended with more threatening Symptoms
than the second, and the Patient bore it easily, he
frequently trusted the whole Business to Nature; which
commonly terminated the Fever about the fourth or fifth
Revolution; and for the most part with an Increase of some
natural Evacuation.--But if the Paroxysm on the fifth Day was
the longest and most severe that happened, attended with any
doubtful or dangerous Symptom, he ordered two Scruples of the
Cortex to be given every two or three Hours; so that five or
six Drachms may be taken before next Day at Noon; lest, if
this Interval escaped, he should not have found a favourable
Opportunity of giving a sufficient Quantity of the Medicine
afterwards; as the Fits about this Period are wont to become
double, subintrant, or continual.--This did not always put an
immediate Stop to the Fever, but it invigorated the Powers of
the Body, and prevented or removed the dangerous Symptoms.
Having given the Bark on the fifth Day, if a Fit came on the
sixth, and declined the same Evening, he gave some more Doses
of the Bark to mitigate the Fit on the seventh; yet sometimes
this Fit of the sixth united with that of the seventh, and
the Patient had the Heat, Restlessness, Raving, and other
Complaints, greatly augmented, and the Case seemed more
desperate than ever; which, however, were more dangerous in
Appearance than Reality, and went off with a profuse Sweat
next Morning; after which he gave the Bark freely as before;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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