Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 3: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
Science
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 3: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
7. In some patients the blood, in the course of the disease, exhibited
nearly _all_ the appearances which have been mentioned. They were varied
by the time in which the blood was drawn, and by the nature and force of
the remedies which had been used in the disease.
The effects of blood-letting upon the system were as follow:
1. It raised the pulse when depressed, and quickened it, when it was
preternaturally slow, or subject to intermissions.
2. It reduced its force and frequency.
3. It checked in many cases the vomiting which occurred in the beginning
of the disease, and thereby enabled the stomach to retain the purging
medicine. It likewise assisted the purge in preventing the dangerous or
fatal vomiting which came on about the fifth day.
4. It lessened the difficulty of opening the bowels. Upon this account,
in one of my addresses to the citizens of Philadelphia, I advised
bleeding to be used _before_, as well as after taking the mercurial
purge. Dr. Woodhouse informed me that he had several times seen patients
call for the close-stool while the blood was flowing from the vein.
5. It removed delirium, coma, and obstinate wakefulness. It also
prevented or checked hæmorrhages; hence perhaps another reason why not a
single instance of abortion occurred in such of my female patients as
were pregnant.
6. It disposed, in some cases, to a gentle perspiration.
7. It lessened the sensible debility of the system; hence patients
frequently rose from their beds, and walked across their rooms, in a few
hours after the operation had been performed.
8. The redness of the eyes frequently disappeared in a few hours after
bleeding. Mr. Coxe observed a dilated pupil to contract to its natural
size within a few minutes after he had bound up the arm of his patient. I
remarked, in the former part of this work, that blindness in many
instances attended or followed this fever. But two such cases occurred
among my patients. In one of them it was of short continuance, and in the
other it was probably occasioned by the want of sufficient bleeding. In
every case of blindness that came to my knowledge bleeding had been
omitted, or used only in a very moderate degree.
9. It eased _pain_. Thousands can testify this effect of blood-letting.
Many of my patients whom I bled with my own hand acknowledged to me,
while the blood was flowing, that they were better; and some of them
declared, that all their pains had left them before I had completely
bound up their arms.
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