Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 4: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
History
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 4: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
There were now and then remissions and intermissions of the fever,
accompanied with such signs of danger from debility, as to render the
exhibition of a few drops of laudanum, a little wine-whey, a glass of
brandy and water, and, in some instances, a cup of weak chicken-broth,
highly necessary and useful. In addition to these cordial drinks, I
directed the feet to be placed in a tub of warm water, which was
introduced under the bed-clothes, so that the patient was not weakened by
being raised from a horizontal posture. All these remedies were laid
aside upon the return of a paroxysm of fever.
I did not prescribe bark in a single case of this disease. An infusion of
the quassia root was substituted in its room, in several instances, with
advantage.
_Blisters_ were applied as usual, but, from the insensibility of the
skin, they were less effectual than applications of mustard to the arms
and legs. It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that while the stomach,
bowels, and even the large blood-vessels are sometimes in a highly
excited state, and overcharged, as it were, with life, the whole surface
of the body is in a state of the greatest torpor. To attempt to excite it
by internal remedies is like adding fuel to a chimney already on fire.
The excitement of the blood-vessels, and the circulation of the blood,
can only be equalized by the application of stimulants to the skin.
These, to be effectual, should be of the most powerful kind. Caustics
might probably be used in such cases with advantage. I am led to this
opinion by a fact communicated to me by Dr. Stewart. A lighted candle,
which had been left on the bed of a woman whom he was attending in the
apparent last stage of the yellow fever, fell upon her breast. She was
too insensible to feel, or too weak to remove it. Before her nurse came
into her room, it had made a deep and extensive impression upon her
flesh. From that time she revived, and in the course of a few days
recovered. As a tonic remedy in this fever, Dr. Jackson has spoken to me
in high terms of the good effects of riding in a carriage. Patients, he
informed me, who were moved with difficulty, after riding a few miles
were able to sit up, and, when they returned from their excursions, were
frequently able to walk to their beds.
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