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
From the impracticability of exciting a salivation in all cases, I
attempted the cure of this fever, after bleeding, by means of copious
sweats. They succeeded in several instances where no other remedy
promised or afforded any relief. They were excited by wrapping the
patient in a blanket, with half a dozen hot bricks wetted with vinegar,
and applied to different parts of the body. The sweating was continued
for six hours, and repeated daily for four or five days.
In those cases where the fever put on the form of an intermittent, I gave
bark after bleeding and purging with advantage. I gave it likewise in all
those cases where the fever put on the type of the slow chronic fever.
Laudanum was acceptable and useful in many cases of pain, wakefulness,
vomiting, and diarrh[oe]a, after the use of depleting remedies.
I applied _blisters_ in the usual way in this fever, but I think with
less effect than in the yellow fevers of former years.
To relieve a vomiting, which was very distressing in many cases about the
fourth and fifth days, I gave a julep, composed of the salt of tartar and
laudanum. I also gave Dr. Hosack's anti-emetic medicine, composed of
equal parts of lime-water and milk. I do not know that it saved any
lives, but I am sure it gave ease by removing a painful symptom, and
thus, where it did not cure, lessened the sufferings of the sick.
The diet and drinks were the same in this fever as they were in the
fevers formerly described.
Cool air, cold water, and cleanliness produced their usual salutary
effects in this fever.
I shall now deliver a short account of the symptoms which indicated a
favourable and an unfavourable issue of the disease.
It has been said[8], that the signs of danger vary in this fever, from
the influence of the weather. The autumn of 1798 confirmed, in many
instances, the truth of this remark.
[8] History of the Fever in 1797.
I saw no instance of death where a bleeding occurred from the gums on the
fourth or fifth day, provided depleting remedies had been used from the
beginning of the disease. Few recovered who had this symptom in 1793.
I saw three recoveries after convulsions in the year 1798. All died who
were convulsed in 1793 and 1797.
A dry, hoarse, and sore throat was followed by death in every case in
which it occurred in my practice. In the fever of 1793 a sore throat was
a favourable sign. It was one of the circumstances which determined me
to use a salivation in that fever.
The absence of pain was always a bad sign. Small, but frequent stools,
and the continuance of a redness in the eyes after the ample use of
depleting remedies, were likewise bad signs.
An appetite for food on the fourth or fifth day of the fever, without a
remission or cessation of the fever, was always unfavourable.
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