Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 4: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author — John Shaqi
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
5. I derived great advantage from the application of blisters to the
wrists, _before_ the system descended to what I have elsewhere called,
the blistering point. This was on the second and third days. My design,
in applying them thus early, was to attract morbid excitement to the
extremities, and thereby to create a substitute for a salivation. They
had this effect. The pain, increase of fever, and occasional strangury,
which were produced by them, served like anchors to prevent the system
being drifted and lost, by the concentration of morbid excitement in the
stomach and brain, on the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh days of the
disease. It gave me great pleasure to find, upon revising Dr. Home's
account of the yellow fever, that this mode of applying blisters, in the
early stage of the disease, was not a new one. He often applied them in
the first stage of the fever, more especially when the yellow colour of
the skin made its appearance on the first or second day. By the advice of
Dr. Cheney, of Jamaica, he was led to prefer them to the thighs, instead
of the trunk of the body, or the legs and arms. He forbids their ever
being applied below the calf of the legs. This caution is probably more
necessary in the West-Indies than in the United States. The pain and
inflammation excited by the blisters were mitigated by soft poultices of
bread and milk. The strangury soon yielded to demulcent drinks,
particularly to flaxseed tea.
I was happy in not being compelled, by the violence or obstinacy of this
fever, to resort to a salivation in order to cure it, in a single
instance; the discharges from the stomach and bowels, and from the veins,
pores, and skin, having proved sufficient to convey the disease out of
the system.
Two persons recovered this year who had the black vomiting. One of them
was by means of large quantities of brandy and volatile alkali,
administered by Dr. John Dorsey, in the city hospital; the other was by
means of lime and water and milk, given by an intelligent nurse to one of
my patients, during the interval of my visits to her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account