North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826Various
History
North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826
Various
Medicine -- Periodicals
In the October number of the
Annales de la Medecine Physiologique, Mr. BECQUART of the military
hospital of Bayonne, details twenty-six cases of gonorrhoea,
inflammation of the testicles, chancres on the glans and lips, buboes,
excrescences around the anus, &c., all of which were cured without
mercury, and with the same remedies as were employed by Mr. RICHOND. We
might adduce the testimony of other French physicians, and particularly
of M. BEGIN, but we deem it unnecessary, as the above will be sufficient
to show that in France the practice meets with the support of many very
intelligent physicians. We annex the conclusions of Dr. OTTO of
Copenhagen, drawn from an extended personal experience, and from his
researches on the subject. Dr. OTTO'S essay is contained in a late
number of Graafe's and Walther's Journal, and the conclusions are
published in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. Dr. O. remarks:
1. That the cure of syphilis, without mercury, has been asserted by so
many authorities, that the fact can no longer be doubted. If, then, the
disease could formerly be cured without mercury, it may certainly now be
much easier, as it has lost much of its violence and obstinacy.
2. Syphilis can undoubtedly be radically cured in this manner; but then
the cure is of longer duration, and the diet requires considerable
restriction.
3. The secondary symptoms, and a return of the complaint, are certainly
more frequent; but the symptoms are not so difficult of removal; and the
treatment has a much more speedy effect.
4. As the treatment without mercury requires a longer time, it appears
more practicable in hospital than in private practice; and on the other
hand, the patient can be better watched in a hospital, which, on account
of the diet, is of great importance.
5. As ulcers on the genitals are often not syphilitic, and the use of
mercury is contraindicated from a predisposition to scrofula or phthisis
existing in the individual, it is consolatory to learn from the results
of experience, that this medicine is not always necessary, and that a
radical cure, by more simple and innocent means, can sometimes be
effected. Where, however, the physician is anxious to avoid the possible
evils which mercury is capable of producing, and also to prevent loss of
time, there remains a middle way, namely, to employ mercury, whose
specific action can scarcely be denied, in moderate doses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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