An examination of the strictures in the New-England journal for October 1823, and in the North-American review for October 1823, on Essays on fevers, &c / by Thomas Miner and William Tully.

  • Miner, Thomas, 1777-1841.
Date:
1823
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An examination of the strictures in the New-England journal for October 1823, and in the North-American review for October 1823, on Essays on fevers, &c / by Thomas Miner and William Tully. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    2U the days of Henry VII., the Pestilence which swept off the Indians of Massachusetts, two or three years previous to the landing of our forefa- thers in Plymouth, the great Plague of London, the modern Plague of the Levant, the Cholera of India, or the Yellow-fever of 1820, in Savannah. Dr. Good, in his Study of Medicine, seems, though indirectly, yet very clearly, to be of the same opinion with us, concerning the typhoid nature of wide-spreading epidemics. The critic says, although Dr. M. sometimes speaks of the indiscri- minate use of bleeding, 8fc. as being the practice he condemns, i/et it is obvious from the whole tenor of his work, that it is the indiscriminate rejection of them only, that will satisfy him. Had the reviewer stu- died to make an assertion, which should be the most completely in opposi tion to all the specifications, and the whole tenor and scope of our work, he could not have hit upon one so palpable, or have been guilty of a great- er violation of truth. Our rejection of depiction, and the cautions against profuse evacuations, are expressly and repeatedly, and throughout the whole volume, confined to cases of deficiency or exhaustion of vital ener- gy, while these measures are uniformly maintained to be indispensable in the treatment of diseases of an opposite character. But, let us examine the practice of that class of physicians, who so falesly bring this charge of indiscriminate practice against us, that we may see, whether it can- not be with the utmost truth, retorted upon themselves, without being in the least uncharitable. Dr. Welsh, who appeals to be at the head of an important institu. tion in Edinburgh, says, that emetics are dangerous in their opera- tion,—that their operation is very uncertain,—that they have lit- tle effect in violent fever, and frequently occasion those who depend on them, to lose time in the mildest. He adds, emetics we have never seen of much service, and of course, they have been but seldom employ- ed. Purgatives are likewise uncertain in their operation,— they require some time also for their full operation,— the patient was often in a state of convalescence, from the use of the lancet, even before a pro- per system of purgation could have been brought to act upon the bow- els ;—and yet in another place he affirms, that purgatives have al- ways had the best effects ; and if there were any mode of cure, that could with justice be substituted for venesection, it would be purgatives ! He says, sudorifics have been but little tried at Queensbury house— the objections against diaphoretics have been stated so strongly by Sydenham and Cullen, that it appears useless to insist further on them here they are uncertain, slow, and disagreeable, even where they succeed ; they are unmanageable, and often disappoint the wishes, of the practitioner; and above all, can always be most certainly compensated for, by the use of the lancet, which is by far the safest diaphoretic. To these remarks, we add those of Dr. James Johnson, on the same class of remedies' « Now that the principles which govern the perspiratory process. *~ bet-