Observations on phthisis pulmonalis, and the use of the digitalis purpurea in the treatment of that disease : with practical remarks on the use of the tepid bath / by Isaac Rand, M.D. ... ; read at the request of the Massachusetts Medical Society, June 6, 1804.

  • Rand, Isaac, 1743-1822.
Date:
1804
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on phthisis pulmonalis, and the use of the digitalis purpurea in the treatment of that disease : with practical remarks on the use of the tepid bath / by Isaac Rand, M.D. ... ; read at the request of the Massachusetts Medical Society, June 6, 1804. 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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    curs. It has been supposed that nausea, a diminution of arterial motion and absorption are mutually and necessa- rily related to each other. The same effects have been attempted to be produced by sailing long sea-voyages, a succession of gentle emet- icl^s and swinging,have in many instances been attended with the happiest effects, as may be seen by consulting Gilchrist on sea-voyages, Reid on the effects of emeticl^s in phthisis pulmonalis and Carmichael Smith's essay on swinging. Each of these remedies, by inducing nausea, vertigo, has powerfully and sometimes permanently re- tarded the action of the heart and lungs, promoted ab- sorption and cured the hecticfc. Mudge, in his treatise on the Catarrh, relates the cas« of a man, who laboured under phthisis pulmonalis, who expectorated such quantities of pus, with fever, night sweats and every concomitant of this disease, that death seemed inevitable, as the disease eluded everv method of cure. However, after some time, to his surprise, the ex- pectoration lessened, the cough subsided, his appetite and digestion increased, he acquired flesh, and was re- stored to his usual health. He died some time after of an acute disease, the small pox. Upon inspecting his thorax he discovered that the phthisis pulmonalis was cured by the absorption of the whole right lobe of his lungs. One side of his chest was deficient of its lobe, and that part of the trachea to which the lobe appended was closed up. In this case, we discover the curative process was conducted and finally accomplished by the absorbents removing the diseased part. The digitalis, had it been employed, might have contributed to their curative exertions.