Introductory notice to [On the treatment of acute and chronic rheumatism of the joints, lumbago, &c.].

Date:
[cbetween 1800 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory notice to [On the treatment of acute and chronic rheumatism of the joints, lumbago, &c.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Nearly two years have elapsed since the publication'«f the '.aluable antiphlogistic and anodyne remedy, which I had i )und in the local application of a temperature 40 degrees lower 1 lan any hitherto employed in medicine; but although I have cot neglected the duty imposed on me by this discovery, of leaking it as extensively known as possible, I am sorry to say iiat its progress has not formed any exception to the truth, that fc all improvements, the last adopted have ever been those that ppertain to the practice of medicine. In this instance, how- yrer, there were peculiar difficulties to contend with. The iierapeutical expedient which I had to recommend, had only een known in its uncontrolled agency, and had, therefore, ' een known only as a cause of disease; and it was not at first ery obvious in what essential respect the degree of tempera- )ire which I wished to introduce as a new remedy, could difier •om the low temperatures that had already been in use. After the removal of the prejudices and misunderstandings hich are adverted to in the first paragraphs of the following isquisition, another question was sure to occur to the practi- oner: granting the utility and safety of this new remedy, 'hat advantage does it possess over the numerous expedients >r the removal of inflammation and pain which we already ossess, that will compensate for the trouble of applying it, and f learning how to apply it properly ? In the first place, it will cure diseases and relieve pains that innot be cured or relieved by any other known means. Both 3 an antiphlogistic and as an anodyne, the temperature which