On the relative value of atropine and of mercury in the treatment of acute iritis / by T. Pridgin Teale, Junr.

  • Teale, T. Pridgin (Thomas Pridgin), 1831-1923.
Date:
[cbetween 1800 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the relative value of atropine and of mercury in the treatment of acute iritis / by T. Pridgin Teale, Junr. 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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    tion by the skin. They speak of the coincidence of the improvement in the symptoms with the first appearance of constitutional effects of the mercury, and make this the signal for the reduction, not as I have done, for the entire omission of mercmy. Blood-letting, local and general, is usually urged as indispensable in u-itis. That it is not so I think the fore- going cases prove. I believe, however, that local blood- letting may be a valuable addition to other means of treat- ment, and that it facilitates the absorption of atropine, and accelerates its effects. Note on the Action of Atropine.—Writers on iritis gene- rally rest the credit and vtilue of atropine or belladonna on its power of dilating the pupil, in setting at rest the muscular tissue of the iris and ciliary body, and in diminishing the risk of the formation of synechias. I can- not, however, but suspect that it does more than this, that it acts as a du-ect sedative on inflamed and congested tissues, and that much of its power depends upon its in- fluence in contracting the blood-vessels. I cannot in any other way explain the remarkable value of this drug in many cases of ulcer of the cornea, and so-called strumous ophthalmia, a large proportion of which I treat by atropine only. Nor can I explain in any other way the immediate improvement, and rapid and complete recovery by means of atropine alone, of many cases of syphilitic iritis. That atropine does reduce the size of blood-vessels I have no doubt, having several times satisfied myself of the fact by obsei-ving the calibre of delicate vessels traversing the cornea before, and shortly, after the instillation of atropine.