The American eclectic practice of medicine (Volume 2).

  • Jones, I. G. (Ichabod Gibson), 1807-1857.
Date:
1853-54
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The American eclectic practice of medicine (Volume 2). 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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    in most others of the class, as second attacks are not so fre- quent as in the others. Treatment. Unless there is some unusual severity, and except in cases of metastasis, no treatment will generally be required. If, however, the local and general symptoms are more severe than common, a light physic, abstinence from eating and from exposure of the parts, and a flannel bandage over the swelling, are all the measures that will be required. It may be desirable in some severe attacks to administer a pretty active cathartic, when the tongue is thickly coated and the bowels costive. In that case the antibilious physic and cream of tartar may be given in drachm doses each, and repeated if necessary. Or if a less active and more cooling cathartic is required, a dose or two of seidlitz powders may be given. But the main point connected with the treatment of mumps is to understand the proper management of the translated form of the affection. This is readily done. If the disease has been transferred to the testicles, the patient must be kept entirely quiet, and a suspensory bandage so adjusted as to prevent the weight of the testicle from straining the cord. Or if the patient is in bed, as it is best he should be for a few days, by placing the limbs close together, the testicle can be so arranged as to take off the weight, and also be in a more convenient position for the applications suited to the case. I have tried various local applications for these cases, but find none to afford anything like the immediate relief which I have always derived from the application of the hot hop fomenta- tions frequently changed. They will rarely fail to afford im- mediate relief to the pain and suffering, and be followed by a gradual decline of the swelling. They should be applied as hot as they can be borne, and changed once an hour. I have also generally directed the simultaneous application of a mustard poultice to the original seat of the affection, with the ostensible view at least of inviting back the disease to its former place. Nevertheless I have much doubt whether it has any special beneficial effect, as I have never witnessed any evidence of the return of the disease. With these local