On the use of the nitrate of silver in the cure of erysipelas / by John Higginbottom.

  • Higginbottom, John, 1788-1876.
Date:
[1847]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of the nitrate of silver in the cure of erysipelas / by John Higginbottom. 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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    a patch of erysipelatous inflammation on the right side of the face, without any considerahle increase of fever. The nitrate of silver was well applied on the inflamed part, and on the surrounding skin. There was no further extension of erysipelas. It will be observed in the two last cases, when the nitrate of silver was promptly applied, before the erysipelas had produced severe con- stitutional symptoms, that the progress of the disease was instanilv arrested, and that the patients speedily recovered, in the case of Miss B , although the erysipelas at 6rst was suffered to proceed, the ap- plication of the nitrate of silver to the whole scalp prevented any cerebral affection, and the patient was convalescent in a short time. In the 6rst case related, there were restlessness and delirium (ifieen hours alter the application of llie uiirale of silver, but it was observed that the scalp where ilie nitrate ol silver had not been applied was inflamed and on the decided a|)plication of the nitrate of silver on the whole of the scalp, the delirium ceased. From these cases as we!i as from my experience of many years, I conclude that the speedy application of the nitrate of silver will arrest the progress of erysipelas, and prevent cerebral mischief. It is also of great practical importance to subdue erysipelatous inflammation in the commencement, for 1 have observed when the attacks have been severe, that the patients afterwards be- come more subject to a recurrence of the disease. The great obstacle to the general and free use of the nitrate of silver, even at the present day, ai)pears to arise from the impression on the minds of many surgeons that it is a caustic— a destructive agent. If they could be divested of that idea, and use it as freely as they would a common blister of cantharides, their fears would soon subside, from repeatedly oi)serving the safety of the application, and also its bene- ficial effects. In my own practice I have always considered it a safer remedy than cantharides, as it may be applied freely over a surface, even where very active inflammation exists, or where there is an ex- tensive surface denuded ot its cuticle. This remedy has also the advantage of not affecting the bladder, or producing strangury. The nitrate of silver is not a caustic in any sense of the word. It subdues inflammation, and induces resolution and the healing process. It preserves, and does not destroy, the pai't to which it is applied. If we compare a caustic, as the hydrate of potassa, with the nitrate of sil- ver, we find that the hydrate of potassa destroys and induces a slough and the ulcerative process ; but if we touch a part wi.h the nitrate of silver, the eschar remains for a time, and then falls of, leaving the sub- sequeni parts healed. If an ulcerated surface secreting pus be touched by the nitrate of silver, the succeeding discharge is immediately convertid into lymph ; it is the property of the hydrate of potassa, on the contrary, to induce not only ulceration but suppuration. In short, the peculiar proper- ties of the nitrate of silver have long been kept unknown to us by the designation of lunar caustic, affording the most striking instance of the influem e of a term, or of a classification, upon the human mind. The nitrate of silver and the hydrate of potassa, (as indeed'all caustics,) are as the poles to each other, the first preserves, the second destroys ; the first induces cicatrization, the second ulceration. Notiinijham, July 21th, I8fl7.