Remarks on the nature and treatment of cholera; being the substance of a paper laid before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh. Addressed to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost of Edinburgh / [John Argyll Robertson].

  • Robertson, John Argyll, 1798 or 1799?-1855.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the nature and treatment of cholera; being the substance of a paper laid before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh. Addressed to the Right Honourable the Lord Provost of Edinburgh / [John Argyll Robertson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the remaining twelve who were not bled, no fewer than eight fell victims to the disease. Indeed we are told in general, that when a patient can be made to bleed in this stage (of collapse) he almost invaria¬ bly recovers. “ 1 beg to give my testimony (says Dr. Dauri) in favour of bleeding. So far as my experience enables me to form an opinion, bleeding, early and copious bleeding, is the only means of cure yet dis¬ covered on which any reliance should be placed.” Again, “ in the cases successfully treated by bleed¬ ing, it was remarked, that the pulse, though feeble and intermitting when the vein was opened, became stronger and more equal in its pulsations as the blood flowed ; the patients also expressed their re¬ ceiving the greatest relief from bleeding. In two cases the pulse, about 20 or 30 minutes after the first bleeding, (which was to the extent of 32 oz.), began to sink again and to intermit, and the cold perspiration and indescribable anxiety peculiar to the complaint to return. The vein was in both cases again opened, and greater relief was discovered from the second abstraction of blood than from the first: an equal or even larger quantity being lost by the second than by the first bleeding.” Dr. Mol- lison observes, “ Bleeding relieves the pain at the pit of the stomach ; and I have observed that the pulse becomes stronger as the blood flows.” Mr. G. H. Bell says, “ Early bleeding is of so much importance in this disease, that if possible it should be resorted to, even before the arrival of the regular