A new guide to health; or, botanic family physician. Containing a complete system of practice, upon a plan enitrely new; with a description of the vegetables made use of ... to cure disease. To which is added a description of several cases ... attended by the author ... / [Samuel Thomson].

  • Thomson, Samuel, 1769-1843
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new guide to health; or, botanic family physician. Containing a complete system of practice, upon a plan enitrely new; with a description of the vegetables made use of ... to cure disease. To which is added a description of several cases ... attended by the author ... / [Samuel Thomson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/264 (page 30)
    $ disorder ; she seemed much surprised, and I then asked her if the child had been scalded, and had mortified in the same man¬ ner, whether she would have had any doubt of-*ts being the cause of her child’s death ? she said she would not. I gave her my opinion that it was exactly a similar case, and that the child’s death was caused as much by the blister, as it would have been by a scald. The child died before morning. I had declined doing any thing for it, as I was satisfied I could do no good; if I had made the attempt, it would have been said that I killed it. I have seen many cases where I was perfectly satisfied that the patient died in consequence of blisters, not only on the stomach, but on the head. In many that I have witnessed, where a blister was drawn on the head, as it began to draw, their senses were gone, and they died raving or stupified. More than half the cases where the head was shaved and blistered, that have come within my knowledge, have proved fatal.* „ I can see no reason why a scald on the head or the body, done on purpose, should have a tendency to effect a cure, when persons are sick, and the same thing happening to them by accident, when well, should destroy their health or cause their death. If a person should have his head or stomach so badly scalded as to take off the skin, we should consider him in a most dangerous condition ; but nothing is said about it when done on purpose. I shall leave it to the reader to reconcile, if he can, this incon¬ sistency.—I have known most dangerous stranguries caused by blisters; and those who applied them did not know the cause, and many have applied to me for relief. MOKTIFICATION OF THE LIMBS. I was called on to go on board a vessel at Eastport, to see a young man, who had a block fall from the mast head on his foot, weighing 13§ lbs., which bruised all his toes to pieces, except the little one. The accident happened on Friday, and I didr not see him till the Tuesday following, during which time he neither eat nor slept. His nerves were much affected, and he had spasms and convulsions through the whole system. I took off the dressing from the foot, and found it black, and the smell very offensive. The captain of the vessel appeared to be very anxious about him, and asked me if I could help his foot—I told him I must first try to save his life, for his whole body was as much disordered as his foot. He requested me to do what I thought best. I put a poultice of meal on his foot, and wet the cloths with cold water to allay the heat; then gave him medicine the same as though he had been attacked with nervous fever The captain attended him through the night, and I went to see him the next morning, and found him much better. The cap¬ tain said he was astonished at the operation of the medicine, for his vomiting and sweating had carried off all the pain in his body and foot, and had also reconciled the nerves. I unbound his foot and found that the black and yellow streaks up the leg had disappeared, and on the foot all the flesh that