Observations on the treatment of phthisis pulmonalis / by John Hughes Bennett.

  • Bennett, John Hughes, 1812-1875.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the treatment of phthisis pulmonalis / by John Hughes Bennett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    been informed, that in some parts of America the cure consists in living on the bone marrow of the buffalo, and that the consumptive patient gets so strong in this way, that he is at length able to hunt down the animal on the prairies. All kinds of food rich in fat, will not unfrequently produce the same effects, and hence the value long attributed to milk, especially ass’s milk—the produce of the dairy, as cream and butter, fat bacon, caviar, &c. But, in order that such substances should be digested and assimi¬ lated, the powers of the stomach and alimentary canal must not have undergone any great diminution. In most cases it will be found that the patient is unable to tolerate such kind of food, and that it either lies undigested in the stomach, or is sooner or later vomited. Under these circumstances, the animal oils themselves are directly indicated, by giving which, we save the digestive apparatus, as it were, the trouble of manufacturing or separating them from the food. By giving considerable quantities of oil directly, a large proportion of it is at once assimilated, and is rendered capable of entering into com¬ bination with the albumen, and thereby forming those elementary molecules so necessary for the formation of a healthy chyle. Such, it appears to me, is the rationale of the good effects of cod-liver oil. Since I introduced this substance to the notice of the profession as a remedy for phthisis, in 1841, I have continually prescribed it in hospital, dispensary, and private practice. I need not, perhaps, say, that I have given it in a very large number of cases, and have ob¬ served its effects in all the stages of the disease, and under almost every circumstance of age, sex, and condition. I have had the most extensive oppoi’tunities of examining the bodies of those who have died after taking it in considerable quantities, and am still observing the cases of many persons who may be said to have owed their lives to its employment. Further, I have carefully watched the progress it has made in the good opinion of the professional public, and perused all that has been published regarding it in the literature of this and other countries. It were certainly easy for me, therefore, to write at great length on this subject; but I do not see that anything of utility could be added to what I have already published. The follow¬ ing is a summary of my views regarding cod-liver oil, as a remedy for phthisis 1. Cod-liver oil is, as M. Taufhied pointed out, an analeptic (avaXafi- fiavco, to repair), and is indicated in all cases of anormal nutrition de¬ pendent on want of assimilation of fatty matter. 2. It is readily digestible under circumstances where no other kind of animal food can be taken in sufficient quantity to furnish the tissues with a proper amount of fatty material. 3. It operates by combining with the excess of albuminous con¬ stituents of the chyme, and forming in the villi and terminal lac- teals those elementary molecules of which the chyle is originally composed. 4. Its effects in phthisis are to nourish the body, which increases B