Account of the illness and death of Dr. William Pulteney Alison / by Patrick Newbigging.

  • Newbigging, Patrick (Patrick Small Keir), 1813-1864.
Date:
[1860]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Account of the illness and death of Dr. William Pulteney Alison / by Patrick Newbigging. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    OF DR WILLIAM PULTEKEY ALISON, EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF PHYSIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. Br PATRICK NEWBIGGING, M.D., F.R.C.S., EDINBURGH.' [reprinted prom the EDINBURGH MEDICAL JOURNAL, JANUARY I860.] On the 27th of May 1846, whilst prescribing for a patient in tlie Royal Infirmary, and surrounded by a numerous assemblage of students. Dr Alison suddenly fell down, attacked by a violent con¬ vulsion fit, preceded by a gentle scream or cry. The alarm spread quickly through the house, and Dr Paterson, then one of the phy¬ sicians of the Ho.spital, was the first to go to the succour of his friend and former teacher. That gentleman, in a recent communi¬ cation to me from Tiverton, says, That he found Dr Alison lying on the bed of the patient for whom he had just been prescribing, his neckcloth unfastened, breathing stertorously, and quite insen¬ sible ; not above a few minutes had elapsed from the time of the seizure.” Dr Paterson’s impression, from the appearances presented, was, that the attack was of an apoplectic nature. There was evi¬ dence of congestion and pressure on the brain, the pulse was full and labouring, and the patient quite incapable of being roused. The report of the bystanders was, that the illness had commenced with convulsions of an epileptiform character. Still he w^as by no means satisfied that the case was simply of this nature. The treat¬ ment at the time could not be doubtful, as Dr Paterson remarks, and accordingly, after removing Dr Alison, on the bed on which he lay, into the adjoining room or closet, off the ward, he was bled from the arm—the blood flowing freely. On the loss of a few ounces. Dr Alison became conscious, and other medical officers of the Hospital, including Drs Christison and Trail, having arrived, he ^ Read before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh on the 21st December 1859.