The modern practice of physic : exhibiting the character, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas.

  • Thomas, Robert, 1753-1835.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modern practice of physic : exhibiting the character, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    the quantity of blood in the system, and diminishing the strong action of the heart and arteries. In children whose constitutions are disposed to plethora, (which may be known by their florid com- plexion and fulness,) it will therefore be proper to encourage any spontaneous diarrhoea that may arise, unless it runs to excess; but where none arises naturally, we ought then to give gentle purga- tives, such as the sulphate or supersulphate of potass, in such doses as to procure two or three loose evacuations in the twenty-four hours. Where a considerable degree of fever attends on dentition, drawing blood from the immediate neighbourhood of the parts affected with irritation and pain, by slightly scarifying the gums, and applying leeches behind the ears, is often practised, and not unfrequently with advantage. In some instances we might possibly substitute blisters instead of the leeches with a good efl'ect. If the symptoms should not yield to these means, the use of a tepid bath once or twice in the twenty-four hours, and the exhibition of small doses of ipecacuanha, with a saline draught afterwards, or a solution of tartarised antimony in such moderate doses as to pro- duce a gentle diaphoresis, will be proper. Opium is sometimes resorted to for the purpose of allaying pain and irritation during difficult dentition, but the practice should be adopted with due caution. About a tea-spoonful of the sy- rupus papaveris will be the safest opiate we can administer in cases of urgent necessity. In others, fomenting the side of the face with a solution of the extract of poppies in a decoction of chamomile (in the proportion of half an ounce of the extract to a quart of the decoction), by means of a piece of sponge, may be at- tended with beneficial efi'ects, avoiding thereby the evil conse- quences attendant on opiates given internally. Nurses are, indeed, too apt to administer some preparation or other of opium in the watchings and complaints of children, that their own rest may not be disturbed throughout the night. This practice merits the highest censure. When the gums have become tumid and swelled so as to excite a high degree of pain and febrile heat, instead of simple scarifica- tions, an incision should be carried down to the tooth, so as also to divide the membrane which covers it. When the gums over the molares require to be divided, it will not be sufficient to make the incision merely in the direction of the jaw, but transverse ones must also be made, to set the tooth quite at liberty, so that in its further advance it may not irritate the gum again. The practice of giving children coral and other hard substances to put into their mouths during the period of teething, is improper, as they have a tendency to harden the gums. A piece of small wax candle that will yield in some measure to whatever pressure is made upon it by the gums of the child, may be serviceable. If acidity prevails during; dentition, it is to be obviated by pro- portionate doses of magnesia or the mistura cretee; and if accom-