On the use of belladonna in enteric fever / by John Harley.

  • Harley, John, 1833-1921.
Date:
[1872?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of belladonna in enteric fever / by John Harley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Br JOHN HABLEY, M.D. Bond., E.E.C.P. What advantages are to be expected from the use of bella- donna in enteric fever ? is the question which presents itself at the outset of this inquiry, and suggests the need of a proper theory of the action of the drug. This primary question resolves itself into two others, viz. 1, the nature of enteric fever; and, 2, the special action of belladonna in the body. A brief con- sideration of these will therefore be a proper, if not an altogether necessary, introduction to the main subject. As to the nature of enteric fever. It will be sufficient for our present purpose to regard it as a general enteritis, accompanied by sympathetic irritation of the lacteal glands and spleen, and commonly associated with more or less pulmonary inflammation —a condition of congestion of the internal viscera,—of dilated blood-vessels and retardation of the blood current amounting at certain points to actual stasis. As to the action of belladonna. The effects of moderate and oft- repeated doses are as follows :—1, they have a hypnotic and seda- tive action on the brain and spinal cord respectively; and, 2, a powerful stimulant action on the sympathetic nervous system, as may be demonstrated by the following experiment:—A dog, susceptible of the hypnotic influence of opium, is narcotised by a sufficient dose of morphia for the space of three or four hours. The