An essay on the action and curative properties of strychnia : to which the Annual Medal of the Harveian Medical Society was awarded in 1832 . / by James Marr.

  • Marr, James.
Date:
[1832?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the action and curative properties of strychnia : to which the Annual Medal of the Harveian Medical Society was awarded in 1832 . / by James Marr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    34/38 (page 36)
    urine, and drinking pretty freely at the same time. The consequence of which was, that he became unable to make any water at all, and it had to be withdrawn by an instrument. Since then he has occasionally suffered from retention of urine, and always is obliged to have recoiu-se to surgical aid for relief. In the present instance he was at once relieved by the introduction of the catheter ; but, from this time, he never could evacuate the bladder without artificial assist- ance. From the report of Dr Bally at La Pitie, 1 thought the strychnia might be of service.* A blister was ordered to be applied to the sacrum, and the raw surface to be sprinkled with the strychnia. At first, no obvious eflFect was produced, till one day, after very severe twitchings, which alarmed the patient much, the urine came away involuntarily. After which, the bladder seemed gradually to regain its tone, though I did not deem it prudent to give up the remedy, but continued it for some time in very minute quantities. This man I saw a short time ago, and he still continues well. In paralysis of the face, from functional derangement of the portio dura, strychnia is often very useful. True it is, that often the disease is temporary, and will yield to very simple remedies, a mustard plaster, for example, but occasionally, in spite of all the usual remedies, the paralysis continues, lead- ing the practitioner to fear, that there must be some organic change. In one case, which I saw last summer, the patient had been cupped, repeatedly blistered, &c. without benefit, yet it yielded, in a short time, to blistering, with strychnia applied as in the foregoing cases. Mr Liston, as I have already mentioned, uses strychnia with much success externally. The same has been done by Dr Auchincloss at Glasgow, and by Dr Bally at La Pitie. The latter author, indeed, considers it more efficacious ap- plied externally than given internally. In cases of paralysis, arising from the introduction of lead * Dr Bally exhibited the medicine internally ; he relates three cases which ■were cured in this manner withia a month.