OCR Text |
Show FOXGLOVE. 598 ration of the digitalis, should be mentioned; it being necessary with Mr. Marris, after the pulse had sunk to forty-four, daily to persist in the use of a doseof the tincture, to maintain the depression; and one day when the pulse was below fifty, froma wish to ascertain the result, the two doses of the tincture were omitted, and the pulse next morning beat 112; whereas in Mr, Grimes’s case, though the digitalis was entirely omitted on the 24th of September, in consequence of the nausea, on the 2dof October the pulse had not risen beyond 48. The activity of this medicine is so great, that in cases where much debility is present, the constant attendance of a person well apprized of its mode of operation and effects, should be ‘Though Mr. Marris was at considered as absolutely requisite. some distance from me, and { had not an opportunity of seeing him daily, yet was I free from any anxicty on that account, as the gentleman with whom heresided, the Rev. John Hildyard, of Monks-Eleigh, was not only well versed in medical science, but paid the most unwearied attention, both to the progress of the symptoms, and the exhibition and effects of the tincture. I may, I think, without hesitation affirm, that an earlyexhibition of the saturated tincture in consumption, will in general prove successful; and even when the disease is far advanced, provided the patient has but strength suflicient left to endure a gradual depression of the circulation, a result equally fortunate may be expected. That this can be done, even in circumstances of debility, to an extent « ate to effect a cure, and without either sickness, languor, or loss of appetite, the cases nowappended will satisfactorily attest. I have only to wish, Sir, they maycontribute somewhat toward promoting the great and humane design in which you haveso | ong and so laudably been engaged. I am, Sir, with great respect, &c. Naruan Drake. Hadleigh, Suffolk, Feb. 21, 1799. Letter from Dr. Fowrer, of Salisbury, on the Cure of Consumption. I send you (to dispose of as you maythink proper) the result little more than respect to these I can therefore supply you with the dose of the medicine, and its more prominent effects. Observing, however, that it in no case did harm; that, on the contrary, it almost uniformly relieved the most distressing sym- ptoms ofthe disease ; and that in some it appeared even to have effected a cure, I began to collect, as carefully as I could, all the material circumstances of the cases in which it had been given; and the instances ofits good effects, which I am nowto lay before you, will, I hope, induce you to avail yourself of the many opportunities which must occur to you, for giving this subject a full and accurate investigation. As I had frequently seen large doses of the digitalis given by others, and had myselfstill more frequently given it in dropsical cases, without ever observing any of those uncontrollable and dangerous effects which are said to deter manyfrom its use, my mind was perfectly at ease as to its probable effects in phthisis, and the more so as its power of repressing arterial action, and inducing debility, from which we have most to apprehend in dropsy, was the very quality from which, properly directed, I hoped to derive most advantage here. Myattention was indeed first directed to it as a remedylikely to be useful in phthisis, by its almost uniformeffect of rendering the action of the arteries more slow than natural, at the same time that it appears to excite that of the absorbents. It has long been known, that diseased parts of the body mayberemoved by depriving themofall supply of blood from the arteries; and itis now known, that where this cannot with safety be attempted to so full an extent, on account of the intimate connection subsisting between the part to be removed, and such as we wish should remain, that the same effect may be produced bydiminishing to a certain degreethe arterial supply of the part, at the same time that we leave the action of the absorbents in full force. This is the purposesoablyeffected by Mr. Hunter’s Scientific operation for the cure of popliteal aneurism: and I confess that [ was not, and that I still am not without hope that something analogous to this may be effected by the opera- of most of the trials which 1 have hitherto made of thedigitalis tion of digitalis on tubercles in the substance of the lungs. in cases of pulmonary consumption. my expectations of success had a better foundation than reason- As I began to give it more § from a dissatisfaction with the remedies usually employed in this disease, than from any very sanguine expectation of success, I took no notes of manyof the cases in which I first used it. With But ing & priori. There was good groundto believe that Dr. Darwin had cured one case of phthisis by a strong decoction ofdigitalis. |