Footnote 134:
Treatise on the Materia Medica, vol. I. p. 191.
Footnote 135:
Medical Literature, Edit. 2. (_Pharmacology_,) p. 454.
Footnote 136:
System of Mat. Med. vol. I. p. 132.
Footnote 137:
A system of Materia Medica and Pharmacy, vol. 1. p. 131.
Footnote 138:
_Narcotics_, from νάρκη _Torpedo_; an animal which has the power of
_stupefying_ any thing that it touches.
Footnote 139:
During the severe campaigns of the late war, the Surgeons of the
French army were in the practice of administering Opium and Cayenne
Pepper to the soldiers who were exhausted by fatigue.
Footnote 140:
Treatise on Nervous Diseases, vol. 1. p. 221.
Footnote 141:
Bitterness in vegetables has been supposed to reside in a peculiar
proximate principle, which has been accordingly named the _Bitter
Principle_. Such an opinion, however, does not appear to rest on
sufficient evidence; on the contrary, experiment has shewn that it is
very generally connected with the extractive matter of the plant, as
it is obtained equally by the action of water and alcohol; it is not
volatile, nor are its energies impaired by decoction.
Footnote 142:
Thus Sir H. Davy, in comparing the composition of the soluble products
afforded by different crops from the same grass, found in every trial,
the _largest quantity_ of truly nutritive matter in the crop cut when
the seed was ripe and _the least bitter extractive_, and saline
matter; while in the autumnal crops these relations were found
inverted. Elem. of Agricult. Chem.
Footnote 143:
Molina, in his history of Chili, speaking of the Potatoe, says, “It is
indeed found in all the fields of this country, but the plants that
grow wild, called by the Indians _Maglia_, produce only very small
roots of a bitter taste.” Dr. Baldwin also found the wild parent of
the potatoe plant at Monte Video, and Mr. Lambert informs us that this
statement has been confirmed by Captain Bowles, who has not long since
returned from the South American station; he says, “it is a common
weed in the gardens, bearing small tubers, but _too bitter_ for use.”
Royal Institution Journal, No. XIX.
Footnote 144:
Discourses on the Elements of Therapeutics and Materia Medica, by N.
Chapman, M. D. Philadelphia, 1819.
Footnote 145:
Thus it has been found by experiments, that the Menyanthes Trifoliata,
(the Water Trefoil,) which on account of its bitterness has been used
as a substitute for Hops, is a cure for the rot in sheep, when given
in doses of a drachm of the powdered leaves; and Dr. William Bulleyn,
the cotemporary of Turner, the father of English Botany, observes in
his work, entitled “THE BULWARK OF DEFENCE,” that _Tormentil_, in
pastures, prevents the rot in sheep.
Footnote 146:
αρωμα, which is compounded of αρι, very, and οδμη, or οσμη, smell.
Footnote 147:
The origin of this term is derived from the superstitious custom of
curing such complaints by incantations in verse (_Carmina_), or
perhaps it may be understood metaphorically as expressive of the
instantaneous relief which these medicines are capable of affording;
operating, as it were, _like a charm_.
Footnote 148:
When tannin is present in grasses, as Sir H. Davy found in that of
_aftermath crops_, it is voided in the excrement by animals who feed
upon it, together with the bitter extractive, saline matter, and woody
fibre. (Elem. of Agricult. Chem. Appendix, p. lxi.) We may therefore
infer by analogy that it does not enter into the circulation.
Footnote 149:
Various combinations, into which different metallic salts have
generally entered as ingredients, have at different periods been
extolled for their efficacy as _Styptics:_ Helvetius published an
account of a preparation composed of the filings of iron and tartar,
mixed to a proper consistence with French brandy, and it was long used
in France, Germany, and Holland, under the name of HELVETIUS’S
STYPTIC.
EATON’S STYPTIC. After the styptic of Helvetius had been discarded
from the Continent, it was brought into this country, and for a long
time continued to be employed with confidence, under the new title of
Eaton’s Styptic. It is now made in several different modes, and
consists chiefly of an alcoholic solution of _sulphate of iron_, with
some unimportant additions.
Footnote 150:
This theory, however, did not originate with Dr. Majendie, for
Chiarac, a French Physician of the 17th century, drew the same
conclusion from an experimental enquiry (Histoire de l’Academie Royale
des Sciences, p. 12. An. 1700.)
Footnote 151:
Upon the very same principle, a person may die from suffocation, in
consequence of an injury in the brain; the respiratory muscles being
unable to sustain the function of breathing, for want of a due supply
of nervous influence. This happens in cases of Apoplexy, and in
poisoning by Narcotics.
Those who wish for farther information upon this subject may consult
the chapter on “THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES AND PHŒNOMENA OF SUDDEN
DEATH,” in my work on “MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE,” Vol. 2. p. 16.
Footnote 152:
Hippocrat. de Diœta. lib. iii. et alibi passim.
This predilection of the ancients for Emetics is the more
extraordinary, as they were acquainted with those only which were of
the most violent and unmanageable description; the Veratrum or White
Hellebore, was sometimes fatal.
Footnote 153:
Few discoveries in physiology have thrown greater light upon this
important subject than that of M. Majendie, published in his JOURNAL
DE PHYSIOLOGIE EXPERIMENTALE, (1^{er} numero—Janvier, 1821) in a paper
entitled, “Memoir sur le Méchanisme de L’Absorption.” The results
contained in this essay are the more interesting to me, as they were
read at the Academy of Sciences at Paris, some time after the
publication of the Third Edition of my PHARMACOLOGIA, and it will be
observed, in what a satisfactory manner they confirm the views which I
offered at that time, respecting the influence of venesection in
accelerating the absorption of Mercury. In the Fourth Edition
(published in October, 1820, p. 115,) these views were farther
extended, and as I could not have been influenced by the experiments
of M. Majendie, which were not published until some time afterwards,
it is very fair to conclude, that when two persons arrive at the same
result by different trains of investigation, such a result must be
correct. The conclusions established by the experimental inquiries of
M. Majendie, with regard to absorption, appear to me to be so
important, in reference to the object of the present work, that I
shall pause, in this place, for the purpose of furnishing the reader
with a short account of them. M. Majendie states, that while
performing the experiment of injecting warm water into the veins of a
living animal, he first conceived the idea of observing what effects
would be produced upon the function of absorption by the artificial
plethora, thus occasioned; having accordingly injected a quantity of
water into the venous system of a middle-sized dog, he introduced a
small portion of an active substance, whose effects were well known,
into his side, when he was surprised to find that its usual operation
was not manifested until after an interval much longer than usual; the
same experiment was afterwards repeated upon another animal, and with
similar results. In a third experiment, as much water (about two
pounds) was injected, as the animal could sustain without destruction,
in which case the poisonous substance produced no effect whatever, the
powers of absorption appearing to be entirely suspended: and having
waited during half an hour for the occurrence of those symptoms which,
under ordinary circumstances, would have manifested themselves in two
minutes, M. Majendie concluded that if vascular congestion be the
cause of the suspension of absorption, the function ought to be
restored by the removal of this artificial condition, an opinion which
he proceeded to verify by experiment; the jugular vein of the animal,
under trial, was accordingly opened, and the ingenious operator had
the satisfaction to observe the effects of the poison gradually
developing themselves in proportion as the blood flowed. M. Majendie
next proceeded to confirm the truth of his position, by an experiment,
the converse of those above related; an animal was bled, to the amount
of about half a pound, and the poisonous substance applied to the
pleura of the animal, as in the foregoing experiments, when it
appeared that those effects which, under ordinary circumstances, were
not evident until after a period of twelve minutes, manifested
themselves after an interval of only thirty seconds. In order to shew
that these results actually arose from vascular distention, and not
from the artificial state of dilution in which the blood was placed,
M. Majendie instituted the following experiment: a considerable
quantity of blood was drawn from the vein of a dog, and replaced by a
similar quantity of warm water, after which a measured quantity of Nux
Vomica in solution was introduced into the side, when the poisonous
effects were found to take place with the same rapidity as if the
blood had not been mixed with water.
Footnote 154:
The practical application of this fact may be useful, and digestion,
in certain cases, may be thus promoted by the simple expedient of
changing the quality of our bread.
Footnote 155:
Since the publication of this opinion, in the 5th edition of the
Pharmacologia, Dr. Hamilton has honoured me by a letter on the
subject, but I am still bound to confess that my sentiments remain
unaltered.
Footnote 156:
The Melampodium, or Black Hellebore, was recommended as an agent of
this description in the strongest terms, by Mead; Savin (Juniperus
Sabina) is another vegetable which has been generally considered as a
specific Emmenagogue; with some authors, the Rubia Tinctorum, Madder;
with others, the Sinapis alba have been regarded as remedies of this
nature; and lately Polygala Senega has been extolled by the American
practitioners; in modern times, however, few substances have been more
confidently recommended as uterine stimulants than the Secale
Cornutum, or Ergot, but of which I have no practical knowledge.
Footnote 157:
Saline bodies would appear to be the peculiar stimuli of these organs,
the principal use of which is to separate such saline matter from the
blood, as would otherwise accumulate in the system. That these saline
diuretics actually pass off by the kidneys, may be satisfactorily
shewn by an examination of the urine, in which the bodies in question
may be chemically detected. Let any person swallow several doses of
Nitre, taking care that the bowels are not disturbed by the medicine,
and he will find by dipping some paper into his urine, and afterwards
drying it, that it will deflagrate, and indicate the presence of
nitre.
Footnote 158:
The _Secondary_ Diuresis which sometimes takes place under such
circumstances, and succeeds Catharsis, may offer an apparent exception
to this law; but this must not be confounded with that which is the
result of a _Primary_ action upon the urinary organs by the
absorption, and consequent contact, of a specific Stimulant.
Footnote 159:
Certain mineral waters, containing cathartic salts in a state of
extreme dilution, if insufficient to excite the bowels, sometimes pass
off by the kidneys; an effect which can always be prevented by
accompanying their exhibition with some laxative.
Footnote 160:
See Sir Gilbert Blane’s Medical Logic, Edit. 2, page 190.
Footnote 161:
The cutaneous discharge is very materially modified by the state of
the atmosphere, in its relations to moisture and dryness: when the air
contains much moisture it is a bad conductor of the perspirable
matter, which therefore, instead of being carried off in an insensible
form, is condensed upon the surface; hence we appear to perspire
greatly upon the slightest exercise, whereas the cuticular discharge
is at such times absolutely less. We have all experienced the
sensation of heat, and disposition to sweating, during the moist
weather which so frequently occurs in this country in April and May,
the wind being at the time stationary at south-west or south. On the
contrary, during the prevalence of an east wind, the most violent
exercise will scarcely prove diaphoretic, and yet the quantity of
cutaneous exhalation is far greater than during that state of
atmosphere when the slightest exercise deluges us with perspirable
matter.
Footnote 162:
LOMMIUS de Febribus.
Footnote 163:
De Medicina. Lib. iii. c. 7.
Footnote 164:
This practice is still cherished by the vulgar, especially in some of
the more remote districts of the kingdom. It is with this view that
the Cornish nurse continues to keep down the excess of population, by
administering Gin and Treacle, in her smoky chimney corner, to
children labouring under measles, in order to _throw out_ the
eruption.
Footnote 165:
_M. Du Hamel_ has recorded the cases of two countrymen, considerably
advanced in life, who were cured of Dropsy by remaining for some time
in a baker’s oven, soon after the bread had been drawn. _Varikbillan_,
ninth Caliph of the race of the Abassides, is said to have been cured
by a nearly similar method. His physician caused him to enter a
lime-kiln soon after the lime had been removed, when in the course of
a few days he was totally cured of his dropsy. The ancients excited
sweating in this disease, by burying the patient up to the neck in
heated sand or ashes (_Celsus_, Lib. iii. c. 30.), and Lysons cured
cases by placing his patients in rooms heated to a very high
temperature.
In the history of the Royal Academy of Sciences, for 1703, a case is
related of a woman, who, tired out by the protracted Dropsy under
which her husband laboured, _charitably_ administered to him a very
large dose of opium, with the intention of despatching him, but the
medicine immediately produced such a copious sweat that it restored
him to health!
Footnote 166:
σιαλος, saliva; et αγω, excito.
Footnote 167:
I of course except its application in the form of vapour, in which
state it proves extremely active. See Hydrargyrum.
Footnote 168:
Medical Logic, Edit. 2. p. 75.
Footnote 169:
Transactions of a Society for the Improvement of Medical and
Chirurgical knowledge, Vol. iii. p. 119. London, 1822.
Footnote 170:
Medical and Physical Journal for October, 1811.
Footnote 171:
De Sed. et Caus. Morb. Epist. xiv. art. 27.
Footnote 172:
Comment. ad Aph. 271.
Footnote 173:
This is one of the most ancient superstitions which have descended to
us. It was customary in Greece, when any one sneezed, to exclaim Ζῆθὶ,
‘May you live;’ or Ζευ σῶσον, ‘God bless you.’ Aristotle, in his
problems, has attempted to account for the origin of the custom, but
unsatisfactorily; Pliny, (Nat. Hist. lib. 28. c. 2) asks—“Cur
Sternutantes salutentur?”
Footnote 174:
Eberle’s Treatise on the Materia Medica.
Footnote 175:
It is said that whenever Dunning, the celebrated barrister, was called
upon to make the finest display of his eloquence, whether forensic or
parliamentary, he constantly applied a blister to his chest, which he
found to have the effect of imparting an unusual tone and vigour to
his body, and elevation to his mind.
Footnote 176:
From Setum a Horse hair, a substance which was formerly used for the
accomplishment of this object.
Footnote 177:
It sometimes happens that the stomach and digestive organs are so
weakened by disease as to lose their control, or what Dr. Fordyce
called their ‘governing power,’ in which case they would appear to be
unable to prevent the matters which they contain from acting
chemically upon each other, and occasioning decompositions and new
combinations: in such cases substances are sometimes developed in the
internal organs by the action of disease, which are capable of
producing a chemical effect upon the fluids; for instance,—an acid is
not unfrequently generated in the bowels of children which decomposes
the bile and produces a green precipitate, and green stools are the
consequence; in other cases the acid combines with the _Soda_ of the
bile, and the precipitate thus occasioned is thick, viscid, very
bitter, and inflammable, and we have stools looking like pitch. In
Yellow Fever, and in several other diseases, the bile which is brought
up by vomiting is frequently of a vivid green colour, and some writers
have attributed the phenomenon to a morbid condition, or action of the
liver or gall bladder; the fact however is, that the bile itself
undergoes a chemical change in the Duodenum and Stomach. That bile
does undergo such a change from decomposition, is proved by a variety
of facts observed to take place _out_ of the body; it is well known,
for instance, that the fæces of infants, although yellow when voided,
frequently become green after some time, and Dr. Heberden observes, in
his Commentaries, that the urine of a certain jaundiced patient, which
was of a deep yellow, became after a few hours green: in such cases it
is probable that an acid is generated by the reaction of the elements
of which the bile consists.
Footnote 178:
System of Materia Medica, vol. 1. p. 453.
Footnote 179:
The same fact has been long known by the Divers in the Indian
Pearl-fisheries; see my Work on Medical Jurisprudence, Introduction,
Vol. 1. p. v.
Footnote 180:
See a paper upon this subject by Mr. Brodie, Phil. Trans. 1811.
Footnote 181:
Medical Logic, Edit. 2. p. 50.
Footnote 182:
From αντὶ against, and λὶθος a stone.
Footnote 183:
From λὶθος, and θρυπτω to break.
Footnote 184:
The kidneys have a more obtuse sensibility, and not such energetic
activity as other glands possess; vital action is less concerned in
the secretion they carry on, and their functions more easily fall
under chemical and hydraulic explanations.—(Richerand.)
Footnote 185:
An Inquiry into the Nature and Treatment of Gravel, Calculus, and
other diseases connected with a deranged operation of the Urinary
Organs; by W. Prout, M. D. F. R. S.
Footnote 186:
On the Chemical History and Medical Treatment of Calculous Disorders,
by A. Marcet, M. D. F. R. S.
Footnote 187:
Journal of the Royal Institution, Vol. VI.
Footnote 188:
Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, Vol. VI.
Footnote 189:
The ancients considered the urine as a kind of extract of animal
substances, a true lixivium, by which every thing impure in the animal
economy was washed away, and hence they gave it the name of Lotium.
Footnote 190:
Mr. Brande first stated the existence of this acid in urine; but
Berzelius expressed his doubts respecting the fact. The experiments of
Dr. Marcet, however, are certainty favourable to the conclusion of the
former chemist, and Dr. Prout informs us that he has himself seen
small calculi discharged from the bladder composed principally of the
carbonate of lime.
Footnote 191:
The reader will find some interesting observations upon this subject
in Dr. Prout’s Treatise, p. 22.
Footnote 192:
The name of Uric Acid was suggested by Dr. Pearson: it is, however, as
Dr. Marcet very justly remarks, objectionable, on account of the close
resemblance which the term bears to that of Urea, a substance totally
distinct from Lithic Acid.
Footnote 193:
Recherches physiologiques et médicales sur les causes, les symptomes,
et le traitement de la gravelle, 8vo. Paris. 1818.
Footnote 194: