At a late meeting of the Harveian Society, of London, Dr. Farquharson
read a paper on this subject. Attention was directed to the state of
the tongue in dyspepsia. A deeply fissured tongue often meant little;
whereas a thin white fur, composed of minute dots, was generally found
along with pain immediately after food. Pain after a longer interval
was accompanied by a pale, flabby tongue, with reddish tip and center.
The treatment of dyspepsia consisted of two parts, that of food
and that of drugs. The latter was the principal part with patients
applying for gratuitous relief. The pain occurring immediately after
food was usually relieved by alkalies; whereas acids were indicated
where suffering was not experienced until an hour or two after the
commencement of the digestive act. For the relief of the nausea and
sickness remaining after the bowels were thoroughly cleansed, nothing
was so effectual as hourly drop doses of ipecacuanha wine. Nux vomica
was also a valuable remedy. Pain might be but the protest of the
stomach against an overload, or be the result of deficient tone from
general nervous exhaustion. In some cases each meal was followed by
diarrh[oe]a; and for these cases attention was directed to Ringer's
plan of minute doses of the liquor hydrargyri perchloridi In speaking
of diet, Dr. Farquharson pointed out that there are three forms of
dyspepsia: 1. The dyspepsia of fluids, as it is called, where the
stomach seems intolerant of all forms of fluid; 2. The digestive
derangement following intemperance in the matter of animal food; and,
3. The dyspepsia connected with indulgence in tea, or other warm and
weak infusions of tannin.
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