Syllabus of the course of lectures on materia medica and pharmacy : delivered in the University of Pennsylvania / by George B. Wood.

  • Wood, George B. (George Bacon), 1797-1879.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Syllabus of the course of lectures on materia medica and pharmacy : delivered in the University of Pennsylvania / by George B. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Instruments for facilitating inhalation exhibited and described. 5. Nostrils and adjoining cavities. Medicines applied to this surface probably act in general by the strong sympathies which connect the organ of smell with other parts of the system. Two purposes are answered—1. a powerful excitement of the brain in cases of in- sensibility from want of cerebral action; 2. a strong revulsion from neighbouring parts. The inside of the mouth is sometimes selected as a position for the application of reme- dies; but this is in reference chiefly to their local irritant action. Attempts have been made to produce impressions upon the system through the blood- vessels. This plan not recommended. Classification. Advantages of classification stated. Different plans recommended, according to the object proposed. That believed to be best adapted to the wants of the medical student and practitioner, is founded on the relations which medicines bear to the human system in the healthy state. Reasons for this belief stated. The following plan, founded on this basis, is adopted in the present course of lectures. Substances used remedially act either on the living body, or on extraneous matters contained within the body, and serving as a source of disease. The former constitute the great mass of medicines, and it is to these alone, according to the definition before given, that the term medicine is strictly applicable. The latter, however, for the sake of conve- nience, may be considered as medicines, and are here ranked in a distinct group. The first division, therefore, is into medicines which act upon the living body, and those which act upon foreign matters contained within the body. Of the medicines acting on the living body, there are two divisions; viz. general remedies, which operate on some one or more of the systems pervading the whole body, and local remedies, acting especially on particular organs. The general remedies are divided into two sets, one having a stimulant or excitant, the other a sedative influence. The former are called stimulants, the latter sedatives. Stimulants differ in the rapidity and duration of their action, some being slow and last- ing, others rapid and transient. The former are called permanent, the latter diffusible stimulants. Permanent stimulants are found to differ in one important point, some producing a con- stringing or contracting effect wherever they act, others exercising their permanently sti- mulant influence without this effect. Hence the division into the two classes of astrin- gents and tonics. Of the diffusible stimulants some act more especially on the heart and arteries, with little comparative influence on the brain and nerves, while others, together with their in- fluence on the circulation, conjoin a decided operation upon the cerebro-spinal system. Hence the division into arterial stimulants and cerebro-ncrvous stimulants. The latter of these classes may be separated into two subdivisions, founded upon the fact, that some of them produce a decided impression upon the proper cerebral functions, while others appear to act upon the nervous system at large, without special tendency to the brain. These subdivisions may be named cerebral stimulants or stimulant narcotics, and nervous stimulants, identical with those usually denominated antispasmodics. Sedatives are divided into those which affect the heart and arteries exclusively, and those which also operate upon the nervous system. Hence the classes of arterial seda- tives or refrigerants, and nervous sedatives or sedative narcotics. Local remedies are divided into those which affect the functions, those which affect the organization, and those which are mechanical in their action. The medicines affecting the function of a part, are 1. Emetics, acting on the stomach; 2. Cathartics, acting on the bowels; 3. Diuretics, acting on the kidneys; 4. Diaphoretics, acting on the skin; 5. Expectorants, acting on the lungs; 6. Emmenagogues, acting on the uterus; 7. Sialagogues, acting on the salivary glands; and 8. Errhines, acting on the nostrils. ° Medicines which affect the organization of a part are divided into 1. Rubefacients, which produce inflammation; 2. Epispastics, which excite vesication; and 3. Escharotics, which destroy the life of the part, and occasion a slough. -Medicines operating mechanically include 1. Demulcents, which protect surfaces from the action of irritants or mixing with these, obtund their acrimony; 2. Emollients, which soften and relax the skin; and .3. Diluents, which act by diluting the fluids of the body. Besides the remedies included in the above classes, there are some, belonging to the first great division, so pecuhar m their action, that they cannot be conveniently classified, and m^^anT-Sn ^ —^ «***• ThCSG « «** »« ~- ^ n,n!SCinCSf Citinf T fo,rei£nu.^^nces contained within the body, are included in the rexpe!TorL *'WhlCh nCUtra,iZe aCids! and ^ Anthelntintics, which destroy^