On the injurious effects of mercury in the treatment of disease / by S.O. Habershon.

  • Habershon, S. O. (Samuel Osborne), 1825-1889.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the injurious effects of mercury in the treatment of disease / by S.O. Habershon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    91/102 (page 81)
    Iher and the portal system are engorged; thus in diseased heart, the current of blood being impeded, the lungs, the right side of the heart and all the vessels opening into the right cavities become over distended with blood; on this account we observe the face and lips to be congested, the brain acts imperfectly, being supplied with semi-arterialized blood; there are indications that the liver is over filled with blood, and its secretion in- sufficiently separated; the kidneys are equally congested, nitrogenous products very imperfectly carried off, but albumen sometimes escapes with the urine; the mu- cous membrane of the stomach and alimentary canal is so distended with blood, that food produces flatu- lence, and is imperfectly digested, and a trifling abra- sion leads to profuse htemorrhage. In this state the vessels of the peritoneum pour out serum into the serous sac, and dropsy is the result; the sub-cutaneous vessels also allow serous exosmosis, and we then have swelling of the extremities. A feeble, often irregular pulse is the concomitant, and we might in such a state dread to give a remedy such as mercury. But, watch its effects; the liver is stimulated and its secretion increased, the kidneys are similarly acted upon, every gland of the mucous membrane is equally excited and a freer discharge takes place from the bowels, the kidneys, and the liver; the portal system of vessels is emptied and the pressure of blood in the right cavities of the heart is removed. In this way the heart is freed from its load of blood and beats more freely, the gasping for breath ceases, and the balance of the circulation is