A treatise on therapeutics : comprising materia medica and toxicology, with especial reference to the application of the physiological action of drugs to clinical medicine / by H.C. Wood, jr.

  • Wood, H. C., Jr. (Horatio C.), 1841-1920.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on therapeutics : comprising materia medica and toxicology, with especial reference to the application of the physiological action of drugs to clinical medicine / by H.C. Wood, jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    symmetry and localization of the paralysis in lead-poisoning would seem to indicate a spinal origin, but, so far as I know, no very distinct spinal lesion has as yet been made out. Dr. E. Lancereaux (Comptes-Rendus de la Soc. Biolog., 1862, tome iv., 3d ser., p. 84), in a very careful study of a case, could only find some of the spinal cells more gi-anular than normal, and apparently atrophied. In some cases of lead-poisoning no decided anatomical alteration can be anywhere detected. The treatment of chronic lead-poisoning evidently arranges itself under three indications: 1st, to prevent the ingestion of more of the poison; 2d, to aid in the elimination of that in the system; 3d, to relieve symptoms and restore lost functions. In lead-colic both of the last two indications are met by purgatives, to which opium should be added to relieve pain. It is often necessary to use the most powerful drastics, such as croton oil; but senna, salts, and other of the milder cathartics should always be tried first. Alum acts in some unknown way as a specific in lead-colic, and from twenty to sixty grains of it may be given four or five times a day. In the more chronic forms of lead-poisoning, to fulfill the second indication baths of sulphuret of potas- sium should be employed, and iodide of potassium be administered inter- nally. The bath should be given (Dr. A. Eulenburg, Deutsches Arcliiv fur Klin. Med.., Bd. iii. p. 506) in a wooden tub, two or three times a week, and should contain six or seven ounces of the salt. The patient, during the half-hour of his continuance in it, should be from time to time well rubbed with a coarse towel. On coming out he is to be thoroughly washed with warm soap-suds. The dose of the iodide should be from fifteen to twenty grains, administered after meals, in dilute solution. When severe cerebral symptoms arise, treatment is of little avail, and should be largely expectant. T^ie local use of electricity is exceedingly important to restore the lost function of nerve and muscle. When the faradaic current elicits a response it should always be employed, but in some cases (^Meyer's Electricity, New York, 1869, p. 284) the continued current retains its power after the induced has lost all its influence. The rule is always to apply that current which causes contraction ; if both fail, the continued current should be used, the poles being reversed at intervals of four or five seconds. The electrical seances should be tri-weekly, each lasting about fifteen minutes, and they should be persevered in for months. I have seen great improvement in a case which for the first four months yielded no results; indeed, long after voluntary movement had in great measure returned, no form of electricity would cause contraction of the affected muscles. The following preparations of lead are officinal in the United States Phar- macopceia: PLUMBI OXIDUM—OXIDE OF LEAD. (PbO.) Litharge, which is prepared by blowing air through melted lead, occurs in small yellowish or orange-colored scales, which are insoluble in all ordinary