Observations on the utility and administration of purgative medicines in several diseases / by James Hamilton ... ; from the fifth Edinburgh edition.

  • Hamilton, James, 1749-1835.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the utility and administration of purgative medicines in several diseases / by James Hamilton ... ; from the fifth Edinburgh edition. 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.)

    10/320
    rious occupations, in which I have been engaged, my attention was, many years ago, attracted to the purga- tive effect of medicines given in Typhus fever. The facts whicli then presented themselves to my notice, in- duced me to repeat these medicines again and again ; till, by slow advances, I at last acquired confidence in the practice. Many opportunities have since occurred to me of confirming these observations, which, in my apprehension, clearly establish the safety and utility of giving purgative medicines in the course of Typhus fever, under the limitations which I point out. I was afterwards disposed to judge favourably of the same practice in Scarlatina; and the utility of it in this disease has been confirmed by much experience. Thus my views respecting the use of purgative me- dicines became more and more extended; and, in pro- cess of time, I employed them with a freedom not usual, but with manifest advantage, in several other diseases. My own experience of the utility of this practice is the circumstance which encourages me to pursue it with steadiness. But to inspire others with the same degree of confidence, it will be requisite to adduce proofs which have satisfied me of its superiority to that in common use. The number, the authenticity, and the apposite ap- plication of the cases inserted in the Appendix, will, I trust, prove sufficient to establish the soundness of the principles upon which 1 proceed, and to satisfy