Observations on the diseases of the army in Jamaica : and on the best means of preserving the health of Europeans, in that climate / by John Hunter.

  • Hunter, John, -1809.
Date:
1796
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the diseases of the army in Jamaica : and on the best means of preserving the health of Europeans, in that climate / by John Hunter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    361/366 (page 341)
    I APPENDIX, note o; 341 nejia Vitriolata, When the fyn^ptoms ar6 violent, particularly the griping, the purga- tive is given every day, and the* calomel and opiate'every night. Much depends upon the diligence with which the purgatives are ad- minifteredj the fick ihould be vifited three or four times a day j and whenever the griping recurs with violence, opening medicines are the only fure means of relief. Though any purgative medicine vvill, generally fpeaking, do good, I fhould prefer that courfe of medicine of which calomel made a part. With regard to^the fpecific effedls of mercury, there arc fadts and obfervations that favour that opinion^ It is obferved, that as foon as the mouth gets fore, the griping and other fymptoms of the difeafe do confiderably abate. Yet our experience is not quite uniform in this parti- cular ; for when the mercurial ointment is ufed, there are many cafes in which falivatioa is excited, not only without benefit, but with the appearance of precipitating the .difeafe. When mercury has been ufed mod; fucceff- fully, it has been given in fuch preparations as produce purgative effedls j at lead fo it appears to me, from reviewing the pradticc of othprs in this difeafe. '