On the diseases of women : including the diseases of pregnancy and childbed / by Fleetwood Churchill ; a new American edition, revised by the author, with notes and additions by D. Francis Condie.

  • Churchill, Fleetwood, 1808-1878.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the diseases of women : including the diseases of pregnancy and childbed / by Fleetwood Churchill ; a new American edition, revised by the author, with notes and additions by D. Francis Condie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    1. Balsam of copaiba, given in increasing doses, commencing with fifteen drops three times a day; or, if the stomach be delicate, it may be made up into pills. 2. Preparations of iron, and especially the sulphate, and the tinct. ferri muriat. The mode in which I have exhibited it is in combination with blue pill, and the compound rhubarb pill. It improves the con- dition of the digestive system, and appears to exert a decided influence over the leucorrhcea. 3. Decoction of logwood. In two or three cases in which I made trial of this medicine, it seemed to be very useful: the discharge diminished, and the patients were ultimately cured. 4. Ergot of rye. This remedy has been highly recommended by MM. Roche, Dufrenois, Bocquet, Negri, Ryan, &c.; and, in some very obstinate cases in which I prescribed it, it succeeded after the failure of other medicines.1 I give it in doses of five grains three or four times a day. These are the remedies which I have found the most efficacious, but their effect is greatly increased by the previous application of the blister. Dr. Huston is inclined to think favorably of M. Vidal's recommen- dation, to throw a solution of nitrate of silver into the uterus, in obstinate cases. It no doubt may easily be done, but the consequences seem, as yet, very doubtful; in some cases it succeeds without dis- tress, in others the pain is very severe, and in others it has proved fatal. There are other medicinal substances which have their advocates ; powdered colchicum root was recommended in a recent number of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, but it failed in my hands. It is said to have been successfully treated by cortex simarouboe,2 cubebs,3 crab's eyes,4 tinct. cantharidis,5 and the root of the elder-tree.6 Iodine has been highly praised for its effects in leucorrhcea. MM. Brera, Gimelle, Sablairolles, and Miiller are said to have used it suc- cessfully in old and obstinate cases.7 Gimelle gives an ounce of the syrup of iodine, evening and morning, in some appropriate infusion.8 Benefit will probably be obtained from the chalybeate waters. When the disease is on the decline, I have seen much comfort derived from sponging the back, loins, and lower part of the abdomen with tepid or cold salt water. The state of the stomach and bowels should be care- fully attended to. Should constipation occur, a combination of blue pill with rhubarb, or of aloes with assafetida, followed by a moderate dose of castor-oil, will be advisable. Emollient enemata are also very useful. recommend. They have all especially instanced its efficacy in cases where injections had failed. I can truly add, that my own confidence in it keeps pace with my increased ex- perience. 1 Lisfranc, Mai. de l'Uterus, p. 379. Xote by M. Pauly. 2 Med. Commentaries, vol. vii. p. 443. 3 Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. vol. xvii. p. 312, vol. xviii. p. 318. 4 Med. Commentaries, vol. i. p. 325. s Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, vol. vii. p. 176. 6 Delens, Brit, and For. Med. Rev. April, 1837, p. 508. 7 Art. lode, by M. Solon, in Nouv. Diet, de Med. et Chir. 8 Cases in Journal Univ. des Sciences Med. torn. 25, p. 5.