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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #68406 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68406)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Essay on the effects of iodine on the
-human constitution, by W. Gairdner
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Essay on the effects of iodine on the human constitution
- With practical observation on its use in the cure of bronchocele,
- scrophula, and the tuberculous diseases of the chest and abdomen
-
-Author: W. Gairdner
-
-Release Date: June 25, 2022 [eBook #68406]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
- https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
- generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY ON THE EFFECTS OF
-IODINE ON THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION ***
-
- Transcriber’s Notes
-
-Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. All other
-spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
-
-Italics are represented thus _italic_.
-
-
-
-
- ESSAY
-
- ON
-
- THE EFFECTS OF IODINE,
-
- ETC. ETC.
-
-
-
-
- LONDON:
- PRINTED BY JAMES MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.
-
-
-
-
- ESSAY
-
- ON
-
- THE EFFECTS OF IODINE
-
- ON
-
- THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION;
-
- WITH
-
- PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS
-
- ON ITS USE IN THE CURE OF
-
- BRONCHOCELE, SCROPHULA, AND THE TUBERCULOUS
- DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND ABDOMEN.
-
- BY W. GAIRDNER, M. D.
-
- LONDON:
- PRINTED FOR THOMAS AND GEORGE UNDERWOOD,
- 32, FLEET STREET.
-
- 1824.
-
-
-
-
- INTRODUCTION.
-
-
-The medicine which forms the subject of the following treatise has been
-so lately introduced into practice, that few Physicians are acquainted
-either with its properties, or with the manner of using it. Almost all
-have heard of its effects in discussing bronchocele; and some, rashly
-presuming that it cannot be a drug of great power, have prescribed it
-without giving themselves the trouble of making any inquiry into the
-manner of employing it, or the dangers to which its use is liable.
-I have thus seen more than one Physician seriously injured in his
-reputation; and I have seen many patients irrecoverably injured in
-their health by this subtle and powerful medicine.
-
-Not long since I was informed by a Physician, of great and deserved
-eminence, in London, that he had prescribed it to the extent of ten
-grains at one dose to a young woman. Most fortunately she was saved by
-vomiting. About a year ago, I was consulted on account of a young lady
-in the last stage of tubercular pulmonary consumption. She was attended
-by a Surgeon, who had bled her to a most unaccountable degree. This
-gentleman proposed to me the use of digitalis, which being objected
-to, he then proposed successively the use of hemlock and iodine. It
-was plain that he was about as well acquainted with the virtues of
-one medicine as with those of the other, and not better versed in
-the history of the disease he was treating. When a medicine of so
-much power is thus in the hands of every person, I trust I shall not
-stand in need of apology for having made public the following little
-treatise. Its materials have been for some time in my possession; and
-I was desirous of delaying yet a little the publication of them; but
-certain statements have gone forth to the world, of the great benefits
-to be derived from the use of iodine, while the history of its dangers
-has been most unaccountably withheld. It is in order to fill up this
-hiatus, and at the same time to direct particularly the attention of
-Practitioners to the proper manner of using it, with a view to its good
-effects, that this essay is written.
-
-Particular circumstances have afforded me opportunities of seeing this
-medicine extensively used; and at the same time of witnessing the
-bad effects which resulted from the prodigal manner in which it was
-first employed. I have also made inquiries respecting its history in
-countries which I have not visited. The answers I have received have
-not been so detailed and satisfactory as I could have wished: they
-have all, however, more or less confirmed the observations I have made
-myself, or which have been communicated to me from different parts of
-Switzerland and France.
-
-Some persons may, perhaps, desire to see a daily report of the
-different cases to which allusion is made in the following pages; but
-this would not have been consistent with my plan, which is rather at
-the present time to present an essay than a treatise to the public.
-
- Bolton Street, Piccadilly, 4th Dec. 1823.
-
-
-
-
- ESSAY
-
- ON THE
-
- EFFECTS OF IODINE.
-
-
-The discovery of specific remedies has always, and most justly, been
-considered one of the most important benefits to be conferred on the
-practice of medicine. Much dispute has been carried on respecting
-their nature, but all are agreed about their existence. They have been
-defined by Dr. Young to be medicines which cure diseases, “without any
-perceptible connexion between the immediate effect and the benefit
-obtained.” While their operation is thus obscure, the mode of their
-employment, and their peculiar virtues, must be subjects of much doubt
-and uncertainty; while the accidents to which they are liable, in
-common with other medicines, must occasion great embarrassment and
-perplexity. But from the moment their modus operandi can be connected
-with any known general law of the constitution, a great part of these
-doubts disappear, a light is afforded for directing their good effects,
-and a clew is obtained for tracing their injurious properties, and
-applying the necessary antidote. The medical history of iodine will
-fully exemplify the above observations.
-
-This medicine was first introduced into practice by Dr. Coindet of
-Geneva. Whilst making researches for other purposes, he found that the
-fucus vesiculosus had been recommended by Russel in the cure of goitre.
-From this plant, and other species of the same family, the soda,
-with which iodine is generally found combined, is extracted. As the
-sponge, whose virtues have long been established by certain experience
-at Geneva,[1] is also a maritime plant, Dr. Coindet suspected that
-iodine might be the active principle of them both; and by this analogy
-he was first led to employ it in the cure of bronchocele. The success
-which attended its use in the first instance was very remarkable;
-and it seems to have been exhibited cautiously and warily, for some
-considerable time had elapsed before the alarm was given of its noxious
-effects.
-
- [1] The total inefficacy of this medicine in the hands of
- British Practitioners, while its virtues are so palpable and
- evident at Geneva, that not only Physicians, but also the
- inhabitants in general, are convinced of their reality, had
- always surprised me. I was at a loss to account for testimony
- so contradictory. It seemed as if medicine were a science so
- uncertain and futile, that its plainest facts depend more on
- the authority of name than on the substantial evidence of
- observation and experiment. I lately obtained an explanation
- of this difficulty from a quarter in which I can place
- implicit reliance. It seems that the chemists are much in the
- habit of substituting charcoal for burnt sponge, of which an
- undeniable proof is the fact, that burnt sponge is sold at
- an inferior rate to the same article before it has undergone
- the process of combustion.—I may also be allowed to state in
- this place, that I have sent prescriptions for the hydriodate
- of potass to several chemists in London—that my prescriptions
- were said to have been made up; but that a few days
- afterwards, when I called at their shops, in order to examine
- the medicine, I discovered that they were not even aware of
- the existence of such a drug. If such frauds continue to be
- committed with impunity, the sick had better submit patiently
- to their pains, than have recourse to physicians, whose
- science is rendered unavailing for the profit of tradesmen.
-
-It may easily be imagined, with what joy the discovery of a certain
-remedy for bronchocele was received in a place where that disease is
-extremely common. Many used it, and many were delivered from their
-unseemly and most inconvenient malady. But this state of things was
-not of long duration. Familiarity with the remedy begat too great
-liberality in its use, the effects of which were speedily apparent.
-
-Iodine was then looked upon as a specific remedy for goitre. Its effect
-upon the system was little known and little attended to. No person
-seems even to have considered how it produced its astonishing results.
-Its efficacy, however, in the cure of goitre, was soon generally
-recognised. Its reputation flew over the city and neighbourhood of
-Geneva, and it was taken with the utmost levity, with and without
-medical advice. Dr. Coindet justly deplores this abuse, which was the
-cause of the unmerited discredit into which the remedy afterwards fell.
-When it had been used for some time in this manner, its pernicious
-effects began to show themselves; several persons paid for their
-temerity with their lives, and many were irreparably injured in their
-health. Every day brought to light some new catastrophe, the effect of
-iodine; and in the course of a short time its name was associated with
-the idea of a most intractable and virulent poison. Neither patient nor
-physician dared venture on its employment. It seemed to be one of those
-benefits held up to invite the appetite, while its use was denied us.
-
-These melancholy consequences of its indiscriminate and lavish
-employment, show that iodine is a medicine of great power, and teach
-the necessity of watching and studying its operation. Nothing can
-assist us more in forming an accurate estimate of its virtues than a
-careful observation of the bad effects which flow from its abuse; and
-we shall now, therefore, proceed to consider them in detail.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Some time after the introduction of iodine into practice, a few cases
-of severe spasmodic affection of the stomach and bowels occurred.
-They were attended with violent and incessant vomiting, excruciating
-pain of stomach and bowels, strong spasms of the back and legs. The
-tongue was commonly furred, and the bowels sometimes violently purged,
-at other times obstinately constipated. The pulse was generally
-extremely frequent, small and depressed—the eyes sunk and hollow—the
-countenance ghastly and pale. These accidents were usually imputed by
-the patients to the iodine they had taken. The Physicians by whose
-advice the medicine had been given, would not allow this origin of
-the disease, till a repetition of similar cases determined that the
-sufferers were right. The vomiting, pain of the bowels, and the cramps
-of the legs, are extremely severe. They are also with the greatest
-difficulty allayed, continuing sometimes for many days, and renewed
-during weeks, and even months, after taking food. The legs sometimes
-swell in the first instance, and afterwards become rapidly thin and
-meagre. There is another symptom, which, though common to almost all
-diseases, is peculiarly the sign of this. The emaciation which attends
-this irregular action of iodine is so rapid and so extreme as to strike
-terror into the minds both of patients and physician. A magistrate of
-Geneva, high in office, robust, corpulent, and of an athletic form,
-was so much reduced in flesh, that he was not known by his oldest
-acquaintances. I have seen emaciation, in one case, proceed to such
-an extent in a short time as is almost incredible. A young English
-lady, at a boarding-school, at Paris, had for some time been afflicted
-with goitre. Her brother was prosecuting the study of medicine there.
-With the characteristic zeal of a young man, as soon as he heard of
-the wonderful effects of iodine, he determined on making trial of its
-powers on his sister. He did not find much difficulty in persuading her
-to become the subject of his experiments, nor did he encounter more
-difficulty on the part of the French gouvernante to whose care she
-was confided. The remedy succeeded, as usual, in greatly diminishing
-the tumour; and for some time no bad effects were apparent. A small
-hard knot only remained in the situation which had been occupied by
-a considerable swelling before; and the desire to get rid of this
-little tumour was the cause of the remedy having been pushed too far.
-Its deleterious effects first showed themselves by gnawing pain at
-the upper part of the stomach, great anxiety, and oppression. These
-symptoms were disregarded, and the remedy was persevered in for a week
-longer, during which time the patient became very much emaciated; she
-was frequently affected with vomiting, the pain of the abdomen became
-more frequent and more severe, and the thirst was very distressing.
-I was sent for early in the morning, in consequence of an alarming
-diarrhœa, which had come on during the night, and I found her in a
-deplorable condition indeed. Her brother, and the mistress of the
-boarding-school, were so alarmed at the consequences of their conduct,
-that they were quite unfit to give any advice about her treatment; they
-could hardly indeed give me a coherent account of what had passed; and
-the poor young lady was therefore entrusted to the care of servants.
-She was then suffering the most excruciating pain at stomach, violent
-cramps, and convulsive action of the muscles of the arms, back, and
-legs, from which she had scarcely any intermission. The vomiting and
-purging were almost incessant. The dejections were bloody, slimy, and
-very scanty, but at first had been copious and feculent. The matter
-vomited was of a dark green colour, streaked with blood. The tongue was
-loaded with a thick crust, resembling in colour the matter vomited. The
-countenance was pale, contracted, and with that peculiar expression
-which announces abdominal suffering. The pulse was small, hard, and
-frequent, scarcely indeed to be numbered. The whole appearance of
-the patient was such as to excite well-grounded fears for her life.
-Being quite unable to swallow, four grains of opium were directed to
-be thrown into the rectum. They were not, however, long retained, and
-were not productive of benefit. An anodyne embrocation was therefore
-applied to the pit of the stomach, fomentations to the feet; and, as
-soon as it could be got ready, she was placed in a warm bath. This so
-much quieted the irritation of the stomach, that she was enabled to
-swallow about thirty drops of laudanum, from which there was a decided
-alleviation of her sufferings for nearly an hour. During ten days she
-remained in a very doubtful state, subject to frequent severe attacks
-of diarrhœa, with intense pain of the bowels. Her emaciation during
-this time was most extraordinary. The expression of her French nurse,
-“_décharnée_,” was literally applicable to her; her arms and body were
-almost fleshless—her breasts, which had been large, were now perfectly
-flat—the calves of her legs had quite disappeared—and her thighs were
-not much thicker than her wrists, when in health. I never witnessed any
-thing like such extenuation in so short a space of time. By the steady
-and very liberal use of opium, she recovered to a certain degree;
-but when I last saw her, many months after her illness, she remained
-subject to frequent violent spasms of the stomach, during which opium
-alone gave her relief. Her nervous system had been much shattered. She
-repeatedly declared to me that she seldom enjoyed an hour’s respite
-from the most wretched depression of spirits, and since her illness
-had never felt any thing like her former buoyancy of mind. The few
-moments of ease she knew were purchased by large doses of laudanum, to
-the habitual use of which her sufferings had forced her. She was still
-very pale, and her emaciation, though much less, was yet very great.
-She was indeed a miserable monument of the effect of iodine. I heard
-of this young lady a few weeks ago; she was then much better, had in a
-great degree recovered her looks, and was able to leave off the use of
-opium almost entirely. Her stomach, however, still remained very weak,
-and obliged her to be very careful of her diet. The bronchocele had not
-returned; but the small hard swelling mentioned above remained still
-very sensible to the touch, but not evident to the eye.
-
- * * * * *
-
-These are the outlines of a very severe case. I trust that such a one
-is not likely to occur soon again. But if practice so daring as I have
-more than once witnessed in London be repeated, we may very soon see
-even worse accidents than the above. These statements, however, are
-important, inasmuch as they demonstrate that iodine is not merely a
-medicine of specific power against bronchocele, but that it dissipates
-this disease, by virtue of its very important action on the whole
-absorbent system. I shall take further notice of this property in a
-future part of my paper.
-
-There is an effect of iodine to which I have alluded in the case just
-quoted, but which is so extremely common, when the remedy has been
-pushed to an overdose, that it deserves to be noticed at greater
-length. The anxiety and depression of spirits are so great and
-persevering as to warrant my considering them as the peculiar effect
-of iodine, and not the consequence of the great debility which attends
-the violent and inordinate action of this medicine on the constitution.
-It is an affection very different from hypochondriacal melancholy,
-inasmuch as it dwells principally on the present and has no reference
-to the future. Patients have generally described it to me as a sense
-of sinking and faintness, which were peculiarly oppressive, and I have
-heard them complain of it while suffering the most intense pain, as the
-part of the complaint which was yet the most difficult to bear. This
-symptom is an almost constant attendant on the violent action of iodine
-on the system, and frequently makes its appearance in a lesser degree
-when the medicine acts in a kind and salutary manner.
-
-We have now to notice the effect of iodine on the nervous and muscular
-systems, and this is by far the most interesting part of our paper.
-It is that also on which the greatest degree of doubt and uncertainty
-rests.
-
-The nervous and muscular systems are peculiarly exposed to the
-irregular action of this medicine. In certain persons, indeed, of
-peculiar habits of body, it cannot be exhibited so as to affect the
-constitution in any manner, without in some shape or other producing
-unpleasant nervous symptoms, such as dimness of vision, indistinct
-hearing, fallacious touch, insomnia, breathlessness, palpitation, and
-all the countless forms of inward nervous derangement. But the symptom
-to which we shall more peculiarly confine our attention, is a degree
-of tremor which generally comes on when the patient is under the full
-constitutional influence of iodine. This symptom may be reckoned a
-good gauge of the degree of nervous excitement which has taken place,
-and it is seldom or never absent when that excitement has proceeded to
-any considerable degree. It generally begins by a slight trembling of
-the hands, resembling that which takes place from the poison of lead;
-and if the medicine be incautiously continued, the larger muscles of
-the arms, legs, and back become affected. When in this state, the
-patient can with difficulty walk, and his progression is a tottering
-uncertain motion. He cannot carry any thing straight to his mouth, but
-the hand moves in a zig-zag manner, and with difficulty arrives at the
-mouth at last. This complaint is generally attended with a hurried
-circulation, and a small thready pulse. There is commonly great
-suffering at stomach and confined bowels.[2] When nervous affection
-first appears the medicine must be most diligently watched, and if
-the symptoms seem to increase, its use should be instantly put a stop
-to. If rashly persevered in, the symptoms I have described above will
-certainly be excited, and then it is vain to withdraw the medicine;
-the complaint goes on progressive for weeks and months, even though
-its exciting cause be abstracted; and when it does at last begin to
-diminish, the amendment is so slow and gradual that the patient is
-scarcely conscious of the relief he receives. I saw two cases of this
-kind with Dr. Peschier of Geneva, in which the patients had suffered
-more than twelve months, and yet their sufferings had undergone little
-mitigation. It is of some importance not to provoke a complaint with
-so much difficulty allayed; and no one who has not seen it can have an
-idea of the slow and imperceptible degrees by which it steals on the
-patient. Its first advances generally escape his observation as well as
-that of his physician. A slight trembling of the fingers, quivering of
-the eye-lids, occasional subsultus of the tendons of the fingers, arms,
-and legs, are generally the first symptoms observed, and it behoves
-us to be constantly on the watch for them. I have always obliged my
-patients to raise an empty glass or any light object to the head.
-By this means the smallest degree of unsteadiness in the hand will
-commonly be detected. I recommend a light object to be used for this
-purpose, because a heavy one tends to give steadiness to the muscles
-and to disguise the complaint.
-
- [2] I have seen in one case a most obstinate suppression of
- urine. I merely mention the fact, as I have no reason to
- believe it to be a common effect of the use of iodine.
-
-This effect of iodine is frequently complicated with the choleric
-complaint I have already described; but it is evident that their
-proximate cause is different, since they also exist separately. The
-nervous affection is most common, if I may trust my observations, in
-the mobile constitutions of women; at least nine out of ten cases,
-which I have seen, were in women, and by far the greater number in
-young nubile girls. In the latter cases the disease generally excites
-some hysterical symptoms.
-
-This affection differs from chorea. The patient has no difficulty in
-keeping the affected limbs steady, if not called upon to exert them,
-and in general exertion is irksome and painful. Like chorea, however,
-it is always attended with a constipated condition of bowels. The
-evacuations, also, are uniformly hard, scybulous, and dark coloured.
-There is certainly a considerable resemblance between the two diseases,
-but it would be too much to assert that what has been called their
-proximate cause, or their nature, is the same. Such an idea, however,
-has been adopted by more than one physician who has seen these cases
-along with myself. I mention this, not in order to give weight to the
-opinion, but in order to give my readers a more distinct notion of the
-form, which the affection we have been considering sometimes assumes.
-A statement of this kind is more graphical than many descriptions.
-Mr. Orfila, whose industry and ingenuity in the study of poisons are
-well known, has not neglected to examine and note the effects of iodine
-when given in a large dose. He gave it to different animals in the
-quantity of a dram and two drams. They were in general seized with
-violent and frequent vomiting. When the contents of the stomach were
-not soon thrown off, or were altogether retained, the poison was much
-more speedily fatal. The animals do not seem to have been affected
-with any other very remarkable symptom. It is stated that they were
-much dejected, and manifested suffering, though they did not howl,
-were not paralyzed or convulsed, and were not affected with any of the
-more violent symptoms by which poisons commonly show their action on
-the living body. It is plain that much light is not thus thrown on the
-effects of iodine when exhibited as a remedy; yet when considered along
-with the appearances after death, we still find a certain analogy. The
-stomach was generally found corroded by small ulcers of a linear form,
-which had eaten through the mucous coat. Those parts, also, which
-were most exposed to the action of the poison, were thinner and more
-transparent than the others, and were easily torn asunder. The mucous
-membrane in the neighbourhood of the pylorus was found much inflamed,
-swelled, and covered with a crust of coagulated lymph.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The affection of the alimentary canal which we have described above, is
-plainly to be ascribed to the acrid operation of iodine on its mucous
-membrane. I have never witnessed it in any considerable degree when
-this medicine had not been taken internally. But I have seen slight
-pains of stomach, accompanied with copious bilious evacuations, attend
-its external use. These never proceed to the degree of violence which
-marks the internal exhibition. Indeed, it is rare to see them in any
-considerable degree disturb the comfort of the patient. It is not
-thus when taken into the stomach. The case of the young lady related
-above, sufficiently shows its deleterious influence. I have never seen
-any disease of the bowels which more closely resembled the terrific
-descriptions given by the physicians of India, of the sufferings
-from the cholera of that country. Yet no medicine varies more in its
-effects than this. Some persons take it in large doses for a great
-length of time with perfect impunity; while others, from that peculiar,
-undescribed and unintelligible state of constitution, called by
-physicians an idiosyncrasy, are speedily and violently affected by very
-small doses. Mr. Magendie, whose accuracy is well known, states that he
-had swallowed a spoonful of the tincture, containing about a scruple of
-iodine, without any bad effect ensuing. A child, also, four years old,
-swallowed by mistake a tea-spoonful of the same preparation with equal
-impunity. These are extraordinary instances, for I have received the
-account of the death of a fine boy ten years old, who did not survive
-many hours after having swallowed the largest of the above doses. And a
-strong man who took this medicine, under my own care, in doses of half
-grains three times a-day for one week only, was very soon affected in
-such a manner, that, had the medicine not been immediately interrupted,
-the most lamentable consequences might have ensued. When this medicine
-is given internally, and it is often necessary that it should be thus
-exhibited, it must be used with extreme caution, under the sanction and
-observation of those who are able to watch its effects, and who are
-experienced in its virtues.
-
-I have never seen a case in which the mismanagement of iodine proved
-fatal, and cannot, therefore, say whether its long continued use
-ulcerates the mucous membrane of the stomach in the human body, after
-the manner described by Orfila. I have no reason to believe that it
-does, unless the extreme violence of the symptoms, and the obstinacy
-of the vomiting, should by some be reckoned proofs of such a state.
-I certainly, however, am inclined to believe that the last mentioned
-symptom proceeds from inflammation and occlusion of the pylorus, which
-Orfila describes as the effect of poisoning by iodine.
-
-It is a much more difficult task to discover a probable explanation of
-the manner in which iodine disturbs the actions of the nervous system.
-The rationale of diseases, even when we are best acquainted with their
-history, is obscure and unsatisfactory. Here it is better at once to
-stop short, and confess our ignorance, than, by adventurous speculation
-and daring theory, lay a foundation for mistakes in practice. This
-subject certainly presents a fine field for hypothesis, and a tempting
-one to a theorist. But we leave our readers in possession of the facts,
-and trust they will not use them with less caution than ourselves.
-One thing only seems probable, that is by its operation on the brain,
-either immediately, or through the agency of the nerves, that the
-effects we are considering are produced. The similarity of this
-effect of iodine to the mercurial erethismus, so well described by
-Mr. Pearson, will be evident to all, and is an analogy deserving of
-attention and study. I have seen many instances of gilders in Paris
-and Geneva affected with mercurial erethismus, closely resembling the
-erethismus from the use of iodine.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Our most important consideration is the cure of these painful
-affections. In the choleric disease the first remedy of all, and
-that without which we can have little hope of subduing the disease,
-is opium. If called early to the patient, before the bowels have yet
-thrown off their acrid contents, I have generally waited a little
-before exhibiting opium. I have done this for two reasons: First, that
-I might be certain of all acrid matters having been removed from the
-alimentary canal before the prescription of a medicine to quiet its
-irritation; and, secondly, because it is with great difficulty that the
-opium is retained while the extreme irritation of the disease is going
-forward. Emollient and diluting injections will in these cases be found
-most useful auxiliaries, both by washing out the inferior portion of
-the gut, and by quieting the violent action of the stomach. Hemlock
-and hyoscyamus sometimes succeed when opium fails. The case related
-at page 7 was much relieved, indeed I may say that the young lady’s
-life was saved, by a quarter of a grain of acetate of morphium given
-every half-hour. Every other form of opium was tried without effect;
-they were not even retained an instant on the stomach. The acetate
-of morphium alone could be taken, and it effectually restrained the
-disease, which must otherwise have very soon terminated the life of
-the patient. This medicine has not, however, answered my expectation
-in other cases. I have tried various bitter and astringent medicines
-in union with opium, but have found them uniformly injurious during
-the first stage of excitement and exacerbation. Afterwards, when the
-disease has in some degree abated, this class of medicine will be found
-useful. I cannot too strongly caution my readers against the use of
-purgatives in such cases. However gentle they may be, their effect is
-uniformly and most decidedly noxious. In the first and acute period
-of this affection of the alimentary canal, it is almost impossible
-to quiet the disturbance which a purgative occasions. A remedy which
-ought never to be neglected is the warm bath. It will be found a most
-powerful coadjutor in restraining the violence of the spasms, and in
-moderating the perturbed action of the stomach.
-
-But the greatest difficulty will be found in treating the second or
-chronic stage of the complaint, when the symptoms we have mentioned as
-characterising it are prolonged in a mitigated form. I am inclined to
-believe, that in this state there is actual ulceration of the mucous
-membrane of the intestines. I have only seen one case of this kind, of
-which I have given the history above. But several similar instances
-have been communicated to me, and they must be of frequent occurrence
-wherever iodine is used ignorantly and rashly. In all those cases of
-chronic affection of the alimentary canal, with the particular history
-of which I have been able to become acquainted, the symptoms differed
-widely from those which marked the accession of the disease. Instead
-of the small vacillating pulse of the first period of the complaint,
-it was bounding and firm, the extremities were no longer cold, nor the
-system collapsed; the diarrhœa had assumed a dysenteric form, the fæces
-being retained, and the dejections consisting chiefly of maturated
-mucus or pus. In such cases, I believe, the conjoined operation of
-aperient medicines and opium will be found most advantageous in
-quieting the symptoms. By this plan at least I succeeded best in
-relieving the single case that has yet occurred to me.
-
-With regard to the treatment of the muscular spasms, and the
-disturbance of the nervous system, we have before described, there
-is no invariable plan of cure to be followed. Until we are better
-acquainted with the nature of the affection, it is impossible to apply
-a remedy to the root of the complaint. All I can do here, therefore, is
-to point out the means by which I have best succeeded in averting and
-palliating its painful symptoms. I have seen ten cases of this kind,
-and all of them have seemed to be much more benefited by attention
-to diet, air, and exercise, than by any medicines they have taken.
-Patients thus affected ought to live much in the open air; their food
-should be sparing, mild, and nutritious; and they ought to avoid
-carefully the use of wine and ardent spirits. By these means alone,
-and the use of mild aperient medicines, two of the cases alluded to
-were quickly recovered, although they began in a very threatening
-manner. All the others but one were much relieved by the same means.
-I therefore consider these simple remedies to be of the greatest
-importance, and am convinced that without them no other remedies
-will have any effect. Next in importance to gentle exercise in the
-open air, and attention to diet, I should place the use of the warm
-bath. By means of it the severity of the spasms is very frequently
-relieved. The young lady, whose case is related at page 7, used it
-daily, sometimes several times in a day, and never without benefit.
-She could never enjoy any sleep at night unless she had previously
-spent a quarter of an hour in the bath; and to this day she continues
-the use of it. Joined to the above remedies, habitual attention must
-be paid to the bowels. They should be moved by the gentlest medicines,
-and they may often be advantageously acted on by glisters only. This
-manner of exhibiting medicine is frequently objected to in England,
-because it only empties the lower parts of the larger intestines; but
-repeated experience has convinced me, that the mere circumstance of
-evacuating the large intestines gives occasion to, and stimulates the
-action of, the higher passages. I do not intend to defend the habitual
-abuse of enemata which is daily witnessed on the Continent; but, in
-this country, I think that their use may be extended with advantage. In
-whatever way, however, the bowels are evacuated, it is of the greatest
-consequence that they should be acted on by the gentlest medicines
-possible. Such, however, is their slowness in this disease, that it
-sometimes becomes necessary to use the strongest medicine in order to
-effect a mere evacuation; but I have never seen the bowels violently
-moved without the highest injury to the patient. My common practice
-has been to prescribe small repeated doses of one of the neutral
-salts, to each of which I desire five or six drops of laudanum to be
-added. By this means it has seemed to me that my purpose was effected
-with least violence. I have tried all the medicines of the class of
-antispasmodics, and cannot speak in favour of any one of them. They are
-either useless or hurtful. The tinctures and ethers are injurious in a
-very marked manner and in a very high degree. Various other remedies
-will, of course, be suggested to the judicious practitioner by the
-peculiar circumstances of each case.
-
- * * * * *
-
-I may seem to some persons to have dwelt too tediously on the poisonous
-properties of iodine; but let it be recollected, by those who have
-had opportunities of becoming acquainted with its virtues, that this
-medicine is as yet almost unknown to the numerous practitioners who
-are now daily using it; that it is a medicine of singular power and
-efficacy in a great class of disorders, with which the inhabitants of
-this country are peculiarly afflicted; that this most useful remedy
-may be divested of all its deleterious properties; that, therefore,
-it will probably come into general use among us; and they will allow
-that I have not bestowed too much time on this important subject. I
-wish the details had been more complete, that my experience had been
-more extensive, and that I had been better able to satisfy the reader’s
-curiosity and my own.
-
-Some of my readers, who have lately been in the habit of using iodine
-cautiously, and of watching its effects, may think that I have
-overcharged the picture of its baneful properties; but I have been an
-eyewitness of all I have written; and I should extend this treatise
-much beyond the limits I have assigned to it, did I detail all the
-cases that have reached me of the mischief it has produced. I am glad,
-however, to add my testimony to that of Coindet, de Carro, and others,
-that this medicine may most certainly be deprived of all its hurtful
-qualities, by using it cautiously and watching its effect. Like all
-other powerful medicines, when its action is not controlled by the
-hand of a master, its energies become a source of mischief and ruin,
-instead of restoring the blessings of health and strength; but when
-well managed, it is a most useful remedy, and a valuable addition to
-our materia medica. I have used it myself in a great number of cases,
-and I have never yet, in my own practice, had occasion to regret the
-occurrence of any of the violent symptoms I have described. I have
-more than once discontinued the medicine on finding the pulse become
-frequent, small, and depressed, on account of watchfulness, flying
-pains of the joints, tremors, or pain at the stomach; but having early
-detected these symptoms, they were not allowed to become formidable.
-Dr. Coindet states, that he has prescribed the medicine to one hundred
-and fifty patients, and that he has never had occasion to observe any
-mischief from its use.[3] Dr. Decarro has given it at Vienna to one
-hundred and twenty patients; Dr. Erlinger, of Zurich, to seventy;
-and Dr. Formey has prescribed it extensively, in Prussia, with the
-same favourable results. Dr. Decarro, in his enthusiasm about this
-new medicine, seems almost to doubt whether accidents have ever
-occurred from its use, though these accidents have been as public
-as the day, and the unhappy patients have paid with their lives the
-inexperience and rashness of their physicians. Thus far I can agree
-with Decarro, that I have never known or heard of any bad effect from
-iodine, when it had not been used unadvisedly and injudiciously. It
-has been used extensively by Hufeland in Germany, who makes no mention
-of its deleterious properties; and a great number of physicians in
-London and Paris, and various parts of England and France, have also
-lately employed it. They have either not met with the accidents I have
-described, or have prudently concealed them.
-
- [3] Dr. Coindet, however, though he must be acquainted with
- the sad accidents which have occurred in his native city, has
- not yet taken any public notice of them. This silence on facts
- so important seems in some degree to invalidate his testimony.
-
-
- * * * * *
-
-Having now considered the effects of iodine on the alimentary canal
-and the nervous system, we are prepared for studying its effect on the
-absorbent vessels, by which its use in medicine is indicated. This
-is the most important subject which has yet fallen under my review,
-and I shall give it as much extension as may be necessary for its
-perfect discussion. It has been already seen at pages 10 and 12 that
-the lymphatic system is very powerfully and generally stimulated, so
-as to occasion a great absorption of all the sebaceous, muscular, and
-glandular structures of the body; but it will be seen, in the following
-pages, that the action of iodine may be directed exclusively against
-tumors, and local disorders, while the healthy structures of the body
-remain unaffected.
-
-The absorbent system is distributed over every part of the body. In
-the brain alone the vessels of this class have not, hitherto, been
-detected and submitted to ocular demonstration by any other anatomist
-than Mascagni. But physiological and pathological proofs of their
-existence, equal in force to any anatomical evidence, are not wanting
-to demonstrate their presence in the central organ of the nervous
-system. The office which these vessels discharge, in the nutrition of
-the body and removal of its waste, is most important to its healthy
-condition; and the influence it exerts, in a state of disease, is not
-less considerable. From the inactivity or obstruction of the absorbent
-vessels, a great proportion of the chronic disorders of the body
-take their rise. Medicines, therefore, which act either directly or
-indirectly on this system, have always been accounted most valuable
-articles of the materia medica. Unhappily, they too often deceive us
-in their operation, and, notwithstanding the united studies of many
-physicians directed to them, the causes of their failure, as well as
-the circumstances under which they succeed, still remain a problem. A
-considerable step towards the solution of this difficulty has, indeed,
-been lately taken by Dr. Blackall. Much obscurity, however, yet rests
-upon the subject, and a direct medical agent on the absorbent system,
-whose effects are speedy, indubitable, and powerful, is a great
-desideratum in the art of healing.
-
-Such an agent is iodine. Its effects on the absorbent system are
-incontrovertible. They are as speedy as they are certain, and so
-powerful are they, that if the medicine be not duly and cautiously
-managed, we have already seen what havoc may be the result. A few, a
-very few, cases have occurred to myself, in which the constitution was
-altogether insensible to its action; I believe a greater number have
-occurred to others; but I cannot help thinking that such cases have
-been owing, in many instances, either to some fault in the medicine, or
-to some inadvertence on the part of the practitioner.[4]
-
- [4] The iodine which is sold in the shops is of very different
- degrees of purity, which will probably afford an explanation
- of some of the above anomalies. But still after all possible
- care has been taken, there will be found a few instances
- in which it does not appear to possess any power over the
- absorbent system.
-
-We shall first consider the use of iodine in the treatment of
-bronchocele, the disease for the cure of which it was introduced into
-practice. All the physicians who have employed it bear unequivocal
-testimony to its efficacy. It seldom fails of effecting a complete
-cure, and when it does, it almost always reduces the swelling
-very considerably. The promptitude of its action is at times very
-extraordinary. Decarro states, that one of his patients, thirty-eight
-years of age, after taking the remedy for seventeen days, had the
-circumference of his neck reduced from one foot seven inches and a
-half, to one foot three inches and three-quarters. Dr. Coindet relates
-a case of a man, fifty years of age, in which this medicine, taken
-internally, reduced a very large goître considerably in size, after
-six days’ treatment only. An old woman, aged sixty-five, who took this
-medicine under my care for a goître, with which she had been affected
-nearly forty years, had the circumference of her neck reduced from
-twenty-two inches to eighteen, on the twenty-fifth day. Such rapid
-diminution in the size of the tumor is not to be always expected. In
-some cases a whole month, and even more, elapses before any effect is
-visible. In general, however, the powers of the medicine are manifest
-at the end of the second week and considerable progress towards cure
-has been made at the end of a month. I have endeavoured to find out
-whether there was any thing in the constitution of the different
-persons under my own observation, or in their state of health, which
-rendered them more or less apt to be affected by this medicine. I
-have not been very successful in this inquiry. But I found that in
-two cases of women afflicted with extensive and very painful varix of
-the veins of all the extremities, the effect of iodine was produced
-with great difficulty. This fact seemed to coincide with the result
-of Mr. Magendie’s very interesting experiments on absorption, and I
-accordingly desired one of the persons, to whom I have just alluded, to
-lose a little blood from the arm. The effect of the medicine was very
-much accelerated by this treatment, but a consequence I did not look
-for was also the result of it, viz. the total and sudden disappearance
-of the varix, which had commenced during uterine gestation twelve years
-before. The goître succeeded the varix after her delivery. I merely
-mention the facts of this case, which may suggest useful hints to those
-who may meet with a case similarly circumstanced. Since its occurrence,
-whenever the medicine is slow in its operation, provided the vessels
-be full and plethoric, I desire a little blood to be taken away from
-the arm, and I almost invariably find the action of the medicine much
-quickened. I have sometimes, also, thought that the cases, in which
-blood was taken away, were cured more easily and with less suffering
-than the others.
-
-There is, very rarely, any considerable effect produced on the arterial
-system by iodine, if it be given with propriety and caution. Sometimes
-it accelerates the pulse in a slight degree; it frequently occasions a
-little mucous expectoration from the chest, and it often raises nervous
-symptoms in delicate subjects, which are very distressing. I saw it
-given to a young woman in one of the public hospitals in Paris, in
-whom it produced such a state of insomnia that she told me she had not
-slept at all for a whole week, though she had been a very good sleeper
-before. I have said that it affects the pulse but a little, yet it
-sometimes stimulates very powerfully the arterial vessels of the tumor.
-This is mentioned by all the authors who have written on iodine, and
-is one of the most singular circumstances in its medical history!
-
-This irritation of arterial vessels frequently becomes active
-inflammation, requiring the use of bloodletting for its relief. Topical
-bleeding will, in general, be found fully competent to remove it.
-Indeed, it sometimes happens that when the iodine has lighted up smart
-inflammation in the tumor, the arterial system generally is unaffected.
-To what is this effect on the vessels of the part to be attributed,
-from which the constitution generally is free?
-
-The same is occasionally true of the absorbent vessels. I have
-seen some very large tumors discussed, while there was no evidence
-whatever of the absorbent vessels in other parts of the body having
-felt the influence of the medicine. It is a curious question, to
-determine by what law the constitution remains impassive to the action
-of a medicine, which affects remote and distant parts through the
-constitution. Certain tumors are of so irritable a nature, that a
-stimulus, which only serves to rouse the healthy energies of the body,
-excites the process of destruction in them. In the quaint language
-of a celebrated modern lecturer, “they are irritable beings, if you
-touch them they’ll kick.” But this is not the case with many of the
-tumors which are dissipated by iodine. Bronchocele, for instance, is
-of a slow growth; all the operations which go forward in its structure
-are of a very indolent and chronic kind. Such, also, is the case with
-the greater number of scrophulous tumors. Yet all of them have been
-dissipated, like a charm, by the agency of iodine.
-
-In prescribing this medicine, it is very necessary not to lose sight
-of the effect I have just mentioned. When the tumor is very large,
-and especially in that kind of bronchocele, in which the principal
-enlargement of the thyroid gland takes place on its inner surface,
-where it is in contact with the trachea, the occurrence of inflammation
-is much to be apprehended. When a very large tumor becomes inflamed,
-the distress which it occasions, and the disturbance it excites in the
-constitution, are very considerable; and in the second case to which I
-have alluded, inflammation of the trachea is very readily excited.[5]
-Such cases are easily distinguished by the immovability of the tumor,
-and the effect they have in altering the voice. On dissection, the
-trachea is sometimes found to have been very much compressed by them.
-
- [5] Dr. Coindet gives an instructive example of this kind.
- _Bibliothèque Universelle, Février, 1821_, p. 148.
-
-It is now fit that I should mention the most common and beneficial
-methods of using this substance. Dr. Coindet has recommended the
-hydriodate of potass as an external application, and my experience
-has certainly confirmed his choice. The hydriodate of soda, however,
-will be found to answer equally well. Practitioners may choose between
-these two remedies. I have used the iodates, but I have found them at
-once more inert and more unmanageable. They possess all the virtues
-of iodine in a very remarkable degree, but they will be found to fail
-more frequently than the hydriodatic salts; and, if I may draw any
-conclusion from the few trials I have given them, they are more apt
-to excite disorder in the system. I have generally ordered half a
-dram of the hydriodate of potass to be united to an ounce and a half
-of axunge, and desired the patient to rub in a dram of this ointment
-over the surface of the tumor, night and morning. When the tumor is
-painful, it is not necessary to rub in. The ointment may be used in the
-manner recommended by Scattigna.[6] All that is necessary is to choose
-a portion of the surface of the body where the skin is very tender and
-thin, and simply to apply the ointment over night. For this purpose,
-almost any part of the body which is habitually covered may be chosen;
-but in the axilla, and in the inner surface of the thighs close to the
-scrotum, the absorption will be found most rapid.[7]
-
- [6] Nuovo metodo di amministratori l’unguento mercuriale ne
- mali fisici del Dottore Vitantonio Scattigna. Napoli, 1818.
-
- [7] I have seen, in the hospitals of Naples, the most
- decided and unquestionable effects produced by mercury used
- in this manner, I have since used it frequently in my own
- practice in the same way; and I believe that the mercurial
- ointment, thus used, is exempt from much of the inconvenience
- occasioned by rubbing. I have seen several persons use it in
- this manner with ease, who could not rub in mercury without
- much suffering. Scattigna asserts that it is also much more
- efficacious than when rubbed in by the common method. His way
- of using it is, to extend a scruple of mercurial ointment over
- the skin of the axilla before the patient goes to sleep. In
- the morning, the whole of it will be found to be absorbed,
- and in this way he calculates that as strong an effect is
- produced as by a drachm of the ointment. I have used, in a
- case of hydrothorax, an ointment of squills in the same way,
- which has caused an increased flow of urine, which I had
- vainly endeavoured to effect by means of the same medicine
- given by the mouth. These statements are at variance with the
- experience of Mr. Pearson, which must be allowed to be of much
- weight in this matter. Will the difference of climate account
- for the discrepancy?
-
-It is a more important question to determine the proper method of
-using this medicine internally. From my own experience, I am inclined
-to give a decided preference to the solution over the tincture. It is
-prepared by dissolving thirty grains of the hydriodate _of potass_ in
-an ounce of distilled water. I have generally begun this preparation by
-a dose of ten drops, and augmented it gradually to twenty, and, very
-seldom, to twenty-five. This preparation can dissolve an additional
-dose of iodine; a formulary, however, to which I seldom, if ever, have
-recourse. I have found that the deleterious action of the medicine
-on the bowels was more marked, in proportion to the quantity of free
-iodine it contained. For this reason, also, I now seldom have recourse
-to the tincture, a form much used, because it is less expensive.
-Practitioners will, in general, find an advantage in confining
-themselves to the external use of iodine for the cure of bronchocele,
-and tumors, which do not arise from any vice in the constitution. In
-a few cases of bronchocele, however, it is necessary to have recourse
-to its internal use, especially when the disease exists in a strumous
-habit. By the use, either of the ointment, or of the solution in the
-way we have recommended, a soft bronchocele will be discussed in a
-month or six weeks. Those which are hard, and of old growth, generally
-take a little longer time, and many of these latter cases cannot be
-altogether reduced. I have seen two cases, however, in which the
-tumors gradually disappeared some weeks after the medicine had been
-altogether discontinued. Dr. Coindet says, that he has seen several
-cases of bronchocele, complicated with watery cysts, yield completely
-to the action of iodine. I have only had occasion to see one such case
-treated by this medicine. It was somewhat lessened in its bulk, and the
-patient was certainly relieved, but the disease was by no means cured.
-
-If the iodine be given internally, it is indispensably necessary to
-watch its effects from day to day. No peculiarity of circumstances
-whatever can dispense the physician from this care; and if it be
-recollected that it is yet a new medicine, that unknown accidents,
-to which it is liable, may be discovered by future investigations,
-this caution will not appear superfluous. The case related by Dr.
-Coindet, to which we have already alluded at page 36, in which a very
-powerful and painful effect was produced at the end of the fifth
-day, sufficiently evinces the necessity of the watchfulness here
-recommended.
-
-When iodine acts kindly on the constitution, no other effect will be
-found to accompany its use, but a diminution of the tumor and a little
-nervous excitement, which is sometimes not so severe as to become
-disagreeable. The increase of appetite is a very frequent effect of
-iodine, and it is sometimes very troublesome, because it is extremely
-necessary not to indulge it. The diet of the patient should be good,
-but by no means full, which the occasional voraciousness of his
-appetite would lead him to adopt.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Having established that the use of iodine in bronchocele was owing to
-its effect on the absorbent system, it was natural to conclude that it
-would be of equal service in the cure of scrophula.[8] Accordingly,
-we find that Dr. Coindet made trial of it in the cure of the latter
-disease, soon after he had determined its virtues in the former, and
-that his experiment was followed by the most satisfactory result. I
-have already considered at so great length the general effects of
-iodine on the constitution, that little remains for me in this place
-but to mention the particular cases in which I have found it useful,
-and those in which it has failed my expectations.
-
- [8] On perusing most of our practical, and more especially
- our systematic authors, this term will be found of such
- latitude and various meaning, that, were they indiscriminately
- followed, scrophula might be considered an universal disease.
- In this place, we confine our attention to those diseases
- which are familiar to all practitioners, scrophulous tumors of
- the conglobate glands.
-
-The first case of scrophula in which I made use of this medicine, was
-that of a young lady eighteen years of age, who had been affected by
-glandular swellings of the neck for nearly eight years. She used the
-solution of hydriodate of potass for a month; the dose varied from
-ten to twenty drops three times a day, with occasional intermission
-of a day when the absorption was going on rapidly. At the end of this
-time she had got perfectly rid of her swellings, and she now (two
-years since she took the medicine) remains perfectly well. When she
-discontinued her drops, so far from having been incommoded by them,
-her health was certainly much improved. There remained several little
-fistulous sores, which required the assistance of the knife to heal
-them. The iodine is not equally efficacious in all cases of this kind.
-Great numbers, however, yield rapidly under its use; but many of them,
-also, resist its operation. I have never been able to assign even a
-plausible reason for this difference of its action in scrophula. In
-general, I have found such cases yield more readily to the internal
-than to the external use of iodine. The scrophulous glands of children
-are not so easily affected by iodine as those of persons who have
-attained the age of puberty, and they are also more liable to a relapse.
-
-A female servant in one of the public hotels of Paris, aged
-thirty-three, married, who had born several children, shewed me a tumor
-of her right breast she had had about two years. It was not attended
-with any pain, but had lately somewhat increased, which gave her alarm.
-About a year before she had been advised by a surgeon to have it cut
-out. This advice gave her so much uneasiness, that she presented
-herself at the clinical consultations of M. Dubois. That eminent
-surgeon immediately distinguished the tumor to be scrophulous; and
-during three months’ treatment, all the usual remedies of this disease
-were exhausted without the least effect. A scruple of the ointment of
-the hydriodate of potass, placed in the axilla at night, completely
-removed the tumor in about six weeks. This is the only case of a
-similar kind in which I have used iodine. I have never yet employed it
-in scirrhus of the breast.[9]
-
- [9] My friend Mr. Maunoir, of Geneva, informed me that a
- little boy from one of the interior towns of Switzerland, was
- brought to him on account of a swelling of the knee-joint. He
- had already been under the care of several eminent surgeons,
- who had all declared the tumor to be a white swelling, and had
- recommended the amputation of the limb. Such, also, was the
- opinion of Mr. Maunoir; but finding the friends and the boy
- himself extremely averse to the operation, he tried the effect
- of iodine. In the course of a few weeks the tumor, pain,
- and stiffness of the joint were dissipated, and the boy was
- running about as formerly.
-
-I was called in the month of February, 1822, to visit a boy five years
-old, affected in the following manner. Since the period of his birth,
-he had always been weakly, but, for the last two years, had gradually
-been falling off in his flesh and strength. He complained of frequent
-pains in his bowels, which were alternately confined and purged; the
-motions were discoloured and scybalous; he frequently vomited his
-food; his abdomen was much swelled; the rest of his body considerably
-emaciated; pulse natural; appetite variable, but never great. It
-was impossible to doubt, from the appearance of the child, that the
-mesenteric glands were enlarged, and I determined to make a very
-cautious trial of iodine. It was the first case in which I had used it
-for an internal disease, and I therefore watched it with unremitting
-care. I began by giving my little patient twelve drops in the day,
-which I gradually augmented to twenty, and I had the pleasure of seeing
-the abdomen gradually diminish in size, the bowels become more regular,
-the evacuations restored to their natural colour, the pain diminish
-and vanish, the appetite increase, and at the end of five weeks the
-child return to comparative health, without the occurrence of a single
-untoward symptom. The only medicine I employed during this treatment,
-besides iodine, was occasionally a few grains of rhubarb. At the end
-of the five weeks the bowels acted without medicine. I am sorry to
-say that I lost sight of this child from this time. The parents were
-poor, were probably satisfied with the benefit they had received,
-and not willing to incur any farther expense for medicine. I have
-since prescribed this medicine in two other cases of disease of the
-mesenteric glands. The result was not so satisfactory as in the case I
-have just related, but both of them were considerably relieved, and had
-they been more attentive to the directions given them, I have little
-doubt that they also would have obtained a complete cure. But they were
-in the poorest class of society, were irregular in their habits, and
-paid very imperfect attention to the orders of their physician. In one
-of them, a young woman, fifteen years old, after she had taken fifteen
-drops of the solution of hydriodate of potass, twice a-day during three
-weeks, considerable tenderness of the whole abdomen came on, for which
-I judged it necessary to order the application of a dozen leeches. The
-relief was immediate. From the whole appearance of the case, I judged
-this feverish attack to be an affection of the mesenteric glands,
-similar to what I have described at p. 39.
-
-I have used this medicine in cases where I had good evidence of the
-presence of tubercles in the lungs, and I do not doubt that it will
-be found to be serviceable in the incipient stages of the disease.
-But I much question whether it will prove even innocent in the more
-advanced periods of tubercles, when extensive disorganization has taken
-place in the lungs. Some cases in which I have prescribed it, were
-benefitted in so marked a manner as to have inspired me with hopes of
-having at length found a remedy for that hitherto intractable and cruel
-malady. Other cases, on the contrary, seemed to be much aggravated by
-its use. If I may judge from the cautious expressions of Dr. Baron,
-in his work on tuberculous disease, this is nearly the result of his
-experience also. It is much to be desired that we had sufficient data
-for distinguishing the cases in which its use is beneficial, inert,
-and injurious. As yet, the results I have obtained do not entitle me
-to come to any very definite conclusion on this subject. Mr. Haden,
-in his translation of Magendie’s Pharmacopœia, has given the history
-of a case of affection of the chest, in which he seems evidently to
-think that tubercles were removed by the agency of iodine. I am glad
-to find this case stated by Mr. Haden with his characteristic candour
-and caution. It is much to be desired that a series of such cases were
-published. They would form the materials on which a just estimate of
-the powers of this medicine might be formed. I trust to be able, at no
-distant period, to give the result of my experience in this disease to
-the public, in such a manner as to establish what are the real virtues
-of iodine in the cure of pulmonary tubercles. At present, there is
-certainly sufficient ground for making a cautious trial of its powers;
-but, if I may trust to my own experience, it is impossible to use it
-with too much circumspection.
-
-A young gentleman, aged twenty-six, who had passed four winters in the
-south of Europe for a cough, with pain in his chest, and occasional
-expectoration of a thick maturated discharge, frequently streaked with
-blood, consulted me on account of swelled glands in his neck, which
-he had had from his infancy, but which were at that time particularly
-troublesome. I desired him to use a solution of hydriodate of potass
-in the dose, of twelve drops three times a-day. In the course of two
-months, the swellings in the neck, which had pained him from his
-infancy, were quite dispersed, and at the same time his sufferings in
-the chest were so much diminished that he requested to be allowed to
-continue the medicine. I allowed him to use it a fortnight longer, at
-the end of which time he was quite free from complaint. He subsequently
-had another attack of his chest complaint, and wrote to me from
-Thoulouse to request directions for renewing the use of the medicine,
-under the care of a French physician. Before my letter reached him,
-he was carried off by an attack of some violent complaint, of which
-I never could learn the history. I have exhibited this medicine in
-several such cases, and frequently with the most marked good effects.
-In fine, I have not the smallest doubt of its efficacy in relieving
-many diseases of the chest, in which all the general symptoms, as well
-as all the local means of exploring the condition of the lungs, which
-have lately been so much attended to in France, have given me the
-most satisfactory evidence of the presence of tubercles. I will not
-yet assert, however, that the use of iodine has been followed by the
-absorption of tubercles in the lungs. This important fact must not be
-affirmed hastily; but I trust I shall be enabled, at a future period,
-to establish it to the satisfaction of every one, or to explain the
-beneficial action of the medicine on other grounds.
-
-Dr. Baron, in his work already quoted (p. 221), has related a case
-of encysted dropsy of the ovarium, in which the use of iodine was
-attended with the most manifest and rapid benefit. I have seen it used
-in a case of the same kind, in which a swelling that had been twice
-tapped, and which then filled the greater part of the abdomen, was
-almost completely removed. The patient, a woman of sixty-two, has
-recovered her strength; she has resumed the appearance of health, and
-has remained eighteen months free from dropsical symptoms.
-
-I have made trial of iodine in two cases of ascites without benefit.
-I have also made use of it in a case of amenorrhœa, according to
-Coindet’s advice, without the smallest advantage; nor have I been able
-to satisfy myself that it possesses any power over the uterine system.
-
-
-
-
- CONCLUSION.
-
-
-The liability of iodine to excite great disturbance in the
-constitution, has been made an objection to its use. I fear that
-this reproach must be shared by all powerful medicines whatever. If
-unattended to, or used with levity, any medicine which is capable of
-doing good, may also do harm. But if used with due discretion and
-properly watched, I have no hesitation in affirming, that iodine may
-be employed with as much safety as any of the powerful remedies which
-are daily in the hands of the least skilful members of the profession.
-But it has been also made a subject of reproach to this remedy that it
-is quite inert and useless. I shall not give any further reply to such
-a statement than what the foregoing pages contain. But I am credibly
-informed that it has been used by several eminent practitioners of
-London; who finding it quite inert, had laid it aside as useless[10].
-
- [10] So great have been the ravages committed by the imprudent
- use of iodine in the Pays de Vaud, that the government of that
- canton has issued an injunction against its sale, excepting
- under the signature and responsibility of a physician.
-
-I have already pointed out one source of such mistakes (page 3). I
-fear, however, that it has also been used by physicians who have not
-leisure of mind nor time enough for conducting such inquiries as they
-ought to be conducted. When we consider the silly pretences on which
-medicines are sometimes forced into fashionable practice, it will
-not appear wonderful that the investigation of their virtues should
-not be conducted with much zeal. But I know also that it has been
-hastily rejected, and without trial, by some persons grown old in
-the practice of physic, who have made their interests decidedly to
-consist in defending all that is old, and repudiating all that is new.
-Such persons expose themselves to ridicule when we see them reject a
-remedy so active as iodine, and continue to trust, for the cure of
-the severest diseases to which the human frame is liable, to medicines
-allowed on all hands, and even by themselves, to be absolutely useless.
-
-The value of iodine as a remedy, however, does not depend on the
-testimony of any individual, however high his name. Its use is
-established by a long series of facts observed by physicians and
-surgeons of different countries. Wherever it has received a fair trial
-from unprejudiced persons, its effects have been so striking and
-undeniable as to force assent. It is not one of those remedies which is
-adopted by one man, and rejected by another, according to the accident
-or caprice of the moment; but one whose effects are written in such
-clear and intelligible characters, that _he that runs can read_. Its
-applications also are in cases of such common occurrence, that all
-practitioners have an opportunity of satisfying themselves of the real
-nature of the remedy, and the extent of its powers.
-
-This medicine has also been called an empirical remedy. Of what
-importance is it that it should bear this or any other name, by which
-the enemies of every thing that is new endeavour to keep others in the
-same state of happy ignorance which satisfies their own indolence, and
-answers the demands of the common routine of their practice? But in
-what respect is it an empirical remedy? Do we know any thing more of
-the action of a purgative? It is said to stimulate the larger or the
-smaller intestines, and iodine may be said to stimulate the absorbent
-vessels; and after we have said this, are we at all wiser than we were
-before? The only questions now before us, those which alone appear
-worthy of discussion, are, Do we in iodine possess a remedy for the
-diseases in which I have said it is useful? and if we do, on which of
-the living textures does it seem most particularly to exert its action?
-These questions settled, all the rest is of comparatively trivial
-importance.
-
-The medicines which exert their action on particular textures or
-systems are extremely few indeed, and the few we possess are so
-uncertain in their operations, they are liable to such frequent
-failures, that sceptical physicians doubt of their efficacy
-altogether, and even of the efficiency of medicine. There is something
-peculiarly gratifying to their vanity in supposing themselves freed
-from the common errors, and above the credulity of the vulgar. Iodine,
-however, is not liable to the sneers of such narrow minds. It is a real
-“heroic remedy”—a true present from the science of medicine to mankind.
-
-
-
-
- APPENDIX.
-
-
-I have here thrown into an Appendix a brief account of the different
-preparations of which I have had occasion to make mention. It is
-chiefly extracted from Magendie’s Formulary, which will be found to
-contain sufficient directions for the chemical and pharmaceutical
-operations undergone by iodine.
-
- _Tincture of Iodine._
-
- Take of Alcohol, of sp. gr. of .842, 1 oz.
- Iodine, 39 gr.
- Dissolve.
-
-This preparation should not be long kept, as it readily undergoes
-alteration and decomposition. Alcohol varies in its solvent power of
-iodine according to its degree of concentration. The frequent opening
-of the vessels, therefore, in which it is kept, must occasion a change
-in the quality of the tincture, by allowing the evaporation of the
-spirit, and thus occasioning a diffusion of undissolved iodine through
-this preparation. Mr. Magendie seems also to fear, that a decomposition
-of the alcohol may take place from the superior affinity of iodine for
-hydrogen. Altogether this is certainly the most objectionable form in
-which iodine is used.
-
- _Solution of Hydriodate of Potass._
-
- Take of distilled Water, 1 oz.
- Hydriodate of Potass, 30 gr.
- Dissolve.
-
-I have generally prescribed these two preparations in cinnamon or mint
-water, in which form they are seldom disagreeable to the stomach.
-I have avoided, as much as possible, joining them to any tinctures
-or infusions, as we are yet in a great degree unacquainted with the
-chemical habits of iodine and the different vegetable substances. It
-will be sometimes, however, found advisable to use tonics with iodine.
-
- _Ointment of Hydriodate of Potass._
-
- Take of Hydriodate of Potass, ½ dr.
- Axunge, 1½ oz. Mix.
-
-
-
-
- NOTE.
-
-
-Since these pages were put to press, I have received from Professor
-Maunoir the following details of the case mentioned at page 49. As
-far as I know, it is the only case of the kind on record. I make no
-apology, therefore, for inserting it in this place.
-
-“C’est le 18 Mars 1821, que j’ai été consulté pour la première fois
-pour le jeune B—— de Soleure, enfant de huit ans, atteint, depuis moins
-d’un an, d’un _white swelling_ au genou droit; pour lequel on avoit
-employé inutilement vésicatoires, sangsues, topiques résolutifs de
-toute espèce, remèdes internes, &c. Il avoit alors une augmentation
-considérable dans le volume du genou, que le médecin supposoit avoir
-lieu dans les os plutôt que dans les parties molles, et en même tems
-une diminution sensible dans le volume de la jambe. L’enfant ne pouvoit
-faire un pas sans douleur avec des béquilles; car il y avoit flexion de
-la jambe sur la cuisse, je ne sais pas à quel angle, mais impossibilité
-d’extension.
-
-“Je l’ai traité par correspondance sans le voir; on lui a fait des
-frictions avec l’onguent d’iode, gros comme une noisette, matin et
-soir. Il a pris la teinture d’iode à la dose d’ 1/12 de grain au plus.
-Son estomac n’en a été nullement affecté, et huit mois après le père
-n’a pas pu résister au plaisir de me montrer son enfant. Il me l’a
-amené à Genève, et j’ai vu cet enfant, marchant et courant lestement,
-le genou droit de la même grosseur que le gauche, et aussi serviable
-que celui-là.”
-
-
- THE END.
-
-
- LONDON:—PRINTED BY J. MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY ON THE EFFECTS OF IODINE
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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Essay on the effects of iodine on the human constitution, by W. Gairdner</p>
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-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
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-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Essay on the effects of iodine on the human constitution</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>With practical observation on its use in the cure of bronchocele, scrophula, and the tuberculous diseases of the chest and abdomen</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: W. Gairdner</p>
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-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY ON THE EFFECTS OF IODINE ON THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION ***</div>
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="transnote">
-
-<h3>Transcriber’s Notes</h3>
-
-<p>Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. All other
-spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.</p>
-
-<p>The cover was prepared by the transcriber and is placed in the public
-domain.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
-<p class="half-title">ESSAY<br />
-
-ON<br />
-
-THE EFFECTS OF IODINE,<br />
-
-ETC. ETC.
-</p>
-
-
-<p class="center spaced">
-<small>LONDON:<br />
-PRINTED BY JAMES MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.</small>
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-<div class="chapter"></div>
-
-
-<h1>
-ESSAY<br />
-
-<small>ON</small><br />
-
-THE EFFECTS OF IODINE<br />
-
-<small>ON</small><br />
-
-THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION;</h1>
-<p class="center">
-<small>WITH</small><br />
-<br />
-<span class="fs4">PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS</span><br />
-<br />
-<small>ON ITS USE IN THE CURE OF</small><br />
-<br />
-BRONCHOCELE, SCROPHULA, AND THE TUBERCULOUS<br />
-DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND ABDOMEN.</p>
-
-<hr class="small" />
-<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By</span> W. GAIRDNER, M. D.</p>
-<hr class="small" />
-
-<p class="center">LONDON:<br />
-PRINTED FOR THOMAS AND GEORGE UNDERWOOD,<br />
-32, FLEET STREET.<br />
-<br />
-1824.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>The medicine which forms the subject of the
-following treatise has been so lately introduced
-into practice, that few Physicians are acquainted
-either with its properties, or with the manner of
-using it. Almost all have heard of its effects in
-discussing bronchocele; and some, rashly presuming
-that it cannot be a drug of great power,
-have prescribed it without giving themselves the
-trouble of making any inquiry into the manner of
-employing it, or the dangers to which its use is
-liable. I have thus seen more than one Physician
-seriously injured in his reputation; and
-I have seen many patients irrecoverably injured
-in their health by this subtle and powerful
-medicine.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span></p>
-
-<p>Not long since I was informed by a Physician,
-of great and deserved eminence, in London, that
-he had prescribed it to the extent of ten grains
-at one dose to a young woman. Most fortunately
-she was saved by vomiting. About a
-year ago, I was consulted on account of a young
-lady in the last stage of tubercular pulmonary
-consumption. She was attended by a Surgeon,
-who had bled her to a most unaccountable degree.
-This gentleman proposed to me the use
-of digitalis, which being objected to, he then
-proposed successively the use of hemlock and
-iodine. It was plain that he was about as well
-acquainted with the virtues of one medicine as
-with those of the other, and not better versed in
-the history of the disease he was treating. When
-a medicine of so much power is thus in the hands
-of every person, I trust I shall not stand in need
-of apology for having made public the following
-little treatise. Its materials have been for some
-time in my possession; and I was desirous of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span>
-delaying yet a little the publication of them;
-but certain statements have gone forth to the
-world, of the great benefits to be derived from
-the use of iodine, while the history of its dangers
-has been most unaccountably withheld. It is in
-order to fill up this hiatus, and at the same time
-to direct particularly the attention of Practitioners
-to the proper manner of using it, with
-a view to its good effects, that this essay is
-written.</p>
-
-<p>Particular circumstances have afforded me
-opportunities of seeing this medicine extensively
-used; and at the same time of witnessing the
-bad effects which resulted from the prodigal
-manner in which it was first employed. I
-have also made inquiries respecting its history
-in countries which I have not visited. The
-answers I have received have not been so detailed
-and satisfactory as I could have wished:
-they have all, however, more or less confirmed
-the observations I have made myself,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span>
-or which have been communicated to me from
-different parts of Switzerland and France.</p>
-
-<p>Some persons may, perhaps, desire to see a
-daily report of the different cases to which allusion
-is made in the following pages; but this would not
-have been consistent with my plan, which is
-rather at the present time to present an essay
-than a treatise to the public.</p>
-
-<p><small>Bolton Street, Piccadilly, 4th Dec. 1823.</small></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="ESSAY">ESSAY<br />
-
-
-<small>ON THE</small><br />
-
-EFFECTS OF IODINE.</h2></div>
-
-
-<p>The discovery of specific remedies has
-always, and most justly, been considered
-one of the most important benefits to be
-conferred on the practice of medicine.
-Much dispute has been carried on respecting
-their nature, but all are agreed about
-their existence. They have been defined
-by Dr. Young to be medicines which cure
-diseases, “without any perceptible connexion
-between the immediate effect and the
-benefit obtained.” While their operation
-is thus obscure, the mode of their employment,
-and their peculiar virtues, must be
-subjects of much doubt and uncertainty;
-while the accidents to which they are liable,
-in common with other medicines, must occasion
-great embarrassment and perplexity.
-But from the moment their modus operandi<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>
-can be connected with any known general
-law of the constitution, a great part of these
-doubts disappear, a light is afforded for
-directing their good effects, and a clew is
-obtained for tracing their injurious properties,
-and applying the necessary antidote.
-The medical history of iodine will
-fully exemplify the above observations.</p>
-
-<p>This medicine was first introduced into
-practice by Dr. Coindet of Geneva. Whilst
-making researches for other purposes, he
-found that the fucus vesiculosus had been
-recommended by Russel in the cure of
-goitre. From this plant, and other species
-of the same family, the soda, with which
-iodine is generally found combined, is
-extracted. As the sponge, whose virtues
-have long been established by certain experience
-at Geneva,<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> is also a maritime plant,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span>
-Dr. Coindet suspected that iodine might be
-the active principle of them both; and by
-this analogy he was first led to employ
-it in the cure of bronchocele. The success
-which attended its use in the first instance
-was very remarkable; and it seems to have
-been exhibited cautiously and warily, for
-some considerable time had elapsed before
-the alarm was given of its noxious
-effects.</p>
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p>
-
-<p>It may easily be imagined, with what
-joy the discovery of a certain remedy for
-bronchocele was received in a place where
-that disease is extremely common. Many
-used it, and many were delivered from their
-unseemly and most inconvenient malady.
-But this state of things was not of long
-duration. Familiarity with the remedy
-begat too great liberality in its use, the
-effects of which were speedily apparent.</p>
-
-<p>Iodine was then looked upon as a specific
-remedy for goitre. Its effect upon the
-system was little known and little attended
-to. No person seems even to have considered
-how it produced its astonishing
-results. Its efficacy, however, in the cure
-of goitre, was soon generally recognised.
-Its reputation flew over the city and neighbourhood
-of Geneva, and it was taken with
-the utmost levity, with and without medical
-advice. Dr. Coindet justly deplores this
-abuse, which was the cause of the unmerited
-discredit into which the remedy afterwards
-fell. When it had been used for some time
-in this manner, its pernicious effects began
-to show themselves; several persons paid for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>
-their temerity with their lives, and many
-were irreparably injured in their health.
-Every day brought to light some new catastrophe,
-the effect of iodine; and in the
-course of a short time its name was associated
-with the idea of a most intractable
-and virulent poison. Neither patient nor
-physician dared venture on its employment.
-It seemed to be one of those benefits held
-up to invite the appetite, while its use was
-denied us.</p>
-
-<p>These melancholy consequences of its
-indiscriminate and lavish employment, show
-that iodine is a medicine of great power,
-and teach the necessity of watching and
-studying its operation. Nothing can assist
-us more in forming an accurate estimate
-of its virtues than a careful observation
-of the bad effects which flow from its abuse;
-and we shall now, therefore, proceed to consider
-them in detail.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Some time after the introduction of iodine
-into practice, a few cases of severe spasmo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>dic
-affection of the stomach and bowels
-occurred. They were attended with violent
-and incessant vomiting, excruciating pain of
-stomach and bowels, strong spasms of the
-back and legs. The tongue was commonly
-furred, and the bowels sometimes violently
-purged, at other times obstinately constipated.
-The pulse was generally extremely
-frequent, small and depressed—the eyes sunk
-and hollow—the countenance ghastly and
-pale. These accidents were usually imputed
-by the patients to the iodine they
-had taken. The Physicians by whose advice
-the medicine had been given, would
-not allow this origin of the disease, till a
-repetition of similar cases determined that
-the sufferers were right. The vomiting,
-pain of the bowels, and the cramps of the
-legs, are extremely severe. They are also
-with the greatest difficulty allayed, continuing
-sometimes for many days, and renewed
-during weeks, and even months,
-after taking food. The legs sometimes
-swell in the first instance, and afterwards
-become rapidly thin and meagre. There
-is another symptom, which, though common<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>
-to almost all diseases, is peculiarly the sign
-of this. The emaciation which attends this
-irregular action of iodine is so rapid and
-so extreme as to strike terror into the
-minds both of patients and physician. A
-magistrate of Geneva, high in office, robust,
-corpulent, and of an athletic form, was so
-much reduced in flesh, that he was not
-known by his oldest acquaintances. I
-have seen emaciation, in one case, proceed
-to such an extent in a short time as
-is almost incredible. A young English
-lady, at a boarding-school, at Paris, had
-for some time been afflicted with goitre.
-Her brother was prosecuting the study of
-medicine there. With the characteristic
-zeal of a young man, as soon as he heard
-of the wonderful effects of iodine, he determined
-on making trial of its powers on
-his sister. He did not find much difficulty
-in persuading her to become the subject of
-his experiments, nor did he encounter more
-difficulty on the part of the French gouvernante
-to whose care she was confided.
-The remedy succeeded, as usual, in greatly
-diminishing the tumour; and for some time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>
-no bad effects were apparent. A small
-hard knot only remained in the situation
-which had been occupied by a considerable
-swelling before; and the desire to get rid
-of this little tumour was the cause of the
-remedy having been pushed too far. Its
-deleterious effects first showed themselves by
-gnawing pain at the upper part of the
-stomach, great anxiety, and oppression.
-These symptoms were disregarded, and the
-remedy was persevered in for a week longer,
-during which time the patient became very
-much emaciated; she was frequently affected
-with vomiting, the pain of the abdomen became
-more frequent and more severe, and
-the thirst was very distressing. I was
-sent for early in the morning, in consequence
-of an alarming diarrhœa, which
-had come on during the night, and I found
-her in a deplorable condition indeed. Her
-brother, and the mistress of the boarding-school,
-were so alarmed at the consequences
-of their conduct, that they were
-quite unfit to give any advice about her
-treatment; they could hardly indeed give
-me a coherent account of what had passed;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>
-and the poor young lady was therefore
-entrusted to the care of servants. She
-was then suffering the most excruciating
-pain at stomach, violent cramps, and convulsive
-action of the muscles of the arms,
-back, and legs, from which she had scarcely
-any intermission. The vomiting and purging
-were almost incessant. The dejections
-were bloody, slimy, and very scanty, but
-at first had been copious and feculent. The
-matter vomited was of a dark green colour,
-streaked with blood. The tongue was
-loaded with a thick crust, resembling in
-colour the matter vomited. The countenance
-was pale, contracted, and with that
-peculiar expression which announces abdominal
-suffering. The pulse was small,
-hard, and frequent, scarcely indeed to be
-numbered. The whole appearance of the
-patient was such as to excite well-grounded
-fears for her life. Being quite unable to
-swallow, four grains of opium were directed
-to be thrown into the rectum. They were
-not, however, long retained, and were
-not productive of benefit. An anodyne
-embrocation was therefore applied to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>
-pit of the stomach, fomentations to the feet;
-and, as soon as it could be got ready, she was
-placed in a warm bath. This so much
-quieted the irritation of the stomach, that
-she was enabled to swallow about thirty
-drops of laudanum, from which there was
-a decided alleviation of her sufferings for
-nearly an hour. During ten days she remained
-in a very doubtful state, subject
-to frequent severe attacks of diarrhœa, with
-intense pain of the bowels. Her emaciation
-during this time was most extraordinary.
-The expression of her French nurse, “<i>décharnée</i>,”
-was literally applicable to her; her
-arms and body were almost fleshless—her
-breasts, which had been large, were now
-perfectly flat—the calves of her legs had
-quite disappeared—and her thighs were
-not much thicker than her wrists, when in
-health. I never witnessed any thing like
-such extenuation in so short a space of
-time. By the steady and very liberal use
-of opium, she recovered to a certain degree;
-but when I last saw her, many months
-after her illness, she remained subject to
-frequent violent spasms of the stomach,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>
-during which opium alone gave her relief.
-Her nervous system had been much shattered.
-She repeatedly declared to me that
-she seldom enjoyed an hour’s respite from
-the most wretched depression of spirits,
-and since her illness had never felt any thing
-like her former buoyancy of mind. The
-few moments of ease she knew were purchased
-by large doses of laudanum, to the
-habitual use of which her sufferings had
-forced her. She was still very pale, and
-her emaciation, though much less, was yet
-very great. She was indeed a miserable
-monument of the effect of iodine. I heard
-of this young lady a few weeks ago; she
-was then much better, had in a great degree
-recovered her looks, and was able to leave
-off the use of opium almost entirely. Her
-stomach, however, still remained very weak,
-and obliged her to be very careful of her
-diet. The bronchocele had not returned;
-but the small hard swelling mentioned
-above remained still very sensible to the
-touch, but not evident to the eye.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>These are the outlines of a very severe<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>
-case. I trust that such a one is not likely
-to occur soon again. But if practice so
-daring as I have more than once witnessed
-in London be repeated, we may very soon
-see even worse accidents than the above.
-These statements, however, are important,
-inasmuch as they demonstrate that iodine
-is not merely a medicine of specific power
-against bronchocele, but that it dissipates
-this disease, by virtue of its very important
-action on the whole absorbent system. I
-shall take further notice of this property in
-a future part of my paper.</p>
-
-<p>There is an effect of iodine to which I
-have alluded in the case just quoted, but
-which is so extremely common, when the
-remedy has been pushed to an overdose,
-that it deserves to be noticed at greater
-length. The anxiety and depression of
-spirits are so great and persevering as to
-warrant my considering them as the peculiar
-effect of iodine, and not the consequence of
-the great debility which attends the violent
-and inordinate action of this medicine on
-the constitution. It is an affection very
-different from hypochondriacal melancholy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>
-inasmuch as it dwells principally on the present
-and has no reference to the future.
-Patients have generally described it to me as
-a sense of sinking and faintness, which were
-peculiarly oppressive, and I have heard
-them complain of it while suffering the most
-intense pain, as the part of the complaint
-which was yet the most difficult to bear.
-This symptom is an almost constant attendant
-on the violent action of iodine on the
-system, and frequently makes its appearance
-in a lesser degree when the medicine acts in
-a kind and salutary manner.</p>
-
-<p>We have now to notice the effect of
-iodine on the nervous and muscular systems,
-and this is by far the most interesting part of
-our paper. It is that also on which the
-greatest degree of doubt and uncertainty
-rests.</p>
-
-<p>The nervous and muscular systems are
-peculiarly exposed to the irregular action of
-this medicine. In certain persons, indeed,
-of peculiar habits of body, it cannot be
-exhibited so as to affect the constitution in
-any manner, without in some shape or other
-producing unpleasant nervous symptoms,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>
-such as dimness of vision, indistinct hearing,
-fallacious touch, insomnia, breathlessness,
-palpitation, and all the countless forms of
-inward nervous derangement. But the
-symptom to which we shall more peculiarly
-confine our attention, is a degree of tremor
-which generally comes on when the patient
-is under the full constitutional influence of
-iodine. This symptom may be reckoned a
-good gauge of the degree of nervous excitement
-which has taken place, and it is seldom
-or never absent when that excitement has
-proceeded to any considerable degree. It
-generally begins by a slight trembling of the
-hands, resembling that which takes place
-from the poison of lead; and if the medicine
-be incautiously continued, the larger muscles
-of the arms, legs, and back become affected.
-When in this state, the patient can with
-difficulty walk, and his progression is a
-tottering uncertain motion. He cannot
-carry any thing straight to his mouth, but
-the hand moves in a zig-zag manner, and
-with difficulty arrives at the mouth at last.
-This complaint is generally attended with a
-hurried circulation, and a small thready<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>
-pulse. There is commonly great suffering
-at stomach and confined bowels.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> When
-nervous affection first appears the medicine
-must be most diligently watched, and if the
-symptoms seem to increase, its use should be
-instantly put a stop to. If rashly persevered
-in, the symptoms I have described above
-will certainly be excited, and then it is vain
-to withdraw the medicine; the complaint
-goes on progressive for weeks and months,
-even though its exciting cause be abstracted;
-and when it does at last begin to diminish,
-the amendment is so slow and gradual that
-the patient is scarcely conscious of the relief
-he receives. I saw two cases of this kind
-with Dr. Peschier of Geneva, in which the
-patients had suffered more than twelve
-months, and yet their sufferings had undergone
-little mitigation. It is of some importance
-not to provoke a complaint with so
-much difficulty allayed; and no one who has
-not seen it can have an idea of the slow and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>
-imperceptible degrees by which it steals on
-the patient. Its first advances generally
-escape his observation as well as that of his
-physician. A slight trembling of the fingers,
-quivering of the eye-lids, occasional subsultus
-of the tendons of the fingers, arms,
-and legs, are generally the first symptoms
-observed, and it behoves us to be constantly
-on the watch for them. I have always
-obliged my patients to raise an empty glass or
-any light object to the head. By this means
-the smallest degree of unsteadiness in the
-hand will commonly be detected. I recommend
-a light object to be used for this
-purpose, because a heavy one tends to give
-steadiness to the muscles and to disguise the
-complaint.</p>
-
-<p>This effect of iodine is frequently complicated
-with the choleric complaint I have
-already described; but it is evident that their
-proximate cause is different, since they also
-exist separately. The nervous affection is
-most common, if I may trust my observations,
-in the mobile constitutions of women; at least
-nine out of ten cases, which I have seen,
-were in women, and by far the greater<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>
-number in young nubile girls. In the
-latter cases the disease generally excites
-some hysterical symptoms.</p>
-
-<p>This affection differs from chorea. The
-patient has no difficulty in keeping the
-affected limbs steady, if not called upon to
-exert them, and in general exertion is
-irksome and painful. Like chorea, however,
-it is always attended with a constipated
-condition of bowels. The evacuations, also,
-are uniformly hard, scybulous, and dark
-coloured. There is certainly a considerable
-resemblance between the two diseases, but
-it would be too much to assert that what has
-been called their proximate cause, or their
-nature, is the same. Such an idea, however,
-has been adopted by more than one physician
-who has seen these cases along with myself.
-I mention this, not in order to give weight
-to the opinion, but in order to give my
-readers a more distinct notion of the form,
-which the affection we have been considering
-sometimes assumes. A statement of
-this kind is more graphical than many descriptions.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>
-Mr. Orfila, whose industry and ingenuity
-in the study of poisons are well known, has
-not neglected to examine and note the
-effects of iodine when given in a large dose.
-He gave it to different animals in the quantity
-of a dram and two drams. They were in
-general seized with violent and frequent
-vomiting. When the contents of the stomach
-were not soon thrown off, or were altogether
-retained, the poison was much more speedily
-fatal. The animals do not seem to have been
-affected with any other very remarkable
-symptom. It is stated that they were much
-dejected, and manifested suffering, though
-they did not howl, were not paralyzed or
-convulsed, and were not affected with any
-of the more violent symptoms by which
-poisons commonly show their action on
-the living body. It is plain that much
-light is not thus thrown on the effects of
-iodine when exhibited as a remedy; yet
-when considered along with the appearances
-after death, we still find a certain
-analogy. The stomach was generally found
-corroded by small ulcers of a linear form,
-which had eaten through the mucous coat.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>
-Those parts, also, which were most exposed
-to the action of the poison, were thinner and
-more transparent than the others, and
-were easily torn asunder. The mucous
-membrane in the neighbourhood of the
-pylorus was found much inflamed, swelled,
-and covered with a crust of coagulated
-lymph.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>The affection of the alimentary canal
-which we have described above, is plainly
-to be ascribed to the acrid operation of
-iodine on its mucous membrane. I have
-never witnessed it in any considerable
-degree when this medicine had not been
-taken internally. But I have seen slight
-pains of stomach, accompanied with copious
-bilious evacuations, attend its external use.
-These never proceed to the degree of
-violence which marks the internal exhibition.
-Indeed, it is rare to see them in any
-considerable degree disturb the comfort
-of the patient. It is not thus when taken
-into the stomach. The case of the young
-lady related above, sufficiently shows its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>
-deleterious influence. I have never seen
-any disease of the bowels which more closely
-resembled the terrific descriptions given by
-the physicians of India, of the sufferings
-from the cholera of that country. Yet no
-medicine varies more in its effects than this.
-Some persons take it in large doses for a
-great length of time with perfect impunity;
-while others, from that peculiar, undescribed
-and unintelligible state of constitution,
-called by physicians an idiosyncrasy, are
-speedily and violently affected by very small
-doses. Mr. Magendie, whose accuracy is
-well known, states that he had swallowed a
-spoonful of the tincture, containing about a
-scruple of iodine, without any bad effect
-ensuing. A child, also, four years old,
-swallowed by mistake a tea-spoonful of the
-same preparation with equal impunity.
-These are extraordinary instances, for I
-have received the account of the death of a
-fine boy ten years old, who did not survive
-many hours after having swallowed the largest
-of the above doses. And a strong man
-who took this medicine, under my own care,
-in doses of half grains three times a-day for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>
-one week only, was very soon affected in such
-a manner, that, had the medicine not been
-immediately interrupted, the most lamentable
-consequences might have ensued. When
-this medicine is given internally, and it is
-often necessary that it should be thus
-exhibited, it must be used with extreme
-caution, under the sanction and observation
-of those who are able to watch its effects,
-and who are experienced in its virtues.</p>
-
-<p>I have never seen a case in which the
-mismanagement of iodine proved fatal, and
-cannot, therefore, say whether its long
-continued use ulcerates the mucous membrane
-of the stomach in the human body,
-after the manner described by Orfila. I
-have no reason to believe that it does, unless
-the extreme violence of the symptoms, and
-the obstinacy of the vomiting, should by
-some be reckoned proofs of such a state.
-I certainly, however, am inclined to believe
-that the last mentioned symptom proceeds
-from inflammation and occlusion of the
-pylorus, which Orfila describes as the effect
-of poisoning by iodine.</p>
-
-<p>It is a much more difficult task to dis<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>cover
-a probable explanation of the manner
-in which iodine disturbs the actions of the
-nervous system. The rationale of diseases,
-even when we are best acquainted with their
-history, is obscure and unsatisfactory. Here
-it is better at once to stop short, and confess
-our ignorance, than, by adventurous speculation
-and daring theory, lay a foundation
-for mistakes in practice. This subject certainly
-presents a fine field for hypothesis,
-and a tempting one to a theorist. But we
-leave our readers in possession of the facts,
-and trust they will not use them with less
-caution than ourselves. One thing only
-seems probable, that is by its operation on
-the brain, either immediately, or through the
-agency of the nerves, that the effects we are
-considering are produced. The similarity
-of this effect of iodine to the mercurial
-erethismus, so well described by Mr. Pearson,
-will be evident to all, and is an analogy
-deserving of attention and study. I have
-seen many instances of gilders in Paris and
-Geneva affected with mercurial erethismus,
-closely resembling the erethismus from the
-use of iodine.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Our most important consideration is the
-cure of these painful affections. In the
-choleric disease the first remedy of all, and
-that without which we can have little hope
-of subduing the disease, is opium. If called
-early to the patient, before the bowels have yet
-thrown off their acrid contents, I have generally
-waited a little before exhibiting opium.
-I have done this for two reasons: First, that
-I might be certain of all acrid matters having
-been removed from the alimentary canal
-before the prescription of a medicine to
-quiet its irritation; and, secondly, because
-it is with great difficulty that the opium is
-retained while the extreme irritation of the
-disease is going forward. Emollient and
-diluting injections will in these cases be
-found most useful auxiliaries, both by washing
-out the inferior portion of the gut, and
-by quieting the violent action of the stomach.
-Hemlock and hyoscyamus sometimes
-succeed when opium fails. The case related
-at page 7 was much relieved, indeed I may
-say that the young lady’s life was saved, by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>
-a quarter of a grain of acetate of morphium
-given every half-hour. Every other form of
-opium was tried without effect; they were
-not even retained an instant on the stomach.
-The acetate of morphium alone could be
-taken, and it effectually restrained the disease,
-which must otherwise have very soon
-terminated the life of the patient. This
-medicine has not, however, answered my
-expectation in other cases. I have tried
-various bitter and astringent medicines in
-union with opium, but have found them uniformly
-injurious during the first stage of
-excitement and exacerbation. Afterwards,
-when the disease has in some degree abated,
-this class of medicine will be found useful.
-I cannot too strongly caution my readers
-against the use of purgatives in such cases.
-However gentle they may be, their effect is
-uniformly and most decidedly noxious. In
-the first and acute period of this affection of
-the alimentary canal, it is almost impossible
-to quiet the disturbance which a purgative
-occasions. A remedy which ought never
-to be neglected is the warm bath. It will be
-found a most powerful coadjutor in restrain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>ing
-the violence of the spasms, and in moderating
-the perturbed action of the stomach.</p>
-
-<p>But the greatest difficulty will be found
-in treating the second or chronic stage of the
-complaint, when the symptoms we have
-mentioned as characterising it are prolonged
-in a mitigated form. I am inclined to
-believe, that in this state there is actual
-ulceration of the mucous membrane of the
-intestines. I have only seen one case of this
-kind, of which I have given the history
-above. But several similar instances have
-been communicated to me, and they must
-be of frequent occurrence wherever iodine
-is used ignorantly and rashly. In all those
-cases of chronic affection of the alimentary
-canal, with the particular history of which I
-have been able to become acquainted, the
-symptoms differed widely from those which
-marked the accession of the disease. Instead
-of the small vacillating pulse of the first
-period of the complaint, it was bounding
-and firm, the extremities were no longer
-cold, nor the system collapsed; the diarrhœa
-had assumed a dysenteric form, the
-fæces being retained, and the dejections<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>
-consisting chiefly of maturated mucus or
-pus. In such cases, I believe, the conjoined
-operation of aperient medicines and opium
-will be found most advantageous in quieting
-the symptoms. By this plan at least I succeeded
-best in relieving the single case that
-has yet occurred to me.</p>
-
-<p>With regard to the treatment of the muscular
-spasms, and the disturbance of the
-nervous system, we have before described,
-there is no invariable plan of cure to be followed.
-Until we are better acquainted with
-the nature of the affection, it is impossible to
-apply a remedy to the root of the complaint.
-All I can do here, therefore, is to point out
-the means by which I have best succeeded
-in averting and palliating its painful symptoms.
-I have seen ten cases of this kind,
-and all of them have seemed to be much
-more benefited by attention to diet, air,
-and exercise, than by any medicines they
-have taken. Patients thus affected ought to
-live much in the open air; their food should
-be sparing, mild, and nutritious; and they
-ought to avoid carefully the use of wine and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>
-ardent spirits. By these means alone, and
-the use of mild aperient medicines, two of
-the cases alluded to were quickly recovered,
-although they began in a very threatening
-manner. All the others but one were much
-relieved by the same means. I therefore
-consider these simple remedies to be of the
-greatest importance, and am convinced that
-without them no other remedies will have
-any effect. Next in importance to gentle
-exercise in the open air, and attention to
-diet, I should place the use of the warm
-bath. By means of it the severity of the
-spasms is very frequently relieved. The
-young lady, whose case is related at <a href="#Page_7">page 7</a>,
-used it daily, sometimes several times in
-a day, and never without benefit. She
-could never enjoy any sleep at night unless
-she had previously spent a quarter of an
-hour in the bath; and to this day she continues
-the use of it. Joined to the above
-remedies, habitual attention must be paid to
-the bowels. They should be moved by the
-gentlest medicines, and they may often be
-advantageously acted on by glisters only.
-This manner of exhibiting medicine is fre<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>quently
-objected to in England, because it
-only empties the lower parts of the larger
-intestines; but repeated experience has
-convinced me, that the mere circumstance of
-evacuating the large intestines gives occasion
-to, and stimulates the action of, the
-higher passages. I do not intend to defend
-the habitual abuse of enemata which is daily
-witnessed on the Continent; but, in this
-country, I think that their use may be extended
-with advantage. In whatever way,
-however, the bowels are evacuated, it is of
-the greatest consequence that they should be
-acted on by the gentlest medicines possible.
-Such, however, is their slowness in this disease,
-that it sometimes becomes necessary to
-use the strongest medicine in order to effect
-a mere evacuation; but I have never seen
-the bowels violently moved without the
-highest injury to the patient. My common
-practice has been to prescribe small repeated
-doses of one of the neutral salts, to each of
-which I desire five or six drops of laudanum
-to be added. By this means it has seemed
-to me that my purpose was effected with least
-violence. I have tried all the medicines of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>
-the class of antispasmodics, and cannot speak
-in favour of any one of them. They are
-either useless or hurtful. The tinctures and
-ethers are injurious in a very marked manner
-and in a very high degree. Various
-other remedies will, of course, be suggested
-to the judicious practitioner by the peculiar
-circumstances of each case.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>I may seem to some persons to have dwelt
-too tediously on the poisonous properties of
-iodine; but let it be recollected, by those
-who have had opportunities of becoming
-acquainted with its virtues, that this medicine
-is as yet almost unknown to the numerous
-practitioners who are now daily using it; that
-it is a medicine of singular power and efficacy
-in a great class of disorders, with which
-the inhabitants of this country are peculiarly
-afflicted; that this most useful remedy may
-be divested of all its deleterious properties;
-that, therefore, it will probably come into
-general use among us; and they will allow
-that I have not bestowed too much time on
-this important subject. I wish the details<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>
-had been more complete, that my experience
-had been more extensive, and that I
-had been better able to satisfy the reader’s
-curiosity and my own.</p>
-
-<p>Some of my readers, who have lately
-been in the habit of using iodine cautiously,
-and of watching its effects, may think that I
-have overcharged the picture of its baneful
-properties; but I have been an eyewitness
-of all I have written; and I should extend
-this treatise much beyond the limits I have
-assigned to it, did I detail all the cases that
-have reached me of the mischief it has produced.
-I am glad, however, to add my testimony
-to that of Coindet, de Carro, and
-others, that this medicine may most certainly
-be deprived of all its hurtful qualities, by
-using it cautiously and watching its effect.
-Like all other powerful medicines, when its
-action is not controlled by the hand of a
-master, its energies become a source of mischief
-and ruin, instead of restoring the blessings
-of health and strength; but when well
-managed, it is a most useful remedy, and a
-valuable addition to our materia medica. I
-have used it myself in a great number of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>
-cases, and I have never yet, in my own practice,
-had occasion to regret the occurrence
-of any of the violent symptoms I have described.
-I have more than once discontinued
-the medicine on finding the pulse become
-frequent, small, and depressed, on account
-of watchfulness, flying pains of the
-joints, tremors, or pain at the stomach; but
-having early detected these symptoms, they
-were not allowed to become formidable.
-Dr. Coindet states, that he has prescribed the
-medicine to one hundred and fifty patients,
-and that he has never had occasion to observe
-any mischief from its use.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Dr. Decarro
-has given it at Vienna to one hundred
-and twenty patients; Dr. Erlinger, of Zurich,
-to seventy; and Dr. Formey has prescribed
-it extensively, in Prussia, with the
-same favourable results. Dr. Decarro, in
-his enthusiasm about this new medicine,
-seems almost to doubt whether accidents
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>have ever occurred from its use, though
-these accidents have been as public as the
-day, and the unhappy patients have paid
-with their lives the inexperience and rashness
-of their physicians. Thus far I can
-agree with Decarro, that I have never known
-or heard of any bad effect from iodine, when
-it had not been used unadvisedly and injudiciously.
-It has been used extensively by
-Hufeland in Germany, who makes no mention
-of its deleterious properties; and a great
-number of physicians in London and Paris,
-and various parts of England and France,
-have also lately employed it. They have
-either not met with the accidents I have
-described, or have prudently concealed
-them.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Having now considered the effects of
-iodine on the alimentary canal and the
-nervous system, we are prepared for studying
-its effect on the absorbent vessels, by
-which its use in medicine is indicated.
-This is the most important subject which
-has yet fallen under my review, and I shall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span>
-give it as much extension as may be
-necessary for its perfect discussion. It has
-been already seen at <a href="#Page_10">pages 10</a> and <a href="#Page_12">12</a> that
-the lymphatic system is very powerfully and
-generally stimulated, so as to occasion a
-great absorption of all the sebaceous, muscular,
-and glandular structures of the body;
-but it will be seen, in the following pages,
-that the action of iodine may be directed
-exclusively against tumors, and local disorders,
-while the healthy structures of the
-body remain unaffected.</p>
-
-<p>The absorbent system is distributed over
-every part of the body. In the brain alone
-the vessels of this class have not, hitherto, been
-detected and submitted to ocular demonstration
-by any other anatomist than Mascagni.
-But physiological and pathological proofs
-of their existence, equal in force to any
-anatomical evidence, are not wanting to
-demonstrate their presence in the central
-organ of the nervous system. The office
-which these vessels discharge, in the nutrition
-of the body and removal of its waste, is
-most important to its healthy condition; and
-the influence it exerts, in a state of disease,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>
-is not less considerable. From the inactivity
-or obstruction of the absorbent vessels,
-a great proportion of the chronic disorders
-of the body take their rise. Medicines,
-therefore, which act either directly or indirectly
-on this system, have always been
-accounted most valuable articles of the
-materia medica. Unhappily, they too
-often deceive us in their operation, and,
-notwithstanding the united studies of many
-physicians directed to them, the causes of
-their failure, as well as the circumstances
-under which they succeed, still remain a
-problem. A considerable step towards the
-solution of this difficulty has, indeed, been
-lately taken by Dr. Blackall. Much
-obscurity, however, yet rests upon the
-subject, and a direct medical agent on the
-absorbent system, whose effects are speedy,
-indubitable, and powerful, is a great desideratum
-in the art of healing.</p>
-
-<p>Such an agent is iodine. Its effects on
-the absorbent system are incontrovertible.
-They are as speedy as they are certain, and
-so powerful are they, that if the medicine
-be not duly and cautiously managed, we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>
-have already seen what havoc may be the
-result. A few, a very few, cases have
-occurred to myself, in which the constitution
-was altogether insensible to its action; I believe
-a greater number have occurred to
-others; but I cannot help thinking that such
-cases have been owing, in many instances,
-either to some fault in the medicine, or to
-some inadvertence on the part of the practitioner.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
-
-<p>We shall first consider the use of iodine
-in the treatment of bronchocele, the disease
-for the cure of which it was introduced into
-practice. All the physicians who have
-employed it bear unequivocal testimony to
-its efficacy. It seldom fails of effecting a
-complete cure, and when it does, it almost
-always reduces the swelling very considerably.
-The promptitude of its action is at
-times very extraordinary. Decarro states,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>
-that one of his patients, thirty-eight years of
-age, after taking the remedy for seventeen
-days, had the circumference of his neck
-reduced from one foot seven inches and a
-half, to one foot three inches and three-quarters.
-Dr. Coindet relates a case of a
-man, fifty years of age, in which this
-medicine, taken internally, reduced a very
-large goître considerably in size, after six
-days’ treatment only. An old woman, aged
-sixty-five, who took this medicine under my
-care for a goître, with which she had been
-affected nearly forty years, had the circumference
-of her neck reduced from twenty-two
-inches to eighteen, on the twenty-fifth day.
-Such rapid diminution in the size of the
-tumor is not to be always expected. In
-some cases a whole month, and even more,
-elapses before any effect is visible. In
-general, however, the powers of the medicine
-are manifest at the end of the second
-week and considerable progress towards
-cure has been made at the end of a month.
-I have endeavoured to find out whether
-there was any thing in the constitution of
-the different persons under my own observa<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>tion,
-or in their state of health, which
-rendered them more or less apt to be
-affected by this medicine. I have not
-been very successful in this inquiry. But
-I found that in two cases of women afflicted
-with extensive and very painful varix of the
-veins of all the extremities, the effect of
-iodine was produced with great difficulty.
-This fact seemed to coincide with the result
-of Mr. Magendie’s very interesting experiments
-on absorption, and I accordingly
-desired one of the persons, to whom I have
-just alluded, to lose a little blood from the arm.
-The effect of the medicine was very much
-accelerated by this treatment, but a consequence
-I did not look for was also the result
-of it, viz. the total and sudden disappearance
-of the varix, which had commenced during
-uterine gestation twelve years before.
-The goître succeeded the varix after her
-delivery. I merely mention the facts of
-this case, which may suggest useful hints
-to those who may meet with a case similarly
-circumstanced. Since its occurrence, whenever
-the medicine is slow in its operation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>
-provided the vessels be full and plethoric,
-I desire a little blood to be taken away from
-the arm, and I almost invariably find the
-action of the medicine much quickened. I
-have sometimes, also, thought that the cases,
-in which blood was taken away, were cured
-more easily and with less suffering than the
-others.</p>
-
-<p>There is, very rarely, any considerable
-effect produced on the arterial system by
-iodine, if it be given with propriety and caution.
-Sometimes it accelerates the pulse in a
-slight degree; it frequently occasions a little
-mucous expectoration from the chest, and it
-often raises nervous symptoms in delicate
-subjects, which are very distressing. I saw
-it given to a young woman in one of the
-public hospitals in Paris, in whom it
-produced such a state of insomnia that she
-told me she had not slept at all for a whole
-week, though she had been a very good
-sleeper before. I have said that it affects
-the pulse but a little, yet it sometimes
-stimulates very powerfully the arterial
-vessels of the tumor. This is mentioned by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>
-all the authors who have written on iodine,
-and is one of the most singular circumstances
-in its medical history!</p>
-
-<p>This irritation of arterial vessels frequently
-becomes active inflammation, requiring
-the use of bloodletting for its relief.
-Topical bleeding will, in general, be found
-fully competent to remove it. Indeed, it
-sometimes happens that when the iodine has
-lighted up smart inflammation in the tumor,
-the arterial system generally is unaffected.
-To what is this effect on the vessels of the
-part to be attributed, from which the constitution
-generally is free?</p>
-
-<p>The same is occasionally true of the
-absorbent vessels. I have seen some very
-large tumors discussed, while there was no
-evidence whatever of the absorbent vessels
-in other parts of the body having felt the
-influence of the medicine. It is a curious
-question, to determine by what law the
-constitution remains impassive to the action
-of a medicine, which affects remote and
-distant parts through the constitution. Certain
-tumors are of so irritable a nature,
-that a stimulus, which only serves to rouse<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>
-the healthy energies of the body, excites the
-process of destruction in them. In the
-quaint language of a celebrated modern
-lecturer, “they are irritable beings, if you
-touch them they’ll kick.” But this is not
-the case with many of the tumors which are
-dissipated by iodine. Bronchocele, for
-instance, is of a slow growth; all the
-operations which go forward in its structure
-are of a very indolent and chronic kind.
-Such, also, is the case with the greater
-number of scrophulous tumors. Yet all of
-them have been dissipated, like a charm, by
-the agency of iodine.</p>
-
-<p>In prescribing this medicine, it is very
-necessary not to lose sight of the effect I
-have just mentioned. When the tumor is
-very large, and especially in that kind of
-bronchocele, in which the principal enlargement
-of the thyroid gland takes place on its
-inner surface, where it is in contact with the
-trachea, the occurrence of inflammation is
-much to be apprehended. When a very
-large tumor becomes inflamed, the distress
-which it occasions, and the disturbance it
-excites in the constitution, are very consider<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>able;
-and in the second case to which I have
-alluded, inflammation of the trachea is very
-readily excited.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Such cases are easily
-distinguished by the immovability of the
-tumor, and the effect they have in altering
-the voice. On dissection, the trachea is
-sometimes found to have been very much
-compressed by them.</p>
-
-<p>It is now fit that I should mention the
-most common and beneficial methods of
-using this substance. Dr. Coindet has
-recommended the hydriodate of potass as an
-external application, and my experience has
-certainly confirmed his choice. The hydriodate
-of soda, however, will be found to
-answer equally well. Practitioners may
-choose between these two remedies. I have
-used the iodates, but I have found them at
-once more inert and more unmanageable.
-They possess all the virtues of iodine in a
-very remarkable degree, but they will be
-found to fail more frequently than the
-hydriodatic salts; and, if I may draw any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>
-conclusion from the few trials I have given
-them, they are more apt to excite disorder in
-the system. I have generally ordered half a
-dram of the hydriodate of potass to be
-united to an ounce and a half of axunge,
-and desired the patient to rub in a dram of
-this ointment over the surface of the tumor,
-night and morning. When the tumor is
-painful, it is not necessary to rub in.
-The ointment may be used in the manner
-recommended by Scattigna.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> All that is
-necessary is to choose a portion of the
-surface of the body where the skin is very
-tender and thin, and simply to apply the
-ointment over night. For this purpose,
-almost any part of the body which is habitually
-covered may be chosen; but in the
-axilla, and in the inner surface of the thighs
-close to the scrotum, the absorption will be
-found most rapid.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p>
-
-<p>It is a more important question to
-determine the proper method of using this
-medicine internally. From my own experience,
-I am inclined to give a decided
-preference to the solution over the tincture.
-It is prepared by dissolving thirty grains of
-the hydriodate <i>of potass</i> in an ounce of
-distilled water. I have generally begun this
-preparation by a dose of ten drops, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>
-augmented it gradually to twenty, and, very
-seldom, to twenty-five. This preparation
-can dissolve an additional dose of iodine; a
-formulary, however, to which I seldom, if
-ever, have recourse. I have found that the
-deleterious action of the medicine on the
-bowels was more marked, in proportion to
-the quantity of free iodine it contained.
-For this reason, also, I now seldom have
-recourse to the tincture, a form much used,
-because it is less expensive. Practitioners
-will, in general, find an advantage in confining
-themselves to the external use of iodine for
-the cure of bronchocele, and tumors, which
-do not arise from any vice in the constitution.
-In a few cases of bronchocele, however,
-it is necessary to have recourse to its internal
-use, especially when the disease exists
-in a strumous habit. By the use, either of
-the ointment, or of the solution in the way we
-have recommended, a soft bronchocele will
-be discussed in a month or six weeks.
-Those which are hard, and of old growth,
-generally take a little longer time, and many
-of these latter cases cannot be altogether
-reduced. I have seen two cases, however,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>
-in which the tumors gradually disappeared
-some weeks after the medicine had been
-altogether discontinued. Dr. Coindet says,
-that he has seen several cases of bronchocele,
-complicated with watery cysts, yield completely
-to the action of iodine. I have only
-had occasion to see one such case treated
-by this medicine. It was somewhat lessened
-in its bulk, and the patient was certainly
-relieved, but the disease was by no means
-cured.</p>
-
-<p>If the iodine be given internally, it is
-indispensably necessary to watch its effects
-from day to day. No peculiarity of circumstances
-whatever can dispense the physician
-from this care; and if it be recollected
-that it is yet a new medicine, that unknown
-accidents, to which it is liable, may be
-discovered by future investigations, this
-caution will not appear superfluous. The
-case related by Dr. Coindet, to which we
-have already alluded at <a href="#Page_36">page 36</a>, in which
-a very powerful and painful effect was produced
-at the end of the fifth day, sufficiently
-evinces the necessity of the watchfulness
-here recommended.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p>
-
-<p>When iodine acts kindly on the constitution,
-no other effect will be found to
-accompany its use, but a diminution of the
-tumor and a little nervous excitement, which
-is sometimes not so severe as to become
-disagreeable. The increase of appetite is
-a very frequent effect of iodine, and it is
-sometimes very troublesome, because it is
-extremely necessary not to indulge it. The
-diet of the patient should be good, but by no
-means full, which the occasional voraciousness
-of his appetite would lead him to adopt.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Having established that the use of iodine
-in bronchocele was owing to its effect on the
-absorbent system, it was natural to conclude
-that it would be of equal service in the cure
-of scrophula.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Accordingly, we find that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>
-Dr. Coindet made trial of it in the cure of
-the latter disease, soon after he had determined
-its virtues in the former, and that his
-experiment was followed by the most satisfactory
-result. I have already considered
-at so great length the general effects of
-iodine on the constitution, that little remains
-for me in this place but to mention the
-particular cases in which I have found it
-useful, and those in which it has failed my
-expectations.</p>
-
-<p>The first case of scrophula in which I
-made use of this medicine, was that of a
-young lady eighteen years of age, who had
-been affected by glandular swellings of the
-neck for nearly eight years. She used the
-solution of hydriodate of potass for a month;
-the dose varied from ten to twenty drops
-three times a day, with occasional intermission
-of a day when the absorption was
-going on rapidly. At the end of this time
-she had got perfectly rid of her swellings,
-and she now (two years since she took the
-medicine) remains perfectly well. When
-she discontinued her drops, so far from
-having been incommoded by them, her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>
-health was certainly much improved. There
-remained several little fistulous sores, which
-required the assistance of the knife to heal
-them. The iodine is not equally efficacious
-in all cases of this kind. Great numbers,
-however, yield rapidly under its use; but
-many of them, also, resist its operation. I
-have never been able to assign even a plausible
-reason for this difference of its action in
-scrophula. In general, I have found such
-cases yield more readily to the internal than
-to the external use of iodine. The scrophulous
-glands of children are not so easily affected by
-iodine as those of persons who have attained
-the age of puberty, and they are also more
-liable to a relapse.</p>
-
-<p>A female servant in one of the public
-hotels of Paris, aged thirty-three, married,
-who had born several children, shewed me
-a tumor of her right breast she had had
-about two years. It was not attended with
-any pain, but had lately somewhat increased,
-which gave her alarm. About a year before
-she had been advised by a surgeon to have it
-cut out. This advice gave her so much
-uneasiness, that she presented herself at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>
-clinical consultations of M. Dubois. That
-eminent surgeon immediately distinguished
-the tumor to be scrophulous; and during
-three months’ treatment, all the usual remedies
-of this disease were exhausted without the
-least effect. A scruple of the ointment of
-the hydriodate of potass, placed in the axilla
-at night, completely removed the tumor in
-about six weeks. This is the only case of a
-similar kind in which I have used iodine.
-I have never yet employed it in scirrhus of
-the breast.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p>
-
-<p>I was called in the month of February,
-1822, to visit a boy five years old, affected
-in the following manner. Since the period
-of his birth, he had always been weakly, but,
-for the last two years, had gradually been
-falling off in his flesh and strength. He
-complained of frequent pains in his bowels,
-which were alternately confined and purged;
-the motions were discoloured and scybalous;
-he frequently vomited his food; his abdomen
-was much swelled; the rest of his body considerably
-emaciated; pulse natural; appetite
-variable, but never great. It was impossible
-to doubt, from the appearance of the child,
-that the mesenteric glands were enlarged, and
-I determined to make a very cautious trial of
-iodine. It was the first case in which I had
-used it for an internal disease, and I therefore
-watched it with unremitting care. I began by
-giving my little patient twelve drops in the
-day, which I gradually augmented to twenty,
-and I had the pleasure of seeing the abdomen
-gradually diminish in size, the bowels
-become more regular, the evacuations restored
-to their natural colour, the pain
-diminish and vanish, the appetite increase,
-and at the end of five weeks the child return
-to comparative health, without the occurrence
-of a single untoward symptom. The
-only medicine I employed during this treatment,
-besides iodine, was occasionally a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>
-grains of rhubarb. At the end of the five
-weeks the bowels acted without medicine.
-I am sorry to say that I lost sight of this
-child from this time. The parents were
-poor, were probably satisfied with the benefit
-they had received, and not willing to incur
-any farther expense for medicine. I have
-since prescribed this medicine in two other
-cases of disease of the mesenteric glands.
-The result was not so satisfactory as in the
-case I have just related, but both of them
-were considerably relieved, and had they
-been more attentive to the directions given
-them, I have little doubt that they also would
-have obtained a complete cure. But they
-were in the poorest class of society, were irregular
-in their habits, and paid very imperfect
-attention to the orders of their physician.
-In one of them, a young woman, fifteen
-years old, after she had taken fifteen drops
-of the solution of hydriodate of potass, twice
-a-day during three weeks, considerable
-tenderness of the whole abdomen came on,
-for which I judged it necessary to order the
-application of a dozen leeches. The relief
-was immediate. From the whole appear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>ance
-of the case, I judged this feverish
-attack to be an affection of the mesenteric
-glands, similar to what I have described at
-<a href="#Page_39">p. 39.</a></p>
-
-<p>I have used this medicine in cases where
-I had good evidence of the presence of
-tubercles in the lungs, and I do not doubt
-that it will be found to be serviceable in the
-incipient stages of the disease. But I much
-question whether it will prove even innocent
-in the more advanced periods of tubercles,
-when extensive disorganization has taken
-place in the lungs. Some cases in which I
-have prescribed it, were benefitted in so
-marked a manner as to have inspired me
-with hopes of having at length found a
-remedy for that hitherto intractable and
-cruel malady. Other cases, on the contrary,
-seemed to be much aggravated by its use.
-If I may judge from the cautious expressions
-of Dr. Baron, in his work on tuberculous
-disease, this is nearly the result of his experience
-also. It is much to be desired that
-we had sufficient data for distinguishing the
-cases in which its use is beneficial, inert, and
-injurious. As yet, the results I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>
-obtained do not entitle me to come to any
-very definite conclusion on this subject.
-Mr. Haden, in his translation of Magendie’s
-Pharmacopœia, has given the history of a
-case of affection of the chest, in which he
-seems evidently to think that tubercles were
-removed by the agency of iodine. I am
-glad to find this case stated by Mr. Haden
-with his characteristic candour and caution.
-It is much to be desired that a series of such
-cases were published. They would form the
-materials on which a just estimate of the
-powers of this medicine might be formed. I
-trust to be able, at no distant period, to give
-the result of my experience in this disease
-to the public, in such a manner as to establish
-what are the real virtues of iodine
-in the cure of pulmonary tubercles. At
-present, there is certainly sufficient ground
-for making a cautious trial of its powers;
-but, if I may trust to my own experience, it
-is impossible to use it with too much circumspection.</p>
-
-<p>A young gentleman, aged twenty-six,
-who had passed four winters in the south of
-Europe for a cough, with pain in his chest,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>
-and occasional expectoration of a thick
-maturated discharge, frequently streaked
-with blood, consulted me on account of
-swelled glands in his neck, which he had
-had from his infancy, but which were at that
-time particularly troublesome. I desired
-him to use a solution of hydriodate of potass
-in the dose, of twelve drops three times
-a-day. In the course of two months, the
-swellings in the neck, which had pained him
-from his infancy, were quite dispersed, and
-at the same time his sufferings in the chest
-were so much diminished that he requested
-to be allowed to continue the medicine. I
-allowed him to use it a fortnight longer, at
-the end of which time he was quite free
-from complaint. He subsequently had
-another attack of his chest complaint, and
-wrote to me from Thoulouse to request
-directions for renewing the use of the medicine,
-under the care of a French physician.
-Before my letter reached him, he was
-carried off by an attack of some violent
-complaint, of which I never could learn the
-history. I have exhibited this medicine in
-several such cases, and frequently with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>
-most marked good effects. In fine, I have
-not the smallest doubt of its efficacy in
-relieving many diseases of the chest, in
-which all the general symptoms, as well as
-all the local means of exploring the condition
-of the lungs, which have lately been so
-much attended to in France, have given me
-the most satisfactory evidence of the presence
-of tubercles. I will not yet assert,
-however, that the use of iodine has been
-followed by the absorption of tubercles in
-the lungs. This important fact must not be
-affirmed hastily; but I trust I shall be enabled,
-at a future period, to establish it to
-the satisfaction of every one, or to explain
-the beneficial action of the medicine on other
-grounds.</p>
-
-<p>Dr. Baron, in his work already quoted
-(p. 221), has related a case of encysted
-dropsy of the ovarium, in which the use
-of iodine was attended with the most manifest
-and rapid benefit. I have seen it
-used in a case of the same kind, in which a
-swelling that had been twice tapped, and
-which then filled the greater part of the
-abdomen, was almost completely removed.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>
-The patient, a woman of sixty-two, has recovered
-her strength; she has resumed the
-appearance of health, and has remained
-eighteen months free from dropsical symptoms.</p>
-
-<p>I have made trial of iodine in two cases
-of ascites without benefit. I have also made
-use of it in a case of amenorrhœa, according
-to Coindet’s advice, without the smallest advantage;
-nor have I been able to satisfy
-myself that it possesses any power over the
-uterine system.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONCLUSION">CONCLUSION.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>The liability of iodine to excite great
-disturbance in the constitution, has been
-made an objection to its use. I fear that this
-reproach must be shared by all powerful
-medicines whatever. If unattended to, or
-used with levity, any medicine which is
-capable of doing good, may also do harm.
-But if used with due discretion and properly
-watched, I have no hesitation in affirming,
-that iodine may be employed with as much
-safety as any of the powerful remedies which
-are daily in the hands of the least skilful
-members of the profession. But it has been
-also made a subject of reproach to this
-remedy that it is quite inert and useless.
-I shall not give any further reply to such
-a statement than what the foregoing pages
-contain. But I am credibly informed that
-it has been used by several eminent prac<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>titioners
-of London; who finding it quite
-inert, had laid it aside as useless<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>.</p>
-
-<p>I have already pointed out one source of
-such mistakes (<a href="#Page_3">page 3</a>). I fear, however,
-that it has also been used by physicians who
-have not leisure of mind nor time enough
-for conducting such inquiries as they ought
-to be conducted. When we consider the
-silly pretences on which medicines are sometimes
-forced into fashionable practice, it
-will not appear wonderful that the investigation
-of their virtues should not be conducted
-with much zeal. But I know also
-that it has been hastily rejected, and without
-trial, by some persons grown old in the
-practice of physic, who have made their
-interests decidedly to consist in defending
-all that is old, and repudiating all that is new.
-Such persons expose themselves to ridicule
-when we see them reject a remedy so active<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>
-as iodine, and continue to trust, for the cure
-of the severest diseases to which the human
-frame is liable, to medicines allowed on all
-hands, and even by themselves, to be absolutely
-useless.</p>
-
-<p>The value of iodine as a remedy, however,
-does not depend on the testimony of
-any individual, however high his name. Its
-use is established by a long series of facts
-observed by physicians and surgeons of different
-countries. Wherever it has received
-a fair trial from unprejudiced persons, its
-effects have been so striking and undeniable
-as to force assent. It is not one of those
-remedies which is adopted by one man, and
-rejected by another, according to the accident
-or caprice of the moment; but one
-whose effects are written in such clear and
-intelligible characters, that <i>he that runs can
-read</i>. Its applications also are in cases of
-such common occurrence, that all practitioners
-have an opportunity of satisfying
-themselves of the real nature of the remedy,
-and the extent of its powers.</p>
-
-<p>This medicine has also been called an
-empirical remedy. Of what importance is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>
-it that it should bear this or any other name,
-by which the enemies of every thing that is
-new endeavour to keep others in the same
-state of happy ignorance which satisfies their
-own indolence, and answers the demands of
-the common routine of their practice? But
-in what respect is it an empirical remedy?
-Do we know any thing more of the action of
-a purgative? It is said to stimulate the
-larger or the smaller intestines, and iodine
-may be said to stimulate the absorbent vessels;
-and after we have said this, are we at
-all wiser than we were before? The only
-questions now before us, those which alone
-appear worthy of discussion, are, Do we in
-iodine possess a remedy for the diseases in
-which I have said it is useful? and if we do,
-on which of the living textures does it seem
-most particularly to exert its action? These
-questions settled, all the rest is of comparatively
-trivial importance.</p>
-
-<p>The medicines which exert their action
-on particular textures or systems are extremely
-few indeed, and the few we possess
-are so uncertain in their operations, they are
-liable to such frequent failures, that sceptical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>
-physicians doubt of their efficacy altogether,
-and even of the efficiency of medicine.
-There is something peculiarly gratifying to
-their vanity in supposing themselves freed
-from the common errors, and above the credulity
-of the vulgar. Iodine, however, is
-not liable to the sneers of such narrow
-minds. It is a real “heroic remedy”—a
-true present from the science of medicine to
-mankind.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="APPENDIX">APPENDIX.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>I have here thrown into an Appendix a
-brief account of the different preparations
-of which I have had occasion to make mention.
-It is chiefly extracted from Magendie’s
-Formulary, which will be found to
-contain sufficient directions for the chemical
-and pharmaceutical operations undergone
-by iodine.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-<p class="center">
-<i>Tincture of Iodine.</i></p>
-<p>
-Take of Alcohol, of sp. gr. of .842, 1 oz.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Iodine, 39 gr.</span><br />
-Dissolve.
-</p></div>
-
-<p>This preparation should not be long
-kept, as it readily undergoes alteration and
-decomposition. Alcohol varies in its solvent
-power of iodine according to its degree of
-concentration. The frequent opening of
-the vessels, therefore, in which it is kept,
-must occasion a change in the quality of
-the tincture, by allowing the evaporation
-of the spirit, and thus occasioning a diffu<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>sion
-of undissolved iodine through this preparation.
-Mr. Magendie seems also to fear,
-that a decomposition of the alcohol may take
-place from the superior affinity of iodine
-for hydrogen. Altogether this is certainly
-the most objectionable form in which iodine
-is used.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-<p class="center">
-<i>Solution of Hydriodate of Potass.</i></p>
-<p>
-Take of distilled Water, 1 oz.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Hydriodate of Potass, 30 gr.</span><br />
-Dissolve.</p></div>
-
-<p>I have generally prescribed these two
-preparations in cinnamon or mint water, in
-which form they are seldom disagreeable to
-the stomach. I have avoided, as much as
-possible, joining them to any tinctures or
-infusions, as we are yet in a great degree
-unacquainted with the chemical habits of
-iodine and the different vegetable substances.
-It will be sometimes, however,
-found advisable to use tonics with iodine.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-<p class="center">
-<i>Ointment of Hydriodate of Potass.</i></p>
-<p>
-Take of Hydriodate of Potass, ½ dr.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Axunge, 1½ oz. Mix.</span>
-</p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTE">NOTE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>Since these pages were put to press, I have received
-from Professor Maunoir the following details of the case
-mentioned at <a href="#Page_49">page 49</a>. As far as I know, it is the only
-case of the kind on record. I make no apology, therefore,
-for inserting it in this place.</p>
-
-<p lang="fr">“C’est le 18 Mars 1821, que j’ai été consulté pour la
-première fois pour le jeune B&mdash;&mdash; de Soleure, enfant de
-huit ans, atteint, depuis moins d’un an, d’un <i>white swelling</i>
-au genou droit; pour lequel on avoit employé inutilement
-vésicatoires, sangsues, topiques résolutifs de toute
-espèce, remèdes internes, &amp;c. Il avoit alors une augmentation
-considérable dans le volume du genou, que le
-médecin supposoit avoir lieu dans les os plutôt que dans
-les parties molles, et en même tems une diminution sensible
-dans le volume de la jambe. L’enfant ne pouvoit
-faire un pas sans douleur avec des béquilles; car il y
-avoit flexion de la jambe sur la cuisse, je ne sais pas à
-quel angle, mais impossibilité d’extension.</p>
-
-<p lang="fr">“Je l’ai traité par correspondance sans le voir; on lui
-a fait des frictions avec l’onguent d’iode, gros comme une
-noisette, matin et soir. Il a pris la teinture d’iode à la
-dose d’ 1/12 de grain au plus. Son estomac n’en a été
-nullement affecté, et huit mois après le père n’a pas pu
-résister au plaisir de me montrer son enfant. Il me l’a
-amené à Genève, et j’ai vu cet enfant, marchant et courant
-lestement, le genou droit de la même grosseur que
-le gauche, et aussi serviable que celui-là.”</p>
-
-
-<p class="center spaced">THE END.</p>
-
-
-<p class="center">LONDON:—PRINTED BY J. MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.</p>
-
-<div class="footnotes">
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> The total inefficacy of this medicine in the hands of
-British Practitioners, while its virtues are so palpable
-and evident at Geneva, that not only Physicians, but also
-the inhabitants in general, are convinced of their reality,
-had always surprised me. I was at a loss to account for
-testimony so contradictory. It seemed as if medicine
-were a science so uncertain and futile, that its plainest
-facts depend more on the authority of name than on the
-substantial evidence of observation and experiment. I
-lately obtained an explanation of this difficulty from a
-quarter in which I can place implicit reliance. It seems
-that the chemists are much in the habit of substituting
-charcoal for burnt sponge, of which an undeniable proof
-is the fact, that burnt sponge is sold at an inferior rate to
-the same article before it has undergone the process of
-combustion.—I may also be allowed to state in this place,
-that I have sent prescriptions for the hydriodate of potass
-to several chemists in London—that my prescriptions were
-said to have been made up; but that a few days afterwards,
-when I called at their shops, in order to examine
-the medicine, I discovered that they were not even aware
-of the existence of such a drug. If such frauds continue
-to be committed with impunity, the sick had better submit
-patiently to their pains, than have recourse to physicians,
-whose science is rendered unavailing for the profit
-of tradesmen.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> I have seen in one case a most obstinate suppression
-of urine. I merely mention the fact, as I have no reason
-to believe it to be a common effect of the use of iodine.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Dr. Coindet, however, though he must be acquainted
-with the sad accidents which have occurred in his native
-city, has not yet taken any public notice of them. This
-silence on facts so important seems in some degree to
-invalidate his testimony.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The iodine which is sold in the shops is of very
-different degrees of purity, which will probably afford an
-explanation of some of the above anomalies. But still
-after all possible care has been taken, there will be found
-a few instances in which it does not appear to possess
-any power over the absorbent system.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> Dr. Coindet gives an instructive example of this
-kind. <i>Bibliothèque Universelle, Février, 1821</i>, p. 148.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> Nuovo metodo di amministratori l’unguento mercuriale
-ne mali fisici del Dottore Vitantonio Scattigna.
-Napoli, 1818.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> I have seen, in the hospitals of Naples, the most
-decided and unquestionable effects produced by mercury
-used in this manner, I have since used it frequently
-<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">in my own practice in the same way; and I</span><br />
-believe that the mercurial ointment, thus used, is exempt
-from much of the inconvenience occasioned by rubbing.
-I have seen several persons use it in this manner with ease,
-who could not rub in mercury without much suffering.
-Scattigna asserts that it is also much more efficacious than
-when rubbed in by the common method. His way of
-using it is, to extend a scruple of mercurial ointment over
-the skin of the axilla before the patient goes to sleep.
-In the morning, the whole of it will be found to be
-absorbed, and in this way he calculates that as strong an
-effect is produced as by a drachm of the ointment. I have
-used, in a case of hydrothorax, an ointment of squills in
-the same way, which has caused an increased flow of
-urine, which I had vainly endeavoured to effect by
-means of the same medicine given by the mouth. These
-statements are at variance with the experience of Mr.
-Pearson, which must be allowed to be of much weight in
-this matter. Will the difference of climate account for
-the discrepancy?</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> On perusing most of our practical, and more
-especially our systematic authors, this term will be found
-of such latitude and various meaning, that, were they
-indiscriminately followed, scrophula might be considered
-an universal disease. In this place, we confine our
-attention to those diseases which are familiar to all
-practitioners, scrophulous tumors of the conglobate
-glands.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> My friend Mr. Maunoir, of Geneva, informed me
-that a little boy from one of the interior towns of
-Switzerland, was brought to him on account of a swelling
-of the knee-joint. He had already been under the care of
-several eminent surgeons, who had all declared the tumor
-to be a white swelling, and had recommended the amputation
-of the limb. Such, also, was the opinion of Mr.
-Maunoir; but finding the friends and the boy himself
-extremely averse to the operation, he tried the effect of
-iodine. In the course of a few weeks the tumor, pain, and
-stiffness of the joint were dissipated, and the boy was running
-about as formerly.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> So great have been the ravages committed by the
-imprudent use of iodine in the Pays de Vaud, that the
-government of that canton has issued an injunction against
-its sale, excepting under the signature and responsibility
-of a physician.</p>
-
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAY ON THE EFFECTS OF IODINE ON THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION ***</div>
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