The medical guide, for the use of the clergy, heads of families, and practitioners in medicine and surgery / [Richard Reece].

  • Reece, Richard, 1775-1831
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medical guide, for the use of the clergy, heads of families, and practitioners in medicine and surgery / [Richard Reece]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    elasses of purgatives and anodynes, act very differently on dif- ferent parts of the body. Morphine, camphor, ether, various aromatics, &c. allay spasms in the stomach, whilst the colchicum seeds allay spasms of the uterus, bladder, and of the muscles of the legs, and excite them in the stomach and bowels. ‘The stramo- nium, which disorders the stomach, seems to allay spasms in the chest. Turpentine and colchicum allay spasmodic affections of the muscles of the back, and will occasion them in the intestines. he topical application of cold water will allay spasms of the eyelids and the muscles about the scalp and temples, and excite them when applied to the feet, or the muscles of the leg, or when applied to the abdomen in the intestines. ‘Tartarised anti- ie +=«mony, although it occasions spasms in the stomach, relaxes dis- , turbed muscles in a state bordering on spasms, and hence it is prescribed in cases of dislocation, in order to relax the muscles connected with the joint. Warm water or vapour seems to be a * general antispasmodic, particularly when the complaint is occa- : sioned by cold applications: yet we are told that water, at the reduced temperature termed cold or ice, and at a higher temper- ature than that of the healthy living body, are powerful stimu- lants. . The term. stimulant, like irritation and morbid action, is a very useful one to certain classes of practitioners. It puts an 4». end to the enquiries of the inquisitive, and is an excellent cover for ignorance. In spasms of parts of the body more immediately under the Pas, influence of the mind, as the nerves and muscles, charms and - » other fanciful remedies, in which the patient has great confidence, ‘have often a very powerful effect. I know a gentleman whose intellects are much above mediocrity, who places under his bed- stead a basin containing water and a piece of roll brimstone, to keep off cramp in the lower extremities, to which he had been subject for years during night; and he states, that he has been entirely free from them since he adopted it. It is also a popular practice with ladies, to place their stockings or shoes across under their beds, for the purpose of securing them against cramp, and é some find immediate relief on making a cross with water over the part affected. The effect of such fancies must of course depend on the influence of the imagination, which in weak subjects is often very great. Confidence in a remedy, or in a practitioner, if not capable of curing a disease, it must be admitted, is a very powerful auxiliary to medicine; and when a patient has no con- . fidencein either, the most judicious treatment of his case will 24 probably not succeed. It is to confidence that opposite modes of treatment so often succeed in the cure of the same disease. | It tranquillizes the nervous system, and calls forth the energy of that power of the system: termed nature, or the vis medicatrix