An inaugural dissertation on the efficacy of certain external applications / by Henry Jackson.

  • Jackson, Henry, 1778-1840.
Date:
1802
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural dissertation on the efficacy of certain external applications / by Henry Jackson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Having breakfasted at eight o'clock....at ten, my pulse beating seventy-six strokes in a minute, its natural standard, I undressed entirely and threw over myself a flannel morning-gown, in which situation my pulse descended to seventy-two. About a quar- ter after ten, my whole body was rubbed over with oil, in twenty minutes after which there was a very perceptible diminution in the force of the pulse, though its frequency was little affected, varying be- tween sixty-eight and seventy-two. At twelve o'clock the application was repeated, when a still fur- ther diminution in the force of the pulse took place ....in twenty minutes after it was weak, greatly con- tracted in its volume, and its frequency lessened to sixty-two. This diminution in force and frequency continued till two o'clock, when a third application was made, with a further diminution of frequency to fifty-eight. Every stroke of the pulse was now per- fectly insulated and distinct. At four o'clock, six hours after the first application of the oil, the dimi- nution in force still the same, the frequency at sixty, an impatience resulting from the irksomeness of the situation, made me put an end to the experiment. I know not whether the increase or decrease of the irritative motions has any effect on our sensa- tions, but about a half after two, whilst the pulse was at fifty-eight, I never in my life experienced a stronger sense of the lingering lapse of time....the space of a minute seemed to be immeasurably extended. To% impatience I cannot ascribe it, for the satisfaction arising from the issue of the experiment, as far as it had been tried, made me anxious for its continuance.