Observations on sciatica and other neuralgic affections : with a consideration of their frequent origin from a disordered state of the stomach ; interspersed with some novel views respecting the origin and prevention of gall-stones ... ; together with an account of the waters of Bagnères de Bigorre and Barége in their treatment / by Richard Carmichael.

Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on sciatica and other neuralgic affections : with a consideration of their frequent origin from a disordered state of the stomach ; interspersed with some novel views respecting the origin and prevention of gall-stones ... ; together with an account of the waters of Bagnères de Bigorre and Barége in their treatment / by Richard Carmichael. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    scribing these powders, from ample experience of their uti- lity, that the apothecaries have christened them “ Carmi- chael’s Powders and I have reason to know that some of these gentlemen laugh at my powders, as silly and ineffica- cious, of no use whatsoever to the patient, and but very little to the apothecary. However, I find that some practitioners, having ascertained their value, have prescribed them under the form of nice little ounce draughts, prettily coloured, by the addition of compound tincture of cardamom ; so that un- der this new appearance, I was scarcely able to recognize my old friends. But if these discreet practitioners do not direct their patients to dilute their pretty pink-coloured draughts with a large quantity of warm water, they will not be likely to derive credit to themselves, or confer benefit on their patients. Much advantage is no doubt derived in dyspeptic cases from the use of the warm bath, at the long period (seldom less than half an hour, but in general a full hour) in which patients are accustomed to use it on the Continent: for it always improves the functions of the skin, and on this ac- count I am much in the habit of prescribing the tepid salt water bath for the treatment of dyspepsia; a dry skin being so frequently an accompaniment of a deranged state of the chylopoietic viscera. Or I direct the patient to sponge his body every morning with tepid water, almost saturated with common salt; and when he has dried himself, to make use of powerful, coarse flesh-brushes, until he excites the action of the capillary vessels of the skin even to redness. Exer- cise in this way is doubly beneficial, for it not only exercises the muscles of the patient, but that exercise is expended on himself in exciting to healthy action the capillaries of the skin, and in removing the accumulated scaliness of the cuticle. By these means, the secretion of perspirable matter is promoted, which, together with the urine, eliminates from the system its various exhausted and acidified materials. It is worthy of