The therapeutic action and application of the mineral waters of Aix-les-Bains, Savoy : a paper presented to the Section of Medicine of the British Medical Association at Brighton, Aug. 1886 / by Stanley M. Rendall.

  • Rendall, Stanley M.
Date:
1887
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The therapeutic action and application of the mineral waters of Aix-les-Bains, Savoy : a paper presented to the Section of Medicine of the British Medical Association at Brighton, Aug. 1886 / by Stanley M. Rendall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    used, in order to break down old adhesions, or relax stiffened joints and tendons. If any inflammatory reaction does arise from a too vigorous interference in these cases, it is usually quite sufficient, to allay any such reaction, to suspend the general douche with massage, and have recourse simply to the local vajxiur bath, or Berthollet, as it is called. Indications, and Contra-Indications, kor Treatment at Aix. The class of patients that does best—one may almost say invariably well—at Aix, is that large one known in France as the “ arthritique,” a term which includes all suffering from manifesta- tions of the gouty and rheumatic diatheses, whether those mani- festations t>e articular, visceral, muscular, nervous, or cutaneous, and including the affection known variously as “rheumatoid arthritis,” “rheumatic gout,” “chronic rheumatic arthritis,” “arthrite d^formante, &c. &c. Of course, even in these the most favourable cases for a “ cure ” at Aix, there are certain contra-indications, to which I shall refer in a moment. Other cases do well under the treatment, especially scrofulous affections of the joints and glands; certain surgical complaints, such as anchylosis after fracture, loss of muscular power from dis- use, rupture, peripheral paralysis; finally, syphilis, where, by its eliminative action, the treatment at Aix allows of the administra- tion of a mercurial course in those cases where an anti-specific course had l>een previously badly borne. But it is in the first great class of “ arthritiques ” that the best results are obtained. Dividing this into two sub-divisions, the “ gouty arthritique ” and “ rheumatic arthritique,” two very different lines of treatment have to be followed. In the first, or true gouty case, the treatment should not be a prolonged one—from twelve to sixteen general douches, with