Materia medica and therapeutics : an introduction to the rational treatment of disease / by J. Mitchell Bruce.

  • Bruce, J. Mitchell (John Mitchell), 1846-1929.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Materia medica and therapeutics : an introduction to the rational treatment of disease / by J. Mitchell Bruce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    fallows a rise of the internal temperature due to increased metabolic activity, such as muscular exercise : a warm glow is felt, the skin flushes and perspires, the circulation and respii-a- tion are increased, and the activity of other metabolic organs, such as the li^er, is for the time lowered. The skin is the principal channel of loss of heat in man; but during and after exertion a large amount of heat must be can-ied off by respira- tion, which is familiarly known to be the chief means of refrigeration in the dog. Convei'sely, if the temperature of the surface be lowered by cooling of the 'atmosphere, two reflex effects are at once pro- duced thiough the nervous system, viz.: (1) diminished loss of heat, by contraction of the vessels of the skin, by arrest of per- - spiration, and by reduced acti'-ity of the circulation and lungs; and (2) increased production oJ heat in the metabolic organs) especially the muscular, digestive, and cu-culatory. A similar result follows lowering of the internal temperature by diminished metaboli.sm in some of the organs. ITius Quinine and Salicylic Acid, whilst they diminish the amount of the m-ea and therefore probably of the heat produced in the system, make little or no impression on the temperature of a healthy man, doubtless because the channels of loss are partially closed, and the meta- bolism of certain organs increased, by the regulating me- chanism. II. Phabmacodynamics. 1. Temperattire of the External Media.—This is completely under cur control. The atmosphere is the ordinary external medium of loss or gain of the bodily temperature, and the air of every well-constructed room or ward can be wanned or cooled at pleasure. We may select the climate in various ways, accord- mg to its temperature; the sub-tropics, such asMadeii-a, Egypt and the Riviei-a, being especially valuable as affording warm climates. When a more rapid and extreme influence of the external temperature is desired, waiter may be substituted for air in the form of baths, wet-packs, and sponging. The varieties' action, and uses of water applied in these several ways are described in the next chapter. By means of the prolonged cold bath, at a temperature varying between 32 and 60° Fahr., heat may be readily abstracted from the body; and the cold wet pack cold afihision, or sponging a part or the whole of the exposed skin with cold or even tepid water, has a similar effect. These measures are kno%vn as external refrigerants. Heat may be locally abstracted by similar means, which will also have a general effect in reducing the temperature of the body Thus cold water may be injected into the rectum or vagina; ice or wet compresses applied to the skin; ice or cold water swallowed - or