This was
going to the other extreme. There are certain cases in which purgatives
are alleged to be of use, viz.: Those in which the bowels are
constipated, and there is a bitter taste in the mouth. I have never seen
such cases except in habitual drunkards, and in such cases a purgative
does more harm than allowing the effete matter to remain in the system.
Opium was once vaunted as a specific, and it was claimed that it
diminished the tendency to complications in the course of the disease.
Dr. Corrigan, of Dublin, said that large doses of opium were well
borne--say from four to twelve grains in the course of twenty-four
hours, or sometimes he advised giving as much as one grain every hour.
Opium so employed does not produce narcotism, and does not constipate
the bowels. More recent experience has shown that opium, of all
remedies, is the most likely to cause heart complications. Some have
recommended colchicum, arguing that because it does good in gout, it
must, therefore, do good in rheumatism. But colchicum is not a remedy
for rheumatism. Many years ago it was very much the custom to administer
large doses of powdered Peruvian bark. The rationale of these large
doses was founded upon their sedative effect. Haygrath, Morton,
Heberden, and Fothergill were the first to employ this method.
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