The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-21 00:00:00

.~,,i ~~

[PRICE SD.

BOARD OF HEALTH.-CJIOLERA AND

CASTOR OIL.

The following is the result of an investigation of the
treatment of cholera by castor oil, communicated to the
president of the Gene• 'Board of -Wealth by the Medical
Council :

The medical counm. the General Board of Health
appointed a committee to consider and report upon the
treatment of cholera by castor oil. The committee con-
sisted of Dr. Paris, Dr. Babingtoa, Dr. Tweedie, Dr.
B.vly, and Mr. Ward. The following repert of the com-
mittee was received and approved by the c.7rincil.
The committee having read Dr. Johnson's letter to
the President of the Board of Health, together with its-
enclosures, found on an examination of Dr. Johnson's
cases, that eleven of them were cases of cholera in a state
of collapse, of which six were fatal. Five other cas( sof
cholera did not pass into a state of complete collapse ;
these terminated in recovery. Three cases of choler ale
diarrhcea also recovered.

Mr. Ward communicated the experience of Mr.
to the effect that he had treated three cases of chol(ra,
with castor oil, according to the recommendation of Dr.
Johnson, and that they had all proved fatal ; one in six,
one in seven, and one in ten hours ; also the experience
of Mr. --, who treated five cases of cholera with cas=
tor oil, all of which proved fatal ; and of Mr. --, who
treated with castor oil one case of cholera, which termi-
nated fatally in eight hours.
A letter from Mr. - to Mr. Ward was also read
reporting four cases of cholera treated by him with cas-
tor oil. In one of these cases the treatment was begun
half an hour after the commencement of the attack, and
was continued for fifteen hours, when the case terminated
fatally.
The three other cases were those of children of seven,
five, and two years of age respectively. They were not
seen at first, cholera in them passed into secondary fever,
whiCh proved fatal in all.
Read a letter from Mr. - to Mr. Ward, reporting
that be had treated with castor-oil five- cases, which all
proved fatal. . _ .

Dr. -, a member of the committee, reported two
cases of cholera, which had been perseveringly treated
with castor oil, and which were both fatal.
Dr. --'s report of seven cases of developed cholera
treated with castor oil at -- Hospital, was read. Six
proved fatal, and one continued in a state of amendment,
which had commenced prior to the employment of
castor oil. Dr. - could perceive no good effect
from the employment of the oil, and considered that
by its exhibition the good effect of other remedies was
lost.

A letter was read stating that castor oil had not been
tried in -- Hospital in cases of cholera.
A letter from the Medical Registrar of -- Hospital
stated that in commencing cholera one or two doses of
castor oil did not prevent severe symptoms from setting
in. Of six cases of developed cholera treated with castor
oil, four were fatal, and two recovered ; the two re-
coveries were mild, one of them especially so. The oil
passed unchanged, apparently without acting on the
intestines.

Dr. -, of - Hospital, reported nine cases of
cholera treated by castor oil and tincture of capsicum,
winch all proved fatal. One case of recovery, in which
only three doses of the oil with capsicum were taken,
and one still under treatment. His report gave an ac-
count of eight cases treated by castor oil alone ; six
proved fatal, one is in a hopeless condition, and one is
passing into secondary fever.
A letter from Mr. -, apothecary of - Hospital,
gave an account of the treatment of two cases of cholera
by castor oil ; both cases were fatal.

A letter was read from the Medical Registrar of the
- Hospital, giving an elaborate account of 15 cases of
cholera treated with castor oil in that institution ; of the
15 cases, 8 were fatal, 1 remains under treatment, 6 ter-
minated in recovery ; but in 4 of these there appeared
on their admission every probability of the patients re-
covering.

A letter from Mr. -, of - Hospital, was also
read, reporting 7 cases treated according to Dr. John-
son's method, with castor oil. Of these 5 proved fatal ;
one lies in a critical condition, in consecutive fever ; and
one was getting worse, until the oil was discontinued,
but is now well.

' A letter from one of the visiting physicians of
Hospital, who reports that 16 patients—averaging about
25 years old, were treated by castor oil for cholera ; 10
proved fatal; one had relapse, but is convalescent ; one
had, relapse, and is still under treatment ; and four had
permanently recovered.
A letter from Mr. —, of --- Hospital, report
that the castor oil treatment has been adepted in seven
cases. In six of these deaths ensued, whilst in the
seventh ease the patient recovered, but there was de.
cided improvement from the use of several doses of iron
before the castor oil was commenced.
Abstract of the above cases :

Mr. -, of - Hospital, 2 cases, 2 fatal. Mr.
-, of - Hospital, 3 cases, 3 fatal. Mr. -, of
- Hospital, 6 cases, 6 fatal. Mr. -, of -Hos-
pital, 1 case, 1 fatal. Mr. -, of - Hospital, 4
cases, 4 fatal: Mr. -, of -- Hospital, 5 cases, 5
fatal. Dr. -, of -, 2 cases, 2 fatal. Dr. - of
7 cases, 6 fatal, 1 recovered ; amendment before
taking the oil. Dr. -, of -, 6 cases, 4 fatal,
2 recovered ; both mild. Dr. -, of ---, 8 cases,
6 fatal, 2 still under treatment ; one in hopeless
state, one in consecutive fever. Mr. --, of -,
7 cases, 5 fatal, 1 recovered, 1 still under treat-
ment ; one in consecutive fever. Dr. -, sixteen
cases, 10 fatal, 4 recovered, 2 still under treat-
ment ; one }Ad relapse, one still under treatment.
Mr.-, of --, 7 cases, 6 fatal, one recovered ; in an
incipient state before the oil was taken. Mr. -, of
--, 15 cases, 8 fatal, 6 recovered, 1 still under treat-
ment. Total, 89 cases, 68 fatal, 15 recovered, 6 still
under treatment.

Cases treated at Hospital, with castor oil and
tincture of capsicum-11 cases, 9 fatal, 1 recovered, 1
still under treatment.

From the above extract, the details of which have
been carefully investigated by the committee, it appears
that in 89 cases of cholera treated by 14 different prac-
titioners with castor oil, on the plan recommended by
Dr. Johnson, 68 were fatal, recovery having occurred
only in 15 cases, while the six remaining cases are still
under treatment.

The above treatment having been laid before the
council, and approved by them, it was resolved that the
same be communicated to the President of the General
Board of Health.

(Signed) JOHN AYRTOF PARIS, Chairman.
B. G. BABINGTON.
A. TwEEDIE.
WILLIAM BAYLY.
W. B. WARD.
Whitehall, Sept. 20, 1854.

The medical council of the Board of Health having
been requested by the president to prepare any formula
that the board might make public for use, in case of
premonitory diarrhoea, before the arrival of medical aid,
the following resolution was agreed to :
" That the medical council think it, as a rule, dan-
gerous for non-medical persons to resort to the use of
drugs without medical advice, and especially they de-
precate the extensive use of opiates, on the one band,
and on the other hand of aperients, such as castor oil
and salts.

":The medical council, moreover, deem it impossible
to prescribe a remedy which would be appropriately or
even safely taken by all persons suffering from diarrhoea.
They are of opinion that the paper called ' Precau-
tions against Cholera' contains instructions for all the
measures which the public, unadvised, should adopt ;
but they suggest that the heads of families should con-
sult their usual medical attendants as to the measures to
be taken in cases of emergency, and that the medical
officers appointed by boards of guardians and other pa-
rish authorities should take care to give the same infor-
mation to persons of the poorer classes."