The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-04 00:00:00

ICE IN CHOLERA.

A correspondent of the [Calcutta] Englishman gives an
account of the successful treatment of a case of cholera, ap-
parently in an advanced stage, by the application of ice to
the spine, as recommended by Dr. Chapman. The writer
says :
—" On Sunday, the 25th February, about 10.30 a.m.,
my servants requested me to go and see a man who they
said was dying of cholera, and to give him some
medicine. I proceeded to the place, where I found
a man lying on the ground in the greatest agony.
with the usual symptoms of cholera—vomiting, &c. ; he
was much emaciated, and to me appeared to be rapidly
sinking. I had no medicine in the house. I ordered
one of my servants to go round among the neighbours and
try and get some medicine, but in this I was unsuc-
cessful. I recollected, however, having read in the Times
an article bearing the signature of John Chapman, M.D.,
25, Somerset-street, • Portman-square (of which I had
taken a note), in which the writer advocated the use of a
bag of ice down the spine. Feeling that if I did no good)
I could, under any circumstances of the case, do no
harm, I made up my mind to try whether ice would do
any good. I now proceed to give you an account of
what I did, and as to what the results were. 10.30 a.m.,
the man, a Mussulman, a hackerywallah, arrived with his
own and other hackeries from Calcutta. He had been
for two or more hours purging and vomiting violently;
voice scarcely audible ; pulse imperceptible ; hands, arms,
legs, and feet quite cold.
_He was throwing his legs about
and twisting his body in great agony; he complained much
of thirst. I gave him water with a little carbonate of
soda in it. He appeared to be sinking fast. 11 a.m., I
procured some ice from a neighbour. Having no gutta-
percha of a pair of flannel trousers
ad made to reach from between the
shoulder-blade
tookntg baghethelg
bottome of the spine, of a width of
h rinto this I put broken ice and applied
it onthe spine. After I had applied the ice, the
purginge h
nbag
and esvomiting ceased, and by 11.20 the spasms were
tneitcesa
to long
much diminished. 11.30. The patient was much easier. On
questioning him, he said in a very low voice that he felt
easier. A little before 12 I found that his pulse was percep-
tibly stronger, and that his arms and legs, which were pre-
viously as cold as stones, began to be slightly warm. The
flannel in which the ice was put was now saturated with
water, and as Dr. Chapman said the cold was to be a dry, not
a wet cold, oue of my natives suggested the use of a bottle,
on which I got a preserved-fruit bottle into which I put the
;the arras and legs getting warmer. No ;
I let the man drink as much as he
ice, and had the bottle held against the spine. 12.30. No
nilPipal:ienriv From veryoinigrtin
teghi
thirst&c
s time until 1.30 p.m. I kept the bottle of ice
on his back; when finding that his hands, arms, legs, and
body were becoming hot as if he had fever, I removed the
bottle of ice, and as I was about to leave my house for tiffin
with a neighbour, I told my lthansamah, if fever came on, to
put in the place of the ice bottle a bottle of hot water. 4.30
I returned to the man. He was fast asleep, and a more
deadly object I never saw. At 5.30 he awoke and asked for
food. I gave him some thick conjee with sugar and brandy.
7.30 a.m., Monday the 26th, The man is sitting up, con-
valescent, but weak. He wants to take his bullocks and
hackery away. The above are the facts of the case."—
Medical Times and Gazette, April 28, 1866, quoted from The
llomeward

rne quotation of gold at Parts is about per mille /mi., and
the short exchange on London is 25.15 per £1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of
r‘s. 100. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about 2-Otis per cent. dearer in rarla than in London.