The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-07-02 00:00:00

NEWTON BRANCH OP THE PROVINCIAL MT
DICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATION.

The fifth anniversary of the Newton Branch of the Pro-
vincial Medical and Surgical Association was held at Newton
yesterday week. The business of the day commenced with
a preliminary meeting of the council at eleven o'clock in the
forenoon, and soon after twelve the retiring president, Saml.
M'Cullock, Esq., of Liverpool, took the chair. At this time
there were assembled a number of the most respectable and
influential medical practitioners in this part of the kingdom,
amongst others we noticed Thomas Jeffreys, M.D., David
Baird, M.D., William Duncan, M.D., J. M. Banner, Esq.,
Hugh Neill, Esq., of Liverpool ; Edward Holme, M.D., F.
L. S. Edmund Lyon, M.D., G. A. Chaytor, M.D., Robert
Thorpe, Esq., Joseph Jordan, Esq., of Manchester; Wm.
Twemlow, Esq., of Northwich : James Kendrick, M.D.,
F. L. S., John Sharp, Esq., and G. H. Hardy, Esq., of
Warrington.
Mr. M'CuLLocg, in opening the meeting, regretted the
absence of the president elect, Dr. Llewellyn Jones, of
Chester, (from whom a letter, apologising for his unavoida-
ble absence, was read,) and stated that the duties of his
office would necessarily devolve upon his friend, Dr. Baird,
who, he had no doubt, would discharge them with satisfac-
tion to the meeting. _ _ _ _

Dr. BAIRD, on taking the chair, made a few observations
on the unexpected position in which he found himself placed,
and concluded by calling upon Mr. Hardy, one of the secre-
taries, for the report of the council, which he read. From
amongst a variety of topics, chiefly relating to the proceed-
ings of the association during the past year, its finances, &c.
we select the following passages as having a more particular
reference to the profession generally, or to the community
in which this branch is placed :
" Your Council have had great pleasure in observing the
rapid progress which the question of Medical Reform has
made during the past year. Besides the three principal
Medical Corporations, most of the other chartered Colleges
have admitted the necessity of extensive changes and
amendments, and the well directed efforts of the various
Medical Associations have forced the consideration of this
all important subject upon the Legislature itself.
" Still it is manifest that the present state of this question
is such as to demand the most careful and judicious ma-
nagement; and the future steps to be taken in pursuit of the
highly desirable end we have in view will require mature de-
liberation, and a comprehensive survey of the opinions and
sentiments of all parties concerned.
" The error which has hitherto pervaded much that has
been done relative to medical reform, has been a too great
haste in the devising of the specific plans upon which such
reforms should be conducted."

" But the calm and temperate manner in which the Provin-
cial Medical and Surgical Association has entered upon this
great work, has done much to counteract this evil ; and at
the anniversary meeting which will shoitly be held in York,
we are informed that " the Reform Committee," which it
had previously appointed, " will be prepared with a report,
which members are requested to give a careful perusal, be-
fore they make up their minds as to the course which the
association should pursue in endeavouring to obtain an im-
proved system of medical polity." Whatever course that
may be, the spirit, which has hitherto characterised all its
proceedings in reference to this subject, entitle it to the con-
fidence and respect of every member of the Medical profes-
sion, and holds out strong encouragement to believe in the
ultimate success of its exertions.

"Before closing this report, your council wish to notice,in
terms of high commendation, the efforts which have been
inade to establish a Sea-bathing Infirmary for the poor of
this and the neighbouring counties. Such an institution
would constitute an important and valuable adjunct to our
medical charities ; for not only would their funds be relieved
from the burthen of dispensing large quantities of medicine
to a numerous class of patients, without any commensurate
advantage to the cases themselves ; but it would also enable
us effectually to relieve hundreds of our fellow-creatures,
who are at present compelled to drag out a miserable exist-
ence for want of that health-creating stimulus which sea air
and sea-bathing are alone capable of affording, and which
no course of medicine, however judiciously prescribed and
administered, is at all calculated to supersede. Your Coun-
cil, therefore, would earnestly entreat every member of this
association to exert his utmost influence to further this phi-
lanthrophic undertaking—for they feel assured, that there is
not a village, or town in this district; in which such an insti-
tution may not be made one of the greatest blessings to
many. It has been a source of regret to them, that no prac-
tical good should have hitherto resulted from the highly re-
spectable and influential meeting which was held some time
ago in Manchester ; and it is to be feared that the neglect
of fixing upon some convenient site may have, for a while,
defeated its benevolent object. It is hoped, however, that
the individuals, who then interested •ihemselves, will not
relax in their efforts, confident as they are, that success
must ultimately reward them." _

The report was unanimously adopted.
It was then agreed that a special meeting of the council be
called on the last Thursday in September, for the purpose of
making arrangements, which may be more effectual in pro-
moting the scientific objects of the branch, and affording
such local information, which is what ought to be considered
one of the leading features of every branch in connection
with the Parent Association.

The appointment of officers for the ensuing year was the
next business gone into. Dr. Kendrick, of Warrington, was
elected President, Dr. Lyon, of Manchester, and J. M.
Banner, Esq., of Liverpool, Vice-Presidents, and Messrs.
Sharp and Hardy, General Secretaries.
A long discussion ensued touching the propriety of adopt-
ing a proposal made by Dr. Cowan, of Reading, to make it
compulsory upon every associate to subscribe 5s per annum
to the Benevolent Fund. The meeting were unanimously
opposed to the proposition, and they also expressed them-
selves in strong terms on the impropriety of any of the branch
associations being allowed to make a deduction from the
subscriptions to meet the local expenses.
Dr. BAIRD having vacated the chair, which was then oc-
cupied by Mr. Thorp, of Manchester, proceeded to read a
paper upon Delirium Tremens. After some prefatory re-
marks, he stated that in the year 1834, when he was physic-
ian to the Liverpool Lunatic Asylum, two cases of delirium
tremens died suddenly after a fit of screaming ; one was under
his own care, the other a under the care of another physician
of the infirmary. He observed that as there was no general
rule of treatment established for this disease, and as the go-
vernor, Mr. Owen, stated that several such occurrences had
taken place under his predecessor's superintendence, he was
induced to try, in various proportions, a combination of the
more powerful remedies which had been generally recom-
mended, and occasionally found to be successful, in order to
cut short the disease, and prevent a recurrence of similar
catastrophes. With this view he gave calomel, opium, and
tartarised autimony, in various proportions, and repeated
them every hour, for five or six hours, and afterwards at
longer intervals, assisting them by croton oil, or castor oil,
or the infusion of senna and gentian, supporting the powers
of life, by ammonia, nether, and camphor, and in very ex-
hausted habits allowing porter, but forbidding in strong
terms, a continuance of the accustomed stimulus. By this
plan of treatment he was enabled to cut short the disease and
produce convalescence in the space of 8, 10, or 12 hours, in
upwards of fifty cases since the year 1834. He then ob-
served that all the cases were in the last or violent stage of
the malady, and detailed the symptoms as they appeared to
him, as well as the circumstances of two cases, which he
denominated exceptions. One, a robust, middle-aged man,
who had been three days ill before seen, and just come out
of a fit, whose pulse was imperceptible, and on whom medi-
dine had no effect. The other had been the subject of seve-
ral previous attacks, and having suppressed by violent mea-
sures, a discharge from his legs, he fell into a comatose state,
out of which he could not be recovered. The doctor then
proceeded to observe, that he had intended to have stopped
here, but when he found that it was the practice of the coun-
cil of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of London, not to re-
ceive any case to which no remarks were appended, he
thought he could.not do better than follow the suggestions
of the council of a society so long and s 9 justly celebrated for
the many valuable communications which its members have
furnished to the profession. He would, therefore, by trac-
ing the origin and progress of the symptoms, and from the
effect of the remedies, attempt to deduce some idea or ex-
planation of the cause of a disease, upon which all authori-
ties agreed in opinion that the appearances on dissection
did not afford such information as would tend to remove the
obscurity which continues to hang over the nature of the morbid
processes. He then detailed the progressive steps of the
drunkard, from the taking of the first glass of spirituous
liquor to the final outbreak of the !malady ; and also the
symptoms which indicated a progressive increase of disorder
in the mucous membrane of the stomach, bowels, and biliary
system. He canvassed the views of the different authorities
who have written upon the subject, some of whom had seen
the disease to arise from other causes than drunkenness. He
adduced the opinion of Dr. Craigie and other pathologists,
to prove that pain in the irritated or disordered state of the
mucous membrane of the digestive organs was never felt in
proportion to the degree of irritation, and that irritations
produced by articles of food and drink, and by morbid and
unnatural secretions, without giving rise to pain in the course
of the canal, produce in various organs unusual sensations
and phenomena. He quoted from Mr. Jenmng's report upon
the chemistry of the blood, to show that the sanguineous,
nervous, and digestive systems may be, and are frequently,
all affected at the same time and in the same person ; and
that no one system can be long disordered without inducing
disorder in others ; and, to decide which system is primarily
or secondarily affected, is, at once, the most important and
most difficult problem the medical practitioner is called upon
to solve. He then proved by a survey of all the cases which
he had treated, and from analagous cases, that the nervous
and celebral symptoms did not begin to subside until their
bowels began to be relieved of their dark-coloured and offen-
sive contents, and thence inferred that the excessive and con-
tinuous use of spirituous liquors was, first to induce a morbid
condition of the nervous membrane of the stomach, bowels,
and biliary system, and that the nervous and cerebral affec-
tions were only gradually reduced by the long continuance in
the use of the stimulus. He combated the idea of the disease
being of an inflammatory nature, but had met with cases
complicated with inflammation of the lungs. He believed it
to be essentially a disease of irritation, because it 'may con-
tinue for some time, subside, and again occur, without leav-
ing any visible organic change, which inflammation would
not do,—because the loss of blood is generally fatal in this
disease, and does good in inflammation ; and because dis-
section does not show the usual results of inflammation, but
generally morbid appearances in the biliary and digestive ap-
paratus. Dr. Baird then took the opportunity of observing
upon an opinion which, he said, was pretty generally enter-
tained by the public and the profession, and by several au-
thorities who have written upon the subject, that the stimulus
which has produced the disease should not be withdrawn,
but continued during the treatment. In refutation of this
opinion, he brought forward the facts of the very rapid and
satisfactory manner in which the cases recovered in the
asylum, where the stimulus was wholly withdrawn, and where
only porter was allowed in a few cases ; and also the circum-
stances of a case which he attended with Mr. Jorie, of Liver-
pool, where the plan of treatment which he had recommended
failed, in consequence of the use of spirituous liquors being
continued ; for upon the same plan of treatment being again
adopted without the stimulus, a perfect state of convales-
cence in less than twelve hours was the result. He stated
that he was in possession of the facts of various other cases to
prove his views, and concluded with a hope that the plan of
treatment might be as successful in the hands of the mem-
bers as it had proved in his, so that a general rule of treat-
ment might be established in at least one of the diseases
which have arisen to afflict humanity.

Mr. BANNER, of Liverpool, stated that be agreed gene-
rally with the principles and views detailed by Dr. Baird,
and also with the plan of treatment which he advocates. He
had always found great advantage from due attention being
paid to the state of the bowels. There were two points upon
which the paper was deficient, the moral treatment, and the
subject of restraint, which he presumed had been adopted,
the cases being in an asylum. He had derived advantage
from the suggestions of a medical friend from Dublin, who
said he had discovered that patients in this disease had a par-
tiality for one individual in a family, through whom the mind
of the patient might be judiciously operated upon, and he
had always found the greatest possible good to arise from en-.
trusting the medical management to this particular individual.
cwasitsns reference to restraint, he had no doubt that violent
possible
irl2, their struggles to get free, had frequently died.
Dr'.
Ism,RD, in reply, said, he could not see the slightest
chance of any good to be. expected from Mr. Ban-
ner's moral view.
were generally
suspicious
to his experience, the patients
if opposed,
and the ofevery person, and rather obsti-
nate
or to do what was best way to get them to take medi-
cine,,
hwei all
was glad
gfloard,
twashat toNi dr o
oppo-
site. As to restraint
marked upon it, because it gave him Btia'ennveerryhadre
to the members, that it had been
opportunity of stating
his practice to use as little
restraint as possible in the cases of insanity, and he had for-
bid it altogether in the cases of deliriumtre
Mr. NOTTINGHAM, formerly House Sur:l:ens. • Surgeon to the Liver-
ool Infirmary, begged to offer a few remarks upon
P li the ap-