The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-06-02

The following excerpts are from an
old volume by DIR. Madden, of Lon
don. England, republished in Philadel-
phia in 1880, entitled: Travels in
Turkey, Egypt, etc
have given plague the name of
typhus gravissimus The symptoms,
from the first, are general debility,
congestion about the heart, not de-
pending on Inflammation, but on the pu-
crescent state of the circulation. 1t diff
fers little from putrid typhus except
in its duration and eruptions. In ev-
cry stage of plague nature appears to
lie prostrate under the influence of the
noisonous miasma; and, when the pa
tjent sinks at last, it is from the want
of force in the constitution to drive
out the eruptions on the surface. The
bubo recedes, or the carbuncle d1n1in-
ishes, or neither appear at all extern
ally; but they have seized on the in
ternal vital organs, and the immediate
cause of death has been shown by dis
section to have been carDuncles on the
liver, lungs, spleen, or mesenter1c
glands. In short it appears that the
whole glandular system is the seat OF
the disease. I have seen all of the diff
ferent species of plague enumerated by
Russell and the French authors, and
have no hesitation, in pronouncing all
these different species of plague to be
the symptoms of one class only; and
I assert that there is but one indica-
ton to fulfil, namely, to assist nature
to expel the poison by strengthening
nf
ton and enabling it to throw out the
morbific matter. BY what means is
this to be done? Whether by emetics,
by purgatives, by bleeding, by calomel,
by mercurial JUNCTION, or by oil friction?
There is none of these means I have
not tried and out of the first eleven
patients I lost nine. L had recourse to
another mode of cure: Strong stimu
lants diffusable and permanent, I now
tried I commenced with wine and
brandy the first moment / saw the pa
tient. Whether the eye was suffused,
the cheek flushed, and the skin arid,
or the low delirium set in or not, adj
n1inistered it in the following manner:
The first dose was a tumbler of hot
brandy and water, about one-third
spirit. This sometimes was vomited,
and again repeated. The second time
it usually remained on the stomach,
and, in the course of two hours, it gen.
orally produced perspiration, even after
James powder had failed. From two
to three hours after the first dose an
other was given and the patient would
feel less of the burning pain at the
heart. If vomiting supervened it was
again repeated, and during the day it
was now given every four or six hours
according to circumstances. The buboes
commonly increased in size, and pro-
fuse sweating was often followed by
petechiae, or livid spots on the chest.
When I saw this, I was always sure Of
my patient. The second day I increas-
ed the strength of the dose; instead of
one-third spirit [ gave one-half every
eight hours; no intoxication came on,
but lethargic drowsiness was COM
mon enough, continuing until the per-
spiration broke out, or carbuncles APP
peared externally. IF, on the third day,
the patient was decidedly better, I kept
up the excitement with strong Cyprus
wine, in frequent but small doses of
two tablespoonfuls every two hours,
but, If the bad symptoms were unabat-
ed I continued to give the hot brandy
and water in increased quantities till
some decided change took place. This
active treatment it was seldom neces-
sary to pursue beyond the sixth day;
indeed, in plague, if the patient live to
the sixth day. he is very likely to re-
cover; but the third day is that which
is most to be feared. The only other
treatment was once or twice opening
he
by the mouth do no service, and spong-
ing the body frequently with vinegar
and water. The head was kept con-
stantly soaked with towels dipped in
vinegar, and the buboes were poulticed