The Cholera Gazette, Vol. I. No. 4. Wednesday, August 1st, 1832.

Vol. I.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1st, 1832.
No. 4.
The following documents relative to the treatment of cholera by the copious injection of a saline solution into the veins, communicated to the Central Board of Health of Great Britain, are of so interesting a character that we hasten to lay them before our readers; though we are far from participating in the sanguine estimate of the curative powers of the remedy, entertained by Drs. Lewins, Latta and others. The measure has been resorted to in New York, and on the whole, with but slender success, and the results of trials of it, in this city, so far as we have been able to obtain authentic information, have not been very encouraging. Some of the symptoms have been relieved, but we know as yet of no cure effected by it.
Sir,—I conceive it to be my duty to let you know, for the information of the Central Board of Health, that the great desideratum of restoring the natural current in the veins and arteries, of improving the colour of the blood, and recovering the functions of the lungs, in cholera asphyxia, may be accomplished by injecting a weak saline solution into the veins of the patient. To Dr. Thomas Latta, of this place, is due the merit of first having recourse to this practice. He has tried it in six cases, three of which I have seen, and assisted to treat. The most wonderful and satisfactory effect is the immediate consequence of the injection. To produce the effect referred to, a large quantity must be injected—from five to ten pounds in an adult—and repeated at longer or shorter intervals, as the state of the pulse, and other symptoms, may indicate. Whenever the pulse fails, more fluid ought to be thrown in, to produce an effect upon it, without regard to quantity. In one of the cases I have referred to, 120 ounces were injected at once, and repeated to the amount of 330 ounces in twelve hours. In another, 376 ounces were thrown into the veins between Sunday, at 11 o’clock, A. M., and this day (Tuesday) at 4 P. M.; that is, in the course of 53 hours, upwards of 31 pounds!