Essay on the effects of iodine on the human constitution / With practical observation on its use in the cure of bronchocele, scrophula, and the tuberculous diseases of the chest and abdomen

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ESSAY ON THE EFFECTS OF IODINE, ETC. ETC.
LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.
WITH PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON ITS USE IN THE CURE OF BRONCHOCELE, SCROPHULA, AND THE TUBERCULOUS DISEASES OF THE CHEST AND ABDOMEN.
By W. GAIRDNER, M. D.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR THOMAS AND GEORGE UNDERWOOD, 32, FLEET STREET. 1824.
The medicine which forms the subject of the following treatise has been so lately introduced into practice, that few Physicians are acquainted either with its properties, or with the manner of using it. Almost all have heard of its effects in discussing bronchocele; and some, rashly presuming that it cannot be a drug of great power, have prescribed it without giving themselves the trouble of making any inquiry into the manner of employing it, or the dangers to which its use is liable. I have thus seen more than one Physician seriously injured in his reputation; and I have seen many patients irrecoverably injured in their health by this subtle and powerful medicine.
Not long since I was informed by a Physician, of great and deserved eminence, in London, that he had prescribed it to the extent of ten grains at one dose to a young woman. Most fortunately she was saved by vomiting. About a year ago, I was consulted on account of a young lady in the last stage of tubercular pulmonary consumption. She was attended by a Surgeon, who had bled her to a most unaccountable degree. This gentleman proposed to me the use of digitalis, which being objected to, he then proposed successively the use of hemlock and iodine. It was plain that he was about as well acquainted with the virtues of one medicine as with those of the other, and not better versed in the history of the disease he was treating. When a medicine of so much power is thus in the hands of every person, I trust I shall not stand in need of apology for having made public the following little treatise. Its materials have been for some time in my possession; and I was desirous of delaying yet a little the publication of them; but certain statements have gone forth to the world, of the great benefits to be derived from the use of iodine, while the history of its dangers has been most unaccountably withheld. It is in order to fill up this hiatus, and at the same time to direct particularly the attention of Practitioners to the proper manner of using it, with a view to its good effects, that this essay is written.