An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany

by Donald Monro

[79] A Gentleman told me, that he was once cured of an Ague in the Country, by applying a Poultice of Garlic to his Wrists, and letting it lie on till it inflamed and blistered the Part.—I have seen Blisters cure an Ague.—In the Edinburgh Med. Essays, Vol. II. Art. v. we have an Account of Agues being cured by the Application of Poultices of recent Erigerum (Groundsel) applied to the Stomach on the Days free from the Paroxysm, which caused strong Vomiting.

[80] See an Account of an Ague being cured by the Patient being pushed into a Pool of Water without any previous Notice, and being much frightened, in Mason’s Account of Agues, p. 222.

[81] The common Account given of the Cause of Agues, and of the regular Return of their Paroxysms, has been: That the Ague takes its Rise from some Sort of Matter, bilious, or whatever it may be, either mixed with the Blood, or lodged in the Bowels, or in some other Part of the Body; that a great Part of this Matter is thrown out of the Body, in the Time of the Paroxysm; but that so much remains as serves by Way of a Ferment to assimilate other Particles to its own Nature; which, when collected in a certain Quantity, produce a new Fit; and, according to the Time that it takes to produce this Quantity, the Disorder assumes the Form of a Quotidian, Tertian, or Quartan Ague.

[82] Mr. Cleghorn, while at Minorca, after Evacuations, gave the Bark at the End of the third Period, as we observed before; but where the Fever had been neglected till about the third or fourth Period, or badly treated in the Beginning, and the Bowels were inflamed or overcharged with corrupted Gall, he was obliged to endeavour to palliate the most pressing Complaints, and to watch Evening, Night, and Morning for a Remission, and then immediately to fly to the Bark, as the only Remedy that could avert the Danger. If the Patient was strong, he gave Half an Ounce of the Bark, with six Drachms of the sal catharticum amarum, divided into four equal Parts, of which the Patient took one every two Hours; the Effect of which was, that the next Fit was mitigated, and an Intermission commonly ensued, in which the Bark was repeated without the Purgative, to finish the Cure.—But where the Patient was excessively feeble, and there was a manifest Risk of his dying in next Fit, he gave Cordials with the Bark, instead of the sal catharticum; and endeavoured to throw in six or seven Drachms in the Space of ten or twelve Hours; he having found by Experience, that if a smaller Quantity is given, the Paroxysms come on earlier than usual, and make all Attempts to preserve Life unsuccessful. See his Account of the epidemic Diseases of Minorca, cap. iii. 2d edit. p. 192.

[83] Sometimes, when Patients are reduced low by Agues, the Stomach becomes so squeamish as to reject the Bark in every Shape it can be given; in such Cases, when the Ague cannot be stopped by other Means, it may be administered with great Advantage in Clysters, of which the following is a very remarkable Instance.—William Hadderell, a Lad seventeen Years of Age, in the End of the Year 1761, was attacked with a severe Tertian Ague, in which a Mortification came on his left Foot, and one-half of it dropt off; notwithstanding, his Ague continued to attack him every second Day, and the Sore continued running on the 12th of October 1763, when he was admitted into St. George’s Hospital. He was reduced extremely low; and the Sore of his Foot looked so bad, that it was at first imagined he must lose his Leg. He was ordered some Vomits, and a Purge, and cooling Medicines, and afterwards to take the Bark freely; but his Stomach rejected it, in whatever Form it was given. Other Means were then tried to stop his Ague, but with no Effect, till the 7th of November, that I ordered two Drachms of the Powder of the Bark to be given him twice a Day in an emollient Clyster, with Half a Drachm of the tinctura thebaica, which stopt his Ague in three Days; and he had had no Return of it on the 28th of January 1764, and had recruited his Health and Strength, and the Sore of his Foot was greatly lessened. Dr. Harvey (who teaches Midwifery in London) told me, that he has cured Children of Agues by Bark Clysters, after the Bark Waistcoats, and other Means used, had proved unsuccessful.

[84] This agrees with what Mr. Cleghorn remarks of Tertian Fevers in his Observations on the epidemic Diseases of the Island of Minorca, who says, “where there is an icteritious Colour of the Eyes, we are likewise told, that the Cortex should not be administered; though, in my Opinion, it is for the most part dangerous to delay it, after the first Appearance of that Symptom.” Chap. iii. 2d edit. p. 205.

[85] Dr. Pringle takes Notice, that these Obstructions happened as often without as with the Bark; and therefore seemed to depend on the long Continuance and Obstinacy of the Intermittent. Observ. part iii. chap. iv. sect. 2. p. 179. 3d Edit.

[86] I have seen the dead Bodies of four People opened, who had those Swellings of the left Side, commonly called the Ague Cake, which had come after Agues; and in all the Swelling was owing to an Enlargement of the Spleen.

[87] The cold Fit is the most dangerous Time of the Paroxysm, and the greatest Part of those who die of Agues die at this Time; one or two Instances of which I saw in the Military Hospital at Edinburgh in the Year 1746.—Van Swieten says he has seen the trembling and shaking so great in the Time of the cold Fit of Quartans, that the Teeth have dropt out of the Head. Comment. in sect. 749. Aphorism. Boerhaav. vol. II. p. 511.

[88] On the 29th of August 1759, a Man (Murdoch Brinnen) about thirty Years of Age, was admitted into St. George’s Hospital for a very large Swelling of the parotid Glands and neighbouring Parts, which had come three Days before, after a Fit of the Tertian Ague, which did not return afterwards. The Swelling was discussed by the Application of emollient Cataplasms, which were intended to have brought it to Suppuration. He had no Return of the Ague, nor did any bad Consequence follow the Discussion of the Tumour, and the Cure was completed by a few Doses of Physic, and a Decoction of the Bark, which restored him to his Strength, and carried off the little Heat and Feverishness which remained.