Mr. Shaw likewise informs me, that he has removed pains in the stomach and bowels, by giving a spoonful of the infusion, ʒiss. to ℥viii. morning and night.
A Letter from Mr. Vaux, Surgeon, in Birmingham.
Dear Sir,
I send you the two following cases, wherein the Digitalis had very powerful and sensible effects, in the cure of the different patients.
CASE I.
Mrs. O—— of L—— street, in this town, aged 28, naturally of a thin, spare habit, and her family inclinable to phthisis, sent for me on the 11th of June, 1779, at which time she complained of great pain in her side, a constant cough, expectorated much, which sunk in water; had colliquative sweats and frequent purging stools; the lower extremities and belly full of water, and from the great difficulty she had in breathing, I concluded there was water in the chest also. The quantity of water made at a time for three weeks before I saw her, never amounted to more than a tea-cup full, frequently not so much. Finding her in so alarming a situation, I gave it as my opinion she could receive no benefit from medicine, and requested her not to take any; but she being very desirous of my ordering her something, I complied, and sent her a box of gum pills with squills, and a mixture with salt of tartar: these medicines she took until the sixteenth, without any good effects: the water in her legs now began to exsude through the skin, and a small blister on one of her legs broke. Believing she could not exist much longer, unless an evacuation of the water could be procured; after fully informing her of her situation, and the uncertainty of her surviving the use of the medicine, I ventured to propose her taking the Digitalis, which she chearfully agreed to. I accordingly sent her a pint mixture, made as under, of the fresh leaves of the Digitalis. Three drams infused in one pint of boiling water, when cold strained off, without pressing the leaves, and two ounces of the strong juniper water added to it: of this mixture she was ordered four table spoonfuls every third hour, till it either made her sick, purged her, or had a sensible effect on the kidneys. This mixture was sent on the seventeenth, and she began taking it at noon on the eighteenth. At one o'clock the following morning I was called up, and informed she was dying. I immediately attended her, and was agreeably surprised to find their fright arose from her having fainted, in consequence of the sudden loss of twelve quarts of water she had made in about two hours. I immediately applied a roller round her belly, and, as soon as they could be made, 2 others, which were carried from the toes quite up the thighs. The relief afforded by these was immediate; but the medicine now began to affect her stomach so much, that she kept nothing on it many minutes together. I ordered her to drink freely of beef tea, which she did, but kept it on her stomach but a very short time. A neutral draught in a state of effervescence was taken to no good purpose: She therefore continued the beef tea, and took no other medicine for five days, when her sickness went off: her cough abated, but the pain in her side still continuing, I applied a blister which had the desired effect: her urine after the first day flowed naturally. Her cure was compleated by the gum pills with steel and the bitter infusion. It must be observed she never had any collection of water afterwards.
It affords me great pleasure to inform you that she is now living, and has since had four children; all of whom, I think I may justly say, are indebted to the Digitalis for their existence.
There appears in this case a striking proof of the utility of emetics in some kinds of consumptions, as it appears to me the dropsy was brought on by the cough, &c. and I believe these were cured by the continual vomitings, occasioned by the medicine.
CASE II.
Mr. H——, a publican, aged about 48 years, sent for me in March, 1778. He complained of a cough, shortness of breathing, which prevented him from laying down in bed; his belly, thighs and legs very much distended with water; the quantity of urine made at a time seldom exceeded a spoonful. I requested him to get some of the Digitalis, and as they had no proper weights in the house, I told them to put as much of the fresh leaves as would weigh down a guinea, into half a pint of boiling water; to let it stand till cold, then to pour off the clear liquor, and add a glass of gin to it, and to take three table spoonfuls every third hour, until it had some sensible effect upon him.