Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. All otherspelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
The cover was prepared by the transcriber and is placed in the publicdomain.
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.
[Pg v]
The medicine which forms the subject of thefollowing treatise has been so lately introducedinto practice, that few Physicians are acquaintedeither with its properties, or with the manner ofusing it. Almost all have heard of its effects indiscussing bronchocele; and some, rashly presumingthat it cannot be a drug of great power,have prescribed it without giving themselves thetrouble of making any inquiry into the manner ofemploying it, or the dangers to which its use isliable. I have thus seen more than one Physicianseriously injured in his reputation; andI have seen many patients irrecoverably injuredin their health by this subtle and powerfulmedicine.
[Pg vi]
Not long since I was informed by a Physician,of great and deserved eminence, in London, thathe had prescribed it to the extent of ten grainsat one dose to a young woman. Most fortunatelyshe was saved by vomiting. About ayear ago, I was consulted on account of a younglady in the last stage of tubercular pulmonaryconsumption. She was attended by a Surgeon,who had bled her to a most unaccountable degree.This gentleman proposed to me the useof digitalis, which being objected to, he thenproposed successively the use of hemlock andiodine. It was plain that he was about as wellacquainted with the virtues of one medicine aswith those of the other, and not better versed inthe history of the disease he was treating. Whena medicine of so much power is thus in the handsof every person, I trust I shall not stand in needof apology for having made public the followinglittle treatise. Its materials have been for sometime in my possession; and I was desirous of[Pg vii]delaying yet a little the publication of them;but certain statements have gone forth to theworld, of the great benefits to be derived fromthe use of iodine, while the history of its dangershas been most unaccountably withheld. It is inorder to fill up this hiatus, and at the same timeto direct particularly the attention of Practitionersto the proper manner of using it, witha view to its good effects, that this essay iswritten.
Particular circumstances have afforded meopportunities of seeing this medicine extensivelyused; and at the same time of witnessing thebad effects which resulted from the prodigalmanner in which it was first employed. Ihave also made inquiries respecting its historyin countries which I have not visited. Theanswers I have received have not been s