Vol. I.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1st, 1832.
No. 4.
The following documents relative to the treatment of cholera bythe copious injection of a saline solution into the veins, communicatedto the Central Board of Health of Great Britain, are of so interestinga character that we hasten to lay them before our readers;though we are far from participating in the sanguine estimate of thecurative powers of the remedy, entertained by Drs. Lewins, Lattaand others. The measure has been resorted to in New York, and onthe whole, with but slender success, and the results of trials of it, inthis city, so far as we have been able to obtain authentic information,have not been very encouraging. Some of the symptoms have beenrelieved, 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 theCentral Board of Health, that the great desideratum of restoring the naturalcurrent in the veins and arteries, of improving the colour of the blood, and recoveringthe functions of the lungs, in cholera asphyxia, may be accomplishedby injecting a weak saline solution into the veins of the patient. To Dr. ThomasLatta, 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 totreat. The most wonderful and satisfactory effect is the immediate consequenceof the injection. To produce the effect referred to, a large quantity must beinjected—from five to ten pounds in an adult—and repeated at longer or shorterintervals, as the state of the pulse, and other symptoms, may indicate. Wheneverthe pulse fails, more fluid ought to be thrown in, to produce an effectupon 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 intwelve hours. In another, 376 ounces were thrown into the veins betweenSunday, at 11 o’clock, A. M., and this day (Tuesday) at 4 P. M.; that is, in thecourse of 53 hours, upwards of 31 pounds!
The solution that was used consisted of two drachms of muriate, and twoscruples of carbonate, of soda, to sixty ounces of water. It was at the temperatureof 108 or 110 degrees.
The apparatus employed in injecting was merely one of Reid’s common syringes,(the fluid being put into a vessel rather deep and narrow,) with asmall pipe fitted, that it might easily be introduced into an incision in the veinsof the usual size that is made in bleeding. It may, however, be well to keep inmind, that, in the event of the operation being frequently repeated, it may beadviseable to inject by different veins.
I forbear at present to enter further into the particulars; nor have we hadsufficient experience to speak decisively on the subject. I may, however,mention, that the idea of having recourse to this remedy in cholera, occurredto Dr. Latta, from being convinced, (which I am also,) that the evacuations upwardsand downwards are in reality the serum of the blood; that it is the dutyof the physician to replace it, as speedily as possible, by injecting a fluid, as similarto the serum as can be formed artificially, directly into the veins, whichhas been done here with wonderful, and, so far as we can yet judge, excellenteffect. An immediate return of the pulse, an improvement in the respirationand in the voice, an evolution of heat, an improvement in the app