Читать книгу Pharmacologia онлайн

124 страница из 211

From the violent muscular exertions which take place in the act of vomiting, the administration of an emetic may be very injurious in certain states of the body. In consequence of the pressure applied to the descending aorta, and the interrupted circulation through the lungs, from impeded respiration, the blood returns with difficulty from the head during a paroxysm of vomiting, and in plethoric states of the body, or in cases of determination of blood to the cerebral or pulmonary organs, the act of vomiting cannot be considered as free from danger. The concussion of an emetic may also produce mischief in the advanced stage of pregnancy, and in hernia and prolapsus uteri; while in extreme debility, there is the danger of a syncope being produced, from which the patient may never recover, as I once witnessed in the last stage of Phthisis, where an emetic was imprudently given, with the intention of dislodging the pus with which the lungs were embarrassed.

By violent and protracted retching, a person will sometimes become jaundiced; the stomach, diaphragm, and abdominal muscles, are, under such repeated efforts, apt to be rendered, to an eminent degree, irritable; so that at each effort of the former to discharge its contents, the latter will frequently be thrown into strong spasmodic contractions, and the liver together with the gall bladder will be suddenly caught, and, as it were, squeezed in a powerful press; in consequence of which the bile will regurgitate, and be carried into the Venæ cavæ; for Haller has shewn with what facility a subtle injection, when thrown into the hepatic duct, will escape by the hepatic veins; and upon which Dr. Saunders observes, “I know this to be a fact, for I have ascertained by experiment, that water injected in the same direction, will return by the veins in a full stream, though very little force be used.” When a jaundice is thus produced it will gradually disappear without the aid of any medicine; the kidneys are the principal means by which all unnecessary bodies are extracted from the circulating mass, a portion of bile will therefore under such circumstances be eliminated in every discharge of urine.