ALLEVIATION OF PAIN.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1868, 29 December 1874, Page 3

ALLEVIATION OF PAIN.

. .T..* C. Bishop, M.D., writes-in the oouthern Record," an American paper, saying that "the day' that Alexander^ Wood, of Edinburgh, discovered that a — solution •■ of morphia injected under the in, the vicinity of a painful part, afforded remarkable relief to the pain," the clock of ages marked an epoch in scientific. medicine, • which indeed rirals Harvey's discovery of the circulation, or Morton's discovery of anaesthesia, At th»t hour, throughout the civilised world, Buffering humanity became heirs to a boon, which has been to them as 1 a pearl of ' price, and/that particular province in the practice of medicine which looks to the alleviation of pain, which in time gone, ••byVwiur the-bane of-the physician's life, became so modified thatpain presents but a few yhascs that we may net 1-readily overcome, and but few characters we'may not subdue. Such crises in - medicine as Aave been wrought by the discoveries of* Jenner, Cinchon, Harvey, Morton,'and Wood ire.,precursors of,-glorious 'gala days' in their departments, and command the admiration and respect of not our profession alone, but the good and noble the world over. Dr. Wood, after his discovery, continued to practise. the method from November, 1843, to 1856, a period of thirteen years, and until he became thoroughly convinced of its utility and worth, when he published his*first account of the subject in the Edinburgh 'Medical and Surg'cal'—now '.over 30 jears ago. I have known the hypo-n derinic syringe to be employed almost in every available portion of the body* and on an average of four times in 24 hours, for a period of several years, in the same patient, making an aggregate of 6.400 times, without the slightest accident, and without even the formation of an abscess. My own method of using the hypodermic syringe is as follows :—After being satisfied that the instrument is in perfect order, the piston properly fitted", the barrel clean, &0., I draw up slightly more fluid than I design using, invert the "syringe, press up the piston to expel the* air which is nearly always druwn in, and the surplus solution; then with the thumb and finger of the left hand I pinch "~ up a fold of integument, pressing ifc pretty firmly-ifor •*, few seconds, to lessejr^its sensibility: With a firm steady^pressure I. introduce the needle at ,an,aßglo of about 45deg., directly into thSlceilmar tissue, to the depth of one-eighth to a quarter d an inch, according to circumstances; prosa down (he .piston, withdraw, tb.e, needle. quickly; place a finger ore*the to prevent the escape of fluid, aad; the operation is complete. The first ftriig employed hypodcrmically was morphia. And its range &f application has' kept pace, co-extensive with its employments. While its various 'salts have been used, the ,sulphate seems-, to 'have., outgrown all others in favour, for various reasons, and is at present the favorite ; it is perfectly soluble in distilled water, - which is, lor all purposesand under most circumstances, the very best vehicle for hvpodernuc use, on account of being perfect'y unirritating to the tissues and not liable to produce inflammation or absces3. The physiological effects of morphia are too well understood to require repetition here. It' was early—in fact, first—employed in neuralgia, in which a single application cured, the disease. It had yielded equally as good results in my own hands a number of times; and ".although we will bften fail toi#riel so promptly, byjperseverance, for a limited, time even, we -will ybe satisfied with its results. At present I cannet call to mind a single case of ordinary npuralgia which I have treated hypcdermically that was not speedily and, so far as I know, permanently cured by a few applications."