18l6,j Proper Treatment 



tions, wliich certainly pioduces a contra- 

 riety of effects. Wiieii applied to a patient 

 who, a few minutes before, had Ijeeii 

 coniplaiiiiiigof evcessive licat and thirst, 

 I have seen it immediately produce that 

 cold shivering which, in my opinion, is 

 so fatal a symptom of the case, as it is 

 generally the precursor of violent sym- 

 pathetic fever. My plan of treating 

 these cases, and which I have success- 

 fully practised some years, is immediate- 

 ly to apply a lotion made of equal parts 

 of spirits of turpentine' and colddraun 

 linseed oil, heated (liy standiii;j iu hot 

 water) to a degree whicli the sound 

 parts would boar without injury, after- 

 wards plasters of the yellow Basilicon 

 ointment, sjjread on fine old linen rags. 

 I then give a proportionate dose of lau- 

 danum in warm brandy-and-«alcr, and 

 put my patient in a warm bed; thus, as 

 Mr. Kentish, in his Essays on Burns, re- 

 marks, keeping up a imity of intention 

 by both the <"\ternal and iiiterual 

 means, which leads to the restoration of 

 the unity of action, and thus is the cure 

 performed. I then repeat this mode of 

 treatment twelve hours after its fn'.st 

 application, with the exception of using 

 them cold. Afterwards the parts are 

 to be dressed with emollient ointmeut:?, 

 or according as their appearance may 

 indicate, until suppuration commences, 

 when the symptoms will point out the 

 ordinary mode of cure. As far as re- 

 lates to internal remedies, as I before 

 observed, it is as essential they should 

 Le of the stimulating kind as the ex- 

 ternal; and, certainly, active purgatives, 

 as recommended iu your paragraph, arc, 

 in my opinion, higiily improjicr, as they 

 generally bring on that weakness and 

 languor whicli inovitahly retard the 

 healing process, while the administra- 

 tion of opium generally allays that pe- 

 culiar irritability produced by a destruc- 

 tion of tlic cuticle, and consequently 

 prevents any disposition of the nervous 

 system that may exist, likely to produce 

 convulsions, the occurrence of VNhich, 

 ill cases of this kind, generally proves 

 ftttal. The astonishment expressed, 

 and the censure passed, at the vague 

 #tatc of medical science, and the ap- 

 parent apathy evinced by the medical 

 colleges, in not investigating the na- 

 ture and cure of scalds and Imrns, 

 wouM be perfectly just, were it not 

 known that several valiuihle treatises 

 have been written on the subject, and 

 one of which I will refer your readers 

 tu fur an ciucidaliou of this important 



of Scalds and Burns. 407 



branch of medical knowledge, t!;at wiit- 

 tcn by Mr. Kentish, a member of the 

 College of Surgeons, as being Uic moda 

 tliat has gained the mast universal ap- 

 probation, and more particularly from 

 the very superior opportimities ailbrded 

 liiui by his proximity to the coal-mines, 

 and the very great success attending 

 liis jirnctice, rendered very considerable 

 by tiie frequent and extensive burns, 

 ike. produced by explosions of inllani- 

 inable gas. That the state of medical 

 j)ractice is vague, and renders many 

 ca.ses fatal, I admit, and is alone to be 

 attributed to the imperfect formation of 

 it; for, wiiile the present system is con- 

 tiuued, we camiot hope i'or iuiprovc- 

 nient, as any man, without the least 

 pretensions to the profession, may prac- 

 tise; and I know many instances whej-e 

 tlic i>ractitioner has been translate^, 

 fnmi a druggist's shop, and without any 

 other qualification calls himself a sur- 

 geon ; and one instiuicc, iu psu'ticular, 

 where a blai ksmitii's boy relinquished 

 f!ie hammer for a service in a menial 

 capacity with an irregular practitioner, 

 and now practises as u surgeon, 5cc 

 without ever haviiig becii within Iha 

 doors of an hospital, or attended tlie 

 lectures of any one. That these cases 

 arc too general, cannot, I think, lie de- 

 nied; aiid, with such barriers to the 

 encouragement of men of gcuius as- 

 suming a profession whicli deservedly 

 ought to be classed as one of the nio^ 

 ingenious, as well as iiuportant, I feel 

 convinced, that many lives must fall 

 saciitices to the vague and imperfect 

 state of medical representation, cer- 

 tainly not to the presujit cnlighteued 

 mode of medical science, as in no age, 

 nor in any other country, has the sci- 

 entific practice of medicine and surgery 

 attahicd to so high a degree of pcf- 



fcction. .1 , :, , ,,• :,,;, ij;;i/i/!r, 



That persons , should, he allowed -tot 



practise w ithout being posiicssed of Die 

 necessary qualilications, afipc.trs to in« 

 inijjcriousiy to demand the iulerferciice 

 of the legislature; and, I trust, tlie en- 

 suing session of Parliament will ]k4 

 j)ass by without adopting some measui-c 

 to protect the j>ublic from the seriqus 

 consequences of men pietendijug to 

 exercise a profession, in which are in-f 

 vohcil the lives and property of many 

 valuable members of snoicty, ainl, JMb 

 fact, of the community at large. .,,i>ii 



