title: How to treat tremor.
abstract: This paper presents an example of 18(th) century medical thinking. The author, Dr Georg Ernst Stahl (1659-1734) was the founder of the phlogiston theory in the field of chemistry, a medical professor, and a court physician in Saxony and Prussia. His description includes a definition of tremor, the internal and external causes of tremor, the types of tremor, the diagnostic and prognostic signs, and the treatment. From a present (contemporary) point of view, some compounds that were then used in treatment may have had a limited therapeutic effect on some kinds of tremor. Protopin has an anticholinergic and GABA-ergic effect, and rhoeadin (tetrahydrobenzazepin) may have had an effect similar to that of neuroleptics. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether the recommended quantity of these compounds was sufficient for a clinical effect. Most of the prescribed drugs could only have had a placebo effect.
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Neurology, Masaryk University St. Anne's Hospital, Pekarska 53, 65691, Brno, Czech Republic. irektor@med.muni.cz
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rektor
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rektorová
authors.forename: Václav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Suchý
mesh_terms: D053119:Benzophenanthridines; D001600:Berberine Alkaloids / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005858:Germany; D049671:History, 18th Century; D006801:Humans; D014202:Tremor / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D053119:Benzophenanthridines; D001600:Berberine Alkaloids; D018680:Cholinergic Antagonists; C009093:protopine