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TONGUE. Much may be learned from the appearance, color, and form of the tongue, and the manner of its protrusion. If pale, moist, and coated white, it indicates a mild, febrile condition of the system. If coated in the center, and the sides look raw, it indicates gastric irritation. If red and raw, or dry and cracked, it is a sign of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach. If the inflammation is in the large intestine, the tip of the tongue presents a deep red color, while the middle is loaded with a dark brown coating. When the tongue is elongated and pointed, quickly protruded and withdrawn, it indicates irritation of the nerve-centers, as well as of the stomach and bowels. If tremulous, it denotes congestion and lack of functional ability; this may be observed in congestive fevers.
PULSE. Usually the pulse beats four times during one respiration, but both in health and disease its frequency may be accelerated or retarded. In adults, there are from sixty-five to seventy-five beats in a minute, and yet in a few instances we have found, in health, only forty pulsations per minute. But when the heart beats from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty times a minute, there is reason to apprehend danger, and the case should receive the careful attention of a physician.
Irregularity of the pulse may be caused by disease of the brain, heart, stomach, or liver; by the disordered condition of the nervous system; by lack of muscular nutrition, as in gout, rheumatism, or convulsions; by deficiency of the heart's effective power, when the pulse-wave does not reach the wrist, or when it intermits and then becomes more rapid in consequence of septic changes of the blood, as in diphtheria, erysipelas, and eruptive fevers.
PAIN. The import of pain depends on its seat, intensity, nature, and duration. An acute, intense pain usually indicates inflammation of a nerve as well as the adjacent parts. Sharp, shooting, lancinating pains occur in inflammation of the serous tissues, as in pleurisy. A smarting, stinging pain attends inflammation of the mucous membrane. Acute pain is generally remittent and not fixed to one spot. Dull, heavy pain is more persistent, and is present in congestions, or when the substance of an organ is inflamed, and it often precedes hemorrhage. Burning pain characterizes violent inflammations involving the skin and subjacent cellular tissue, as in case of boils and carbuncles. Deep, perforating pain accompanies inflammation of the bones, or of their enveloping membranes. Gnawing, biting, lancinating pain attends cancers.
The location of pain is not always at the seat of the disease. In hip-disease, the pain is not first felt in the hip, but in the knee-joint. In chronic inflammation of the liver, the pain is generally most severe in the right shoulder and arm. Disease of the kidneys occasionally produces numbness of the thigh and drawing up of the testicle, and commonly causes colicky pains. Inflammation of the meninges of the brain is often indicated by nausea and vomiting before attention is directed to the head. These illustrations are sufficient to show that pain often takes place in some part remote from the disease.
In chronic, abdominal affections, rheumatic fevers, gout, and syphilis, the entire system is thrown into a morbid state, the nervous system is disturbed, and wandering pains manifest themselves in different parts of the body. Fixed pain, which is increased by pressure, indicates inflammation. If it be due only to irritation, pressure will not increase it. Some rheumatic affections and neuralgia not only bear pressure, but the pain diminishes under it. Permanent pain shows that the structures of an organ are inflamed, while intermittent pain is a sign of neuralgia, gout, or rheumatism. Absence of pain in any disease, where ordinarily it should be present, is an unfavorable sign. Internal pain, after a favorable crisis, is a bad omen. Or, if pains cease suddenly without the other symptoms abating, the import is bad. If, however, pain and fever remit simultaneously and the secretions continue, it is a favorable sign.
A dull pain in the head indicates fullness of the blood-vessels from weakness, low blood, or general debility. It may be caused by taking cold, thus producing passive congestion of the brain. It may proceed from gastric disturbance, constipation of the bowels, or derangement of the liver. Heaviness of the head sometimes precedes inflammation of the brain, or chronic disease of its membranes. A dull, oppressive pain in the head indicates softening of the brain, and is generally accompanied by slowness of the pulse and of the speech. A pulsating pain of the head occurs in heart disease, hysteria, and frequently accompanies some forms of insanity.
THE EYE indicates morbid changes and furnishes unmistakable signs of disease. Sinking of the eye indicates waste, as in consumption, diarrhea, and cholera. In fevers it is regarded as a fatal symptom. A dark or leaden circle around the eye, seen after hard work, indicates fatigue and overdoing. If the mucous covering of the inner surface of the lids and the ball of the eye is congested and inflamed, it exhibits redness, and may indicate congestion or even inflammation of the brain.
A dilated pupil is often observed in catarrhal consumption, congestion of the brain, low fevers, and chlorosis.
The pupil contracts in inflammation of the meninges, when there is increased sensibility and intolerance of light, also in spinal complaints. In some diseases the lustre of the eye increases, as in consumption. But if it decreases with the attack of violent disease, it indicates great debility and prostration.
EXAMINATION OF THE URINE. All medical authors and physicians of education, freely admit and even insist upon the importance of critically examining the patient's urine, in all cases in which there is reason to suspect disease of the kidneys or bladder. In chronic affections it is particularly serviceable, especially in derangements of the liver, blood, kidneys, bladder, prostate gland, and nervous system. Many scholarly physicians have sadly neglected the proper inspection of the urine, because they were afraid of being classed with the illiterate "uroscopian" doctors, or fanatical enthusiasts, who ignorantly pretend to diagnose correctly all diseases in this manner, thus subjecting themselves and their claims to ridicule. Nothing should deter one from giving to this excretion the attention it deserves.
The urine which is voided when the system is deranged or diseased is altered in its color and composition, showing that its ingredients vary greatly. So important an aid do examinations of the urine furnish in diagnosing many chronic ailments, that at the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute, where many thousands of cases are annually treated, a chemical laboratory has been fitted up, and a skillful chemist is employed, who makes a specialty of examining the urine, both chemically and microscopically, and reporting the result to the attending physicians. His extended experience renders his services invaluable. With his assistance, maladies which had hitherto baffled all efforts put forth to determine their true character, have frequently been quickly and unmistakably disclosed.
MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION. This method of examination affords a quicker and more correct idea of a deposit or deposits than any other method. The expert, by simply looking at a specimen, can determine the character of the urine, whether blood, mucus, pus, uric acid, etc., are present or not. But when no deposit is present, then it is necessary to apply chemical tests, and in many cases the quantity of the suspected ingredient must be determined by analysis. As a detailed account, of the various modifications which the urine undergoes in different diseases, would be of no practical use to the masses, since they could not avail themselves of the advantages which it would afford for correct diagnosis, except by the employment of a physician who does not ignore this aid in examining his patients, we shall omit all further details upon the subject. For the same reason we shall not often, in treating of the different diseases in which examinations of the urine furnish such valuable aid in forming a diagnosis, make mention of the changes which are likely to have occurred.
INFLAMMATION.
The term Inflammation signifies a state in which the infected part is hotter, redder, more congested, and more painful than is natural. Inflammation is limited to certain parts, while fever influences the system generally. Inflammation gives rise to new formations, morbid products, and lesions, or alterations of structure. The morbid products of fever, and its modification of fluids are carried away by the secretions and excretions.
The susceptibility of the body to inflammation maybe natural or acquired. It is natural when it is constitutional; that is, when there is an original tendency of the animal economy to manifest itself in some form of inflammation. We may notice that some children are far more subject to boils, croups, and erysipelatous diseases than others. This susceptibility, when innate, may be lessened by careful medication, although it may never be wholly eradicated. When acquired, it is the result of the influence of habits of life, climate, and the state of mind over the constitution
Phlegmonous inflammation is the active inflammation of the cellular membrane, one illustration of which is a common boil. The four principal symptoms are redness, swelling, heat, and pain; and then appears a conical, hard, circumscribed tumor, having its seat in the dermoid texture. At the end of an indefinite period, it becomes pointed, white or yellow, and discharges pus mixed with blood. When it breaks, a small, grayish, fibrous mass sometimes appears, which consists of dead, cellular tissue, and which is called the core.
There are certain morbid states of the constitution which lead to local inflammation, subsequent upon slight injury; or, in some cases, without any such provocation, as in gout, rheumatism, and scrofula. One of the first results of the inflammation, in such cases, is a weakening of the forces which distribute the blood to the surface and extremities of the body. It is generally admitted that in scrofulous persons the vascular system is weak, the vessels are small, and because nutrition is faulty, the blood is imperfectly organized. The result is failure in the system, for if nutrition fails, there may be lacking earthy matter for the bones, or the unctious secretions of the skin; the sebaceous secretion is albuminous and liable to become dry, producing inflammation of the parts which it ought to protect.
Disorder of the alimentary canal and other mucous surfaces are sometimes reflected upon the skin. We have occasionally observed cutaneous eruptions and erysipelas, when evidently they were distinct signs of internal disorder.
Inflammation may be internal as well as external, as inflammation of the brain, lungs, or stomach, and it is frequently the result of what is called a cold. No matter how the body is chilled, the blood retreats from the surface, which becomes pale and shrunken, there is also nervous uneasiness, and frequently a rigor, accompanied with chattering of the teeth. After the cold stage, reaction takes place and fever follows. The sudden change from a dry and heated room to a cool and moist atmosphere is liable to induce a cold. Riding in a carriage until the body is shivering, or sitting in a draft of air when one has been previously heated, or breathing a very cold air during the night when the body is warm, especially when not accustomed to doing so, or exposing the body to a low temperature when insufficiently clothed, are all different ways of producing inflammation.
Inflammation may result in consequence of local injury, caused by a bruise, or by a sharp, cutting instrument, as a knife or an axe, or it may be caused by the puncture of a pin, pen-knife blade or a fork-tine, or from a lacerated wound, as from the bite of a dog, or from a very minute wound poisoned by the bite of a venomous reptile. Local inflammations may arise from scalds, burns, the application of caustics, arsenic, corrosive sublimate, cantharides, powerful acids, abrasions of the surface by injuries, and from the occurrence of accidents.
The swelling of the part may be caused by an increase of the quantity of blood in the vessels, the effusion of serum and coagulating lymph, and the interruption of absorption by the injury, or by the altered condition of the inflamed part.
The character of the pain depends upon the tissue involved, and upon the altered or unnatural state of the nerves. Ordinarily, tendon, ligament, cartilage, and bone are not very sensitive, but when inflamed they are exquisitely so.
The heat of the inflamed part is not so great, when measured by the thermometer, as might be supposed from the patient's sensations.
TERMINATION OF INFLAMMATION. Inflammation ends in one of six different ways. Inflammation may terminate in resolution, i.e., spontaneous recovery; by suppuration, in the formation of matter; by effusion, as the inflammation caused by a blister-plaster terminates by effusion of water; by adhesion, the part inflamed forming an attachment to some other part; by induration, hardening of the organ; or by gangrene, that is, death of the part.
Thus, inflammation of the lungs may terminate by recovery, that is, by resolution, by suppuration and raising of "matter," by hardening and solidification of the lung, or by gangrene. Inflammation of the endocardium, the lining membrane of the heart, may cause a thickening of it, and ossification of the valves of the heart, thus impairing its function. Inflammation of the pericardium may terminate in effusion, or dropsy, and inflammation of the liver may result in hardening and adhesion to adjacent parts.
SEVERAL PRINCIPLES FOR TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION.
Remove the exciting causes as far as practicable. If caused by a splinter or any foreign substance, it should be withdrawn, and if the injury is merely local, apply cold water to the parts to subdue the inflammation. If caused by a rabid animal, the wound should be enlarged and cupped, and the parts cleansed or destroyed by caustic. The patient should remain quiet and not be disturbed. The use of tincture of aconite internally, will be found excellent to prevent the rise of inflammation. A purgative is also advised, and four or five of Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Purgative Pellets will be sufficient to act upon the bowels. If there is pain, an anodyne and diaphoretic is proper. Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract of Smart-weed will fulfill this indication. In local inflammation cold water is a good remedy, yet sometimes hot water, or cloths wrung out of it, will be found to be the appropriate application. When the inflammation is located in an organ within a cavity, as the lungs, hot fomentations will be of great service. Bathing the surface with alkaline water must not be omitted. Whenever the inflammation is serious the family physician should be early summoned.
FEVER.
In fever all the functions are more or less deranged. In every considerable inflammation there is sympathetic fever, but in essential fevers there are generally fewer lesions of structure than in inflammation. Fever occasions great waste of the tissues of the body, and the refuse matter is carried away by the organs of secretion and excretion. The heat of the body in fever is generally diffused, the pulse is quicker, there is dullness, lassitude, chilliness, and disinclination to take food. We propose to give only a general outline of fevers, enough to indicate the principles which should be observed in domestic treatment.
Most fevers are distinctly marked by four stages: 1st, the forming stage; 2d, the cold stage; 3d, the hot stage; 4th, the sweating or declining stage. During the first stage the individual is hardly conscious of being ill, for the attack is so slight that it is hardly perceptible. True, as it progresses, there is a feeling of languor, an indisposition to make any bodily or mental effort, and also a sense of soreness of the muscles, aching of the bones, chilliness, and a disposition to get near the fire. There is restlessness, disturbed sleep, bad dreams, lowness of spirits, all of which are characteristic of the formative stage of fever.
The next is the cold stage, when there is a decided manifestation of the disease, and the patient acknowledges that he is really sick. In typhus and typhoid fever the chills are slight; in other fevers they are more marked; while in ague they are often accompanied by uncontrollable shaking. When the chill is not so distinct the nails look blue and the skin appears shriveled, the eye is sunken and a dark circle circumscribes it, the lips are blue, and there is pain in the back. The pulse is frequent, small, and depressed, the capillary circulation feeble, the respiration increased, and there may be nausea and vomiting. These symptoms vary in duration from a few minutes to more than an hour. They gradually abate, reaction takes place, and the patient begins to throw off the bed-clothes.
Then follows the hot stage, for with the return of the circulation of the blood to the surface of the body, there is greater warmth, freer breathing, and a more comfortable and quiet condition of the system. The veins fill with blood, the countenance brightens, the cheeks are flushed, the intellect is more sprightly, and if the pulse is frequent, it is a good sign; if it sinks, it indicates feeble, vital force, and is not a good symptom. If there is considerable determination of blood to the head it becomes hot, the arteries of the neck pulsate strongly, and delirium may be expected. During the hot stage, if the fever runs high, the patient becomes restless, frequently changes his position, is wakeful, uneasy, and complains of pain in his limbs. In low grades, the sensibility is blunted, smell, taste, and hearing are impaired.
The patient in the hot stage is generally thirsty, and if he is allowed to drink much, it may result in nausea and vomiting. Moderate indulgence in water, however, is permissible. There is aversion to food, and if any is eaten, it remains undigested. The teeth are sometimes covered with dark sordes (foul accumulations) early in the fever, and the appearance of the tongue varies, sometimes being coated a yellowish brown, sometimes red and dry, at other times thickly coated and white. The condition of the bowels varies from constipation to diarrhea, although sometimes they are quite regular. The urine is generally diminished in quantity, but shows higher color.
The sweating stage in some fevers is very marked, while in others there is very little moisture, but an evident decline of the hot stage, the skin becoming more natural and soft. The pulse is more compressible and less frequent, the kidneys act freely, respiration is natural, the pains subside, although there remains languor, lassitude, and weariness, a preternatural sensibility to cold, an easily excited pulse, and a pale and sickly aspect of the countenance. The appetite has failed and the powers of digestion are still impaired.
DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT OF FEVERS. It is proper to make a thorough study of the early, insidious symptoms of fever, in order to understand what ought to be done. If it arises in consequence of malaria, the treatment must be suited to the case. If from irritation of the bowels and improper articles of diet, then a mild cathartic is required. If there is much inflammation, a severe chill, and strong reaction, then the treatment should be active. If the fever is of the congestive variety and the constitution is feeble, the reaction imperfect, a small, weak pulse, a tendency to fainting, a pale countenance, and great pain in the head, apply heat and administer diaphoretics, and procure the services of a good physician.
As a general rule, it is proper to administer a cathartic, unless in typhoid fever, and for this Dr. Pierce's Purgative Pellets answer the purpose, given in doses of from four to six, according to the state of the bowels. If these are not at hand, a tea of sage and senna may be drunk until it produces a purgative effect, or a dose of Rochelle salts taken. In nearly all fevers we have found that a weak, alkaline tea, made from the white ashes of hickory or maple wood, is useful, taken weak, three or four times daily, or if there be considerable thirst, more frequently. Some patients desire lemon juice, which enters the system as an alkali and answers all purposes.
Diaphoretic medicines are also indicated, and the use of Dr. Pierce's Extract of Smart-weed will prove very serviceable. Drinking freely of pleurisy-root tea, or of a strong decoction of boneset is frequently useful. After free sweating has been established, then it is proper to follow by the use of diuretic teas, such as that of spearmint and pumpkin seed combined, or sweet spirits of nitre, in doses of twenty to thirty drops, added to a teaspoonful of the Extract of Smart-weed, diluted with sweetened water.
To lessen the frequency of the pulse, fluid extract or tincture of aconite or veratrum may be given in water, every hour. During the intermission of symptoms, tonic medicines and a sustaining course of treatment should be employed. If the tongue is loaded and the evacuations from the bowels are fetid, a solution of sulphite of soda is proper; or, take equal parts of brewer's yeast and water, mix, and when the yeast settles, give a tablespoonful of the water every hour, as an antiseptic. Administering a warm, alkaline hand-bath to a fever patient every day, is an excellent febrifuge remedy, being careful not to chill or induce fatigue. If there is pain in the head, apply mustard to the feet; if it is in the side, apply hot fomentations.
The symptoms which indicate danger are a tumid and hard abdomen, difficult breathing, offensive and profuse diarrhea, bloody urine, delirium, or insensibility. Favorable symptoms are a natural and soft state of the skin, eruptions on the surface, a natural expression of the countenance, moist tongue, free action of the kidneys, and regular sleep. If the domestic treatment which we have advised does not break the force of the disease and mitigate the urgency of the symptoms, it will be safer to employ a good physician, who will prescribe such a coarse of treatment as the case specially requires. It is our aim to indicate what may be done before the physician is called, for frequently his services cannot be obtained when they are most needed. Besides, if these attacks are early and properly treated with domestic remedies, it will often obviate the necessity of calling upon a physician. If, on the other hand, fevers are neglected and no treatment instituted, they become more serious in character and are more difficult to cure.
To recapitulate, our treatment recommends evacuation through nature's outlets, the skin, kidneys, and bowels, maintaining warmth, neutralizing acidity, using antiseptics, tonics, and the hand-bath, and the fluid extract or tincture of aconite, or veratrum to moderate the pulse by controlling the accelerated and unequal circulation of the blood. It is a simple treatment, but if judiciously followed, it will often abort a fever, or materially modify its intensity and shorten its course.
FEVER AND AGUE. (INTERMITTENT FEVER.)
The description of fever already given applies well to this form of it, only the symptoms in the former stage are rather more distinct than in the other varieties. Weariness, lassitude, yawning, and stretching, a bitter taste in the mouth, nausea, less of appetite, the uneasy state of the stomach and bowels are more marked in the premonitory stages of intermittent fevers. The cold stage commences with a chilliness of the extremities and back, the skin looks pale and shriveled, the blood recedes from the surface, respiration is hurried, the urine is limpid and pale, sometimes there is nausea and vomiting, and towards the conclusion of the stage, the chilly sensations are varied with flushes of heat. The hot stage is distinguished by the heat and dryness of the surface of the body and the redness of the face; there is great thirst, strong, full, and hard pulse, free and hurried respiration and increased pain in the head and back. The sweating stage commences by perspiration appearing upon the forehead, which slowly extends over the whole body, and soon there is an evident intermission of all the symptoms. In the inflammatory variety of intermittent fever, all these symptoms are acute, short, and characterized by strong reaction. Gastric fever, the most frequent variety of intermittent fever, is marked by irritation of the stomach and bowels, and a yellow appearance of the white of the eye.
CAUSES. The cause of the malarial fevers, intermittent, remittent, and congestive, is supposed to be miasm, a poisonous, gaseous exhalation from decaying vegetation, which is generally most abundant in swamps and marshes, and which is absorbed into the system through the lungs.
TREATMENT. During the entire paroxysm the patient should be kept in bed, and in the cold stage, covered with blankets and surrounded with bottles of hot water. The Compound Extract of Smart-weed should be administered in some diaphoretic herb-tea. During the hot stage, the extra clothing and the bottles of hot water should be gradually removed and cold drinks taken instead of warm. During the sweating stage the patient should be left alone, but as soon as the perspiration ceases, from two to four of the Purgative Pellets should be administered, as a gentle cathartic. A second paroxysm should, if possible, be prevented. To accomplish this, during the intermission of symptoms, the Golden Medical Discovery should be taken in doses of from two to three teaspoonfuls every four hours in alternation with three-grain doses of the sulphate of quinine. If the attack is very severe, and is not relieved by this treatment, a physician should be summoned to attend the case.
REMITTENT FEVER. (BILIOUS FEVER.)
The distinction between intermittent and remittent fever does not consist in a difference of origin. In the former disease there is a complete intermission of the symptoms, while in the latter there is only a remission.
TREATMENT. The treatment should consist in the employment of those remedial agents advised in intermittent fever, the Golden Medical Discovery and quinine being taken during the remission of symptoms. During the height of the fever, tincture of aconite maybe given and an alkaline sponge-bath administered with advantage. As in intermittent fever, should the course of treatment here advised not promptly arrest the disease, the family physician should be summoned.
CONGESTIVE FEVER. (PERNICIOUS FEVER.)
This is the most severe and dangerous form of malarial fever. It may be either intermittent or remittent in character. In some instances the first paroxysm is so violent as to destroy life in a few hours, while in others it comes on insidiously, the first one or two paroxysms being comparatively mild. It is frequently characterized by stupor, delirium, a marble-like coldness of the surface, vomiting and purging, jaundice, or hemorrhage from the nose and bowels. In America this fever is only met with in the Mississippi valley, and in other localities where the air contains a large quantity of malarial poison.
TREATMENT. This fever is so dangerous that a physician should be summoned as soon as the disease is recognized. For the benefit of those who are unable to obtain medical attendance, we will say that the treatment should be much the same as in intermittent fever, but more energetic. Quinine should be taken in doses of from five to fifteen grains every two or three hours. If it be not retained by the stomach, the following mixture may be administered by injection: sulphate of quinine, one-half drachm; sulphuric acid, five drops; water, one ounce; dissolve, and then add two ounces of starch water.
CONTINUED FEVERS.
The symptoms of these fevers do not intermit and remit, but continue without any marked variation for a certain period. They are usually characterized by great prostration of the system, and are called putrid when they manifest septic changes in the fluids, and malignant when they speedily run to a fatal termination. Typhoid and typhus fevers belong to this class. We shall not advise treatment for these more grave disorders which should always, for the safety of the patient, be attended by the family physician, except to recommend some simple means which may be employed in the initial stage of the disease, or when a physician's services cannot be promptly secured.
TYPHOID FEVER. (ENTERIC FEVER.)
In typhoid fever there is ulceration of the intestines and mesenteric glands. This diseased condition of the bowels distinguishes this fever from all others, and is readily detected by sensitiveness to pressure, especially over the lower part of the abdomen on the right side. The early disposition to diarrhea is another characteristic symptom of it, and there is also no intermission of symptoms as in intermittent fever. The disease comes on insidiously, with loss of appetite, headache, chilliness, and languor. It is usually a week or more before the disease becomes fully developed.
CAUSE. Typhoid fever is a specific form of fever developed from the action of a specific germ upon a susceptible system. The poison of typhoid fever is eliminated mainly through the bowels. The germs of typhoid can maintain life for months in water, and thus it happens that ponds, lakes, rivers and streams which receive sewage can spread the germs of typhoid fever. Well water often swarms with these poisonous germs. In some cases it has been found that privies, though twenty or forty feet away from a well, have yet drained into it—through a clay soil covered with gravel—and carried the germs to those drinking the water from the well. Next to water, milk is the most prominent carrier of contagion. Milk is apt to get infected with the germs if cooled in tanks of water which may receive drainage from outhouses and barns.
TREATMENT. Scientific support has been given the treatment by cold tub baths (70 deg. Fahrenheit) and it is advised by many physicians. Experience has proved that sponge baths and tub baths are of the utmost importance, when the temperature of the patient is at or above 102.5 deg. Fahrenheit. Every three hours the tub bath is given for twenty minutes at 70 deg. Fahrenheit. These may be tepid at first, gradually cooling to 70 deg.. Frictions are applied to patient in the bath, and he is wrapped in blankets when taken out to avoid danger of chill, and then given a warm drink or stimulant. Treatment should be directed by an experienced physician to suit the symptoms. The evacuations from the bowels should be thoroughly disinfected with chloride of lime or carbolic acid, that they may not convey the disease to others. All the sewerage and drain pipes in the house should likewise be disinfected.
SCARLET FEVER. (SCARLATINA.)
This fever takes its name from the scarlet color of the eruption on the surface of the body. Sometimes it is comparatively mild, and is then called Scarlatina Simplex; when it is accompanied by a sore throat, it is termed Scarlatina Anginosa; and when the disease is of a low, putrid type, it is called Scarlatina Maligna. This disease has three distinct stages: (1), the stage of invasion; (2), the stage of eruption; and (3), the stage of desquamation. In the first stage there is pain in the head, increased heat of the skin, redness and soreness of the throat, and sometimes nosebleed, diarrhea, or vomiting. The average duration of this stage is twenty-four hours. The eruptive stage generally begins on the second day, though sometimes it is delayed longer, and the scarlet rash rapidly diffuses itself over the whole body. The redness is vivid and has been compared to the appearance of a boiled lobster. The stage of eruption reaches its maximum of intensity on the third day, and it is important that it does not recede. Redness of the tonsils and throat is one of the early symptoms which precedes any cutaneous eruption. The tongue also is finely spotted with numerous red points which mark its papillae, presenting an appearance which has been compared to that of a strawberry.
The thirst is urgent, there is no appetite, and vomiting and mild delirium are common. This stage continues from four to six days, and sometimes longer. Desquamation (scaling off of the skin) commences at the decline of the eruption, in the form of minute, branny scales. The duration of this stage is indefinite, and may end in five or six or may continue ten or twelve days.
If the inflammation in the throat is very severe, it may terminate in an abscess, which may also occur in the glands of the neck, and sometimes the inflammation extends to the lips, cheeks, and eyelids. Gangrene within the throat occurs in rare instances. The disease is easily communicated, and usually develops in two to five days after exposure. It occurs most frequently in the third and fourth years of life. There is no other disease so simple, and yet so often liable to prove fatal, as scarlet fever; and for this reason we shall advise the attendance of the family physician.
Domestic treatment may be given as follows, until a physician can be obtained: Catnip, pennyroyal, or pleurisy-root tea, containing one teaspoonful of the Extract of Smart-weed, may be given, to drive the rash to the surface. Cold drinks are suitable to allay the thirst, nausea, and fever. The sick-room should be kept at a temperature of about 65 deg. Fahr., and fresh air admitted freely. The patient ought not to be overloaded with bed-clothes; and the skin should be sponged over twice daily with tepid water, different parts being exposed successively, and carefully dried with soft cloths. Soda may be added to the water, but no soap should be used. The diet should consist of milk, extract of beef, and soups. Injections may be employed to relieve constipation, but purgatives should be avoided. We repeat that this disease is one which requires the attendance of the family physician, and great care should be exercised during recovery, that no bad results may follow.
SMALL-POX. (VARIOLA.)
Small-pox is produced by a specific poison, which is reproduced and multiplied during the progress of the disease. It is contained in the pustules, and in the excretions and exhalations of affected individuals. It is established after a period of incubation varying from nine to thirteen days after infection.
There are two varieties of this disease, known as confluent and distinct variola; in the former, the vesicles run together, in the latter, they are separate.
This fever has three stages. The first is that of invasion, distinctly marked by a chill or a series of chills, which alternate with flushes of heat. In this stage the tongue becomes coated, there is also nausea and vomiting, pain in the limbs, back, and particularly in the loins, the latter symptom being of diagnostic importance. This stage continues about two days, and if the symptoms are light, it may be expected that the disease will be comparatively mild, and of the distinct variety.
The stage of eruption. The eruption begins to appear on the skin, generally on the third day following the attack, though in the throat and mouth may be discovered round, whitish, or ashy spots, several hours previous to the appearance of vesicles on the surface of the body. These are first seen on the face and neck, then on the trunk and upper extremities, and, lastly, on the lower extremities. The eruption at first appears in the form of small, red or purple spots, which change the texture of the skin by becoming more hard, pointed, and elevated. On the fifth day of the eruption they attain their full size, being softened and depressed in the center, and hence are called umbilicated. Now a change takes place, and the vesicles fill with "matter" and become pointed, and there is a rise in the fever.
The stage of suppuration commences thus: the pulse quickens, the skin becomes hotter, and in many cases of the confluent variety, swelling of the face, eyelids, and extremities occurs. Frequently there is passive delirium in this stage, and if diarrhea sets in, it is an unfavorable sign. The duration of this stage of the eruption is four or five days.
The stage of desication, or of the drying of the pustules, commences between the twelfth and fourteenth day of the disease. In the confluent variety, patches of scab cover all the space occupied by the eruption, and the skin exhales a sickening odor.
THE TREATMENT should have reference to the determination of the eruption to the surface. If there is thirst, allow cold drinks, ice-water, or lemonade. Bathing the surface with cold water, breathing plenty of fresh air, using disinfectants in the room, and taking antiseptic medicine internally, are proper. Add one part of carbolic acid to six parts of glycerine, mix from two to three drops of this with an ounce of water, and of this preparation administer teaspoonful doses frequently. A few drops of carbolic acid and glycerine may be rubbed up with vaseline, and the surface anointed with it to prevent pitting. The malady is so grave that it should be intrusted to the care of the family physician.
VARIOLOID. (MODIFIED SMALL-POX.)
Varioloid is a modified form of small-pox. There is less constitutional disturbance, and very little or no pitting of the skin. Varioloid generally occurs in persons who have not been fully protected by vaccination. A person suffering from this modification of the disease may, by contagion, communicate to another genuine small-pox. The treatment is the same as that recommended in variola.
VACCINIA. (COW-POX.)
The important discovery of vaccination is due to Dr. Jenner, who ascertained that when the cow was affected by this disease and it was then communicated to man, the affection was rendered very mild and devoid of danger, and at the same time it proved a very complete protection against small-pox. Like most other valuable discoveries introduced to the world, it encountered bitter prejudice and the most unfair opposition. Now its inestimable value is generally known and admitted.
In a few cases, in which the quality of the vaccine virus was deteriorated, its effect is only to slightly-modify small-pox, and then the disease resembles that caused by inoculation. The operation of infecting the blood with the kine virus is called vaccination. All that we know is that when the cow becomes affected with this disease, and it is then transferred to man, it loses its severity and serves as a protection against small-pox. In a great majority of cases this protection is absolute, and only in a very few does it leave the subject susceptible to small-pox, materially modified. The protection it affords against small-pox is found to diminish after the lapse of an indefinite number of years, and hence it is important to be re-vaccinated once or twice, for instance, after an interval of five years. Between the second and third months of infancy is the best period for vaccination, and the place usually selected is the middle of the arm above the elbow-joint.
CHICKEN-POX. (VARICELLA.)
Chicken-pox is an eruptive disease, which affects children, and occasionally adults. It is attended with only slight constitutional disturbance, and is, therefore, neither a distressing nor dangerous affection. The eruption first appears on the body, afterwards on the neck, the scalp, and lastly on the face. It appears on the second or third day after the attack, and is succeeded by vesicles containing a transparent fluid. These begin to dry on the fifth, sixth, or seventh day. This disease may be distinguished from variola and varioloid by the shortness of the period of invasion, the mildness of the symptoms, and the absence of the deep, funnel-shaped depression of the vesicles, so noticeable in variola.
TREATMENT. Ordinarily very little treatment is required. It is best to use daily an alkaline bath, and, as a drink, the tea of pleurisy-root, catnip, or other diaphoretics, to which may be added from one-half to one teaspoonful of the Extract of Smart-weed. If the fever runs high, a few drops of aconite in water will control it.
MEASLES. (RUBEOLA.)
This is generally a disease of less severity and importance than the other eruptive fevers, but it is sometimes followed by serious complications. The stage of invasion is marked by the symptoms of a common cold, sneezing, watery eyes, a discharge from the nostrils, a dry cough, chilliness, and headache. This stage may last four days. Then follows an eruption of red dots or specks, which momentarily disappear on pressure. On the fourth day of the eruption the redness of the skin fades, the fever diminishes, and the vesicles dry into scales or little flakes. The eyes may be inflamed and the bowels may be quite lax at this stage.
TREATMENT. The great object in the treatment is to bring out the eruption. To effect this, sweating teas are beneficial. The free use of the Extract of Smart-weed is recommended, and the skin should be bathed every day with tepid water. Sometimes when warm drinks fail to bring out the eruption, drinking freely of cold water and keeping warmly covered in bed, will accomplish the desired result.
FALSE MEASLES (Rose Rash) is an affection of very little importance and may be treated similarly to a case of ordinary measles.
ERYSIPELAS.
There are few adult persons in this country who have not, by observation or experience, become somewhat familiar with this disease. Its manifestations are both constitutional and local, and their intensity varies exceedingly in different cases. The constitutional symptoms are usually the first to appear, and are of a febrile character. A distinct chill, attended by nausea and general derangement of the stomach is experienced, followed by febrile symptoms more or less severe. There are wandering pains in the body and sometimes a passive delirium exists. Simultaneously with these symptoms the local manifestations of the disease appear. A red spot develops on the face, the ear, or other part of the person. Its boundary is clearly marked and the affected portion slightly raised above the surrounding surface. It is characterized by a burning pain and is very sensitive to the touch. It is not necessary for the benefit of the popular reader that we should draw a distinction between the different varieties of this malady. The distinctions made are founded chiefly upon the depth to which the morbid condition attends, and not on any difference in the nature of the affection.
Suppuration of the tissues involved is common in the severer forms. Should the tongue become dark and diarrhea set in, attended with great prostration, the case is very serious, and energetic means must be employed to save life. A retrocession of the inflammation from the surface to a vital organ is an extremely dangerous symptom. The disease is not regarded as contagious, but has been known to become epidemic.
TREATMENT. The treatment during the initial stage of this disease should correspond with the general principles laid down for the treatment of fever. The spirit vapor-bath, with warm, diaphoretic teas, or the Compound Extract of Smart-Weed may be given to favor sweating. The whole person should be frequently bathed in warm water rendered alkaline by the addition of saleratus or soda. The bowels should be moved by a full dose of the Purgative Pellets. Fluid extract of aconite in small and frequent doses will best control the fever. The specific treatment, which should not be omitted, consists in administering doses of ten drops of the tincture of the muriate of iron in alternation with teaspoonful doses of the Golden Medical Discovery, every three hours. As a local application, the inflamed surface may be covered with cloths wet in the mucilage of slippery elm. Equal parts of sweet oil and spirits of turpentine, mixed and painted over the surface, is an application of unsurpassed efficacy.
DIPHTHERIA.
This is an exceedingly grave, constitutional disease characterized by a rapid breaking down of the powers of life, together with a peculiar affection of the throat, in which a disposition to the formation of false membranes is a prominent feature. The formation of these membranes, however, is not limited to the throat, but may occur on mucous surfaces elsewhere.
CAUSE. Infection with the specific germ of the disease by contagion or inoculation. It can be carried in milk or water, and the germs can attach themselves to furniture, walls, clothing, etc. A person with chronic diphtheretic sore throat can infect children or susceptible persons with the disease in its most acute type by kissing. All persons with sore throat should avoid kissing—as this disease is commonly spread in this way.
SYMPTOMS. The symptoms vary in different cases. In some the disease comes on gradually, while in others it is malignant from the first. The throat feels sore, the neck is stiff and a sense of languor, lassitude, and exhaustion pervades the system. Sometimes a chill is experienced at the outset. Febrile disturbance, generally of a low, typhoid character, soon manifests itself. The skin is hot; there is intense thirst; the pulse is quick and feeble, ranging from 120 to 150 per minute. The tongue is generally loaded with a dirty coat, or it may be bright red. The odor of the breath is characteristic, and peculiarly offensive, and there is difficulty in swallowing and sometimes in breathing. Vomiting is sometimes persistent. If we examine the throat, we find more or less swelling of the tonsils and surrounding parts, which are generally bright red, and shining, and covered with a profuse, glairy, tenacious secretion. Sometimes the parts are of a dusky, livid hue, and, in rare instances, pallid. The false membrane, a peculiar tough exudation, soon appears and may be seen in patches, large or small, or covering the entire surface from the gums back as far as can be seen, its color varying from a whitish yellow to a gray or dark ashen tint. When it is thrown off, it sometimes leaves a foul, ulcerating surface beneath. The prostration soon becomes extreme, and small, livid spots may appear on the surface of the body. There may be delirium, which is, in fatal cases, succeeded by stupor, or coma. The extremities become cold; diarrhea, and in some cases convulsions, indicate the approach of death. Sometimes the patient dies before the false membrane forms.
TREATMENT. The extremely dangerous character of this disease demands that the services of a skillful physician be obtained at once; and that his efforts should be aided by the most thorough hygienic precautions, good fresh air, bathing, and a supporting diet. Prior to the arrival of the physician, lose no time in using plenty of good brandy or whiskey to offset the extremely weakening effect of the disease. The employment of alcoholic stimulation in this disease is almost always used by physicians. Control the vomiting and allay the thirst by allowing the patient to suck small pieces of ice every five or ten minutes. Hot fomentations or spirits of turpentine should be applied to the throat. If the physician does not take charge of the patient by this time, the use of permanganate of potash, triturated, in strength of one grain to the ounce, in a mixture of fine sugar of milk and gum acacia, and blown over the parts with an insufflater every few hours, brings the best results if thoroughly carried out; or the throat can be swabbed out with the following mixture: chlorate of potash, four drachms; tincture of muriate of iron, three drachms, syrup of orange, two ounces; water sufficient to make four ounces; administered every two or three hours. Inhaling steam or lime-water from a steam atomizer is especially good. The use of blisters, caustics, active purges, mercurials, or bleeding, should be condemned. Throughout the whole course of the disease the strength must be supported by the most nourishing diet, as well as by tonics and stimulants. Beef tea, milk, milk punch, and brandy should be freely administered. A competent physician should be called in as early as possible. The general results of the treatment with antitoxin, if given on the first, second or third day of the disease, are usually favorable. There are rarely any immediately bad results from the injections, and the published testimony of careful observers would tend to prove that recovery has followed its use in a larger percentage of cases than under former methods of treatment.
QUINSY. (TONSILLITIS.)
This is an acute inflammation of the tonsils, which generally extends to, and involves adjacent strictures, and is attended with general febrile disturbance. Its duration varies from four to twenty days. It sometimes terminates by a gradual return to health (resolution); or by the formation of "matter" within the gland (suppuration.) When this latter is the case, the swelling sometimes becomes so great before it breaks as to require lancing.
CAUSES. It most frequently results from a cold. In some persons there is a predisposition to it, and the individual is liable to recurring attacks. Persons of a scrofulous diathesis are more liable to it than others.
SYMPTOMS. Difficulty of swallowing, soreness, and stiffness of the throat, are the first monitions of its approach. There is fever, quick, full pulse, and dryness of the skin; the tongue is furred, and the breath offensive. The tonsils are intensely red, swollen, and painful, the pain often extending to the ear. Sometimes but one tonsil is affected, though generally both are involved. In severe cases the patient cannot lie down, in consequence of the difficulty of breathing.
TREATMENT. In the early stage of the disease, the spirit vapor-bath is invaluable. The sweating which it produces should be kept up by the use of the Compound Extract of Smart-weed in some diaphoretic infusion. Hot wet-packs to the throat, covered with dry cloths, are useful. The inhalation of the hot vapor of water or vinegar, or peppermint and water, is beneficial. A carthartic should be given at night. When the disease does not show a disposition to yield to this treatment, the services of a physician should be obtained. When pus, or "matter," is formed in the tonsil, which may be known by the increased swelling and the appearance of a yellowish spot, the services of a physician will be required to lance it.
ENLARGED TONSILS.
Chronic enlargement of the tonsils, as shown in Fig. 147, A A, is an exceedingly common affection. It is most common to those of a scrofulous habit. It rarely makes its appearance after the thirtieth year, unless it has existed in earlier life, and has been imperfectly cured. Both tonsils are generally, though unequally enlarged. A person affected with this disease is extremely liable to sore throat, and contracts it on the slightest exposure; the contraction of a cold, suppression of perspiration, or derangement of the digestive apparatus being sufficient to provoke inflammation.
CAUSES. Repeated attacks of quinsy, scarlet fever, diphtheria, or scrofula, and general impairment of the system, predispose the individual to this disease.
SYMPTOMS. The voice is often husky, nasal or guttural, and disagreeable. When the patient sleeps, a low moaning is heard, accompanied with snoring and stentorian breathing, and the head is thrown back so as to bring the mouth on a line with the windpipe, and thus facilitate the ingress of air into the lungs. When the affection becomes serious, it interferes with breathing and swallowing. The chest is liable to become flattened in front and arched behind, in consequence of the difficulty of respiration, thus predisposing the patient to pulmonary disease. On looking into the throat, the enlarged tonsils may be seen, as in the figure. Sometimes they are so greatly increased in size that they touch each other.
TREATMENT. The indications to be carried out in the cure of this malady are:
(1.) To remedy the constitutional derangement.
(2.) To remove the enlargement of the tonsil glands.
The successful fulfillment of the first indication may be readily accomplished by attention to hygiene, diet, clothing, and the use of the Golden Medical Discovery, together with small daily doses of the Pleasant Purgative Pellets. This treatment should be persevered in for a considerable length of time after the enlargement has disappeared, to prevent a return.
To fulfill the second indication, astringent gargles may be used. Infusions of witch-hazel or cranesbill should be used during the day. The following mixture is unsurpassed: iodine, one drachm; iodide of potash, four drachms; pure, soft water, two ounces. Apply this preparation to the enlarged tonsils twice a day, with a probang, or soft swab, being careful to paint them each time. A persevering use of these remedies, both internal and local, is necessary to reduce and restore the parts to a healthy condition.
Sometimes the enlarged tonsils undergo calcareous degeneration; in this case, nothing but their removal by a surgical operation is effectual. This can be readily accomplished by any competent surgeon. We have operated in a large number of cases, and have never met with any unfavorable results.
ELONGATION OF THE UVULA.
Chronic enlargement or elongation of the uvula, or palate, as shown at B, Fig. 147, may arise from the same causes as enlargement of the tonsils. It subjects the individual to a great deal of annoyance by dropping into and irritating the throat. It causes tickling and frequent desire to clear the throat, change, weakness, or entire loss of voice, and difficulty of breathing, frequently giving rise to the most persistent and aggravating cough.
TREATMENT. The treatment already laid down for enlarged tonsils, with which affection, elongation of the uvula is so often associated, is generally effectual. When it has existed for a long time and does not yield to this treatment, it may be removed by any competent surgeon.
ANAEMIA.
When the blood contains less than the ordinary number of red corpuscles, the condition is known as anaemia, and is characterized by every sign of debility. A copious hemorrhage, in consequence of a cut, or other serious injury, will lessen the quantity of blood and may produce anaemia. After sudden blood-letting, the volume of the circulation is quickly restored by absorption of fluid, but the red corpuscles cannot be so readily replaced, so that the blood is poorer by being more watery. This is only one way in which the blood is impoverished.
The blood may be exhausted by a drain upon the system, in consequence of hard and prolonged study. Severe mental employment consumes the red corpuscles, leaving the blood thin, the skin cool and pale, and the extremities moist and cold.
Anaemia may arise from lack of exercise, or it may be occasioned by mental depression, anxiety, disappointment, trouble, acute excitement of the emotions or passions, spinal irritation; in fact, there are many special relations existing between the red corpuscles of the blood and the various states of the mind and the nervous system. The latter depends directly upon the health and quantity of these red corpuscles for its ability to execute its functions.
Anaemia may arise in consequence of low diet, or because the alimentary organs do not properly digest the food, or when there is not sufficient variety in the diet. No matter how anaemia is occasioned, whether by labor and expenditure, by hemorrhages, lead poisoning, prolonged exposure to miasmatic influences, deprivation of food, indigestion, imperfect assimilation, frequent child-bearing, or lactation, the number of the red corpuscles in the blood is materially diminished.
The diagnostic symptoms of anaemia are pallor of the face, lips, tongue, and general surface, weakness of the vital organs, hurried respiration on slight exercise, swelling or puffiness of the eyes, and a murmur of the heart, resembling the sound of a bellows.
This disorder of the blood tends to develop low inflammation, dropsical effusion, tubercular deposits, Bright's disease, derangements of the liver, diarrhea, leucorrhea, and is a precursor of low, protracted fevers. This condition of the blood predisposes to the development of other affections, providing they are in existence, and often it is found associated with Bright's disease, cancer, and lung difficulties.
TREATMENT. (1.) Prevent all unnecessary waste and vital expenditure.
(2.) Place the patient under favorable circumstances for recovery, by regulating the exercise and clothing entertaining the mind, and furnishing plenty of pure air.
(3.) Prescribe such a nutritious diet as will agree with the enfeebled condition of the patient.
(4.) Regular habits should be established in regard to meals, exercise, recreation, rest, and sleep.
(5.) The use of tonics and stimulants, as much as the stomach will bear, should be encouraged. Bathe the surface with a solution of a drachm of quinine in a pint of whiskey.
(6.) Iron, in some form, is the special internal remedy in anaemia. Meantime, it is proper to treat the patient with gentle, manual friction, rubbing the surface of the body lightly and briskly with the warm, dry hand, which greatly stimulates the circulation of the blood. Anaemia occurs more frequently in the female than in the male, because her functions and duties are more likely to give rise to it.
APNOEA.
Apnoea, or short, hurried, difficult respiration, is occasioned by certain conditions of the blood. When anything interferes with the absorption of oxygen, or the elimination of carbonic acid, the blood is not changed from venous to arterial, and becomes incapable of sustaining life. This morbid condition is termed asphyxia. We often read of persons going into wells where there are noxious gases, or remaining in a close room where there are live coals generating carbonic acid gas and thus becoming asphyxiated, dying for want of oxygen.
Deficiency of oxygen is the cause of apnoea, and sometimes the red corpuscles themselves are so few, worn out, or destroyed, that they cannot carry sufficient oxygen, and the consequence is that the patient becomes short of breath, and when a fatal degeneration of the corpuscles ensues, he dies of asphyxia. Many a child grows thin and wan and continues to waste away, the parents little dreaming that the slow consumption of the red corpuscles of the blood is the cause which is undermining the health. Sometimes this disease is the result of starvation, irregular feeding, improper diet, want of care, and, at other times, want of fresh air, proper exercise, and sunlight.
TREATMENT. The first essential to success in the treatment of this disease, is the removal of the exciting cause. Exercise in the outdoor air and sunlight, with good, nutritious food, and well-ventilated sleeping apartments, are of the greatest importance. The bitter tonics, as hydrastin, with pyrophosphate of iron, should be employed to enrich the blood and build up the strength.
LEUCOCYTHAEMIA.
This term is used to designate a condition in which there is an excess of colorless blood-corpuscles. In health, the colorless corpuscles should exist only in the proportion of one, to one or two hundred of the red corpuscles. These colorless corpuscles increase when there is disease of the lymphatic glands, but whether this is the cause of their increase or perversion is not known.
They have been found abundant in the blood in diseases of the spleen and of the liver. Diarrhea usually attends this complaint, together with difficult breathing, loss of strength, gradual decline, fever, diminution of vital forces, and finally death. The recovery of a well-marked case of this disease is very doubtful. Its average duration is about one year.
DROPSIES.
Transudation is the passage of fluid through the tissue of any part of the body without changing its liquid state, while exudation means, medically, the passage of matter which coagulates and gives rise to solid deposits. When transudations are unhealthy, they may accumulate in serous cavities or in cellular structures, and constitute dropsy. Exudation is the result of inflammation, and the product effused coagulates and becomes the seat of a new growth of tissue. Exosmosis means the passage of fluid from within outward, and is a process constantly taking place in health; while transudation takes place because the blood is watery and the tissues are feeble and permeable, permitting the serum and watery elements of the blood to pass into certain cavities, where they accumulate.
The cause of dropsies may be low diet, insufficient exercise, indigestion, hemorrhages, wasting diseases, in fact, any thing which impoverishes the blood and increases the relative amount of serum. The tardy circulation of blood in the veins, or its obstruction in any way, is a condition highly favorable to the development of dropsy.
General dropsy is called anasarca, and is readily distinguished by bloating or puffiness of the skin all over the body. This condition is also called oedema. The skin is pale, yields under the finger without pain, and preserves the impression for some time. The oedema usually appears first in the lower extremities, next in the face, and from thence extends over the body.
General dropsy is commonly due to an impoverished condition of the blood, and this may be the result of albuminuria, a disease of the kidneys. Albuminuria is frequently the sequel of scarlatina. Hence, the utmost care should be taken against exposure of a patient recovering from scarlatina, and the same caution should be exercised during convalescence from measles, erysipelas, and rheumatism. Dropsies may be general, as in anasarca, or local, as dropsy of the heart, called cardiac dropsy: dropsy of the peritoneum, the serous membrane which lines the abdominal cavity, called ascites; dropsy of the chest, called hydrothorax; dropsy of the head, called hydrocephalus; dropsy of the scrotum, called hydrocele.
Dropsy is not, therefore, of itself a disease, but only the symptom of a morbid condition of the blood, kidneys, liver, or heart. Thus disease of the valves of the heart, may obstruct the free flow of blood and thus retard its circulution. In consequence the pulse grows small and weak, and the patient cannot exercise or labor as usual, and finally the lower limbs begin to swell, then the face and body, the skin looks dusky, the appetite is impaired, the kidneys become diseased, there is difficulty in breathing, and the patient, it is said, dies of dropsy, yet dropsy was the result of a disease of the heart, which retarded the circulation and enfeebled the system, and which was actually the primary cause of death.
TREATMENT. Dropsy being only a symptom of various morbid conditions existing in the system, any treatment to be radically beneficial must, therefore, have reference to the diseased conditions upon which the dropsical effusion, in each individual case, depends. These are so various, and frequently so obscure, as to require the best diagnostic skill possessed by the experienced specialist, to detect them. There are, however, a few general principles which are applicable to the treatment of nearly all cases of dropsy. Nutritious diet, frequent alkaline baths to keep the skin in good condition and favor excretion through its pores, and a general hygienic regulation of the daily habits, are of the greatest importance. There are also a few general remedies which may prove more or less beneficial in nearly all cases. We refer to diuretics and hydragogue cathartics. The object sought in the administration of these is the evacuation of the accumulated fluids through the kidneys and bowels, thus giving relief. Of the diuretics, queen of the meadow, buchu, and digitalis generally operate well. As a cathartic, the Purgative Pellets accompanied with a teaspoonful or two of cream of tartar, will prove serviceable. Beyond these general principles of treatment it would be useless for us to attempt to advise the invalid suffering from any one of the many forms of dropsy. The specialist skilled by large experience in detecting the exact morbid condition which causes the watery effusion and accumulation, can select his remedies to meet the peculiar indications presented by each individual case. Sometimes the removal of the watery accumulation by tapping becomes necessary, in order to afford relief and give time for remedies to act. We have found it necessary to perform this operation very frequently in cases of hydrocele, and also quite often in cases of abdominal dropsy. The chest has also been tapped and considerable quantities of fluids drawn off, and this has been followed by prompt improvement and a final cure.
CASES TREATED.
CASE I. A Canadian gentleman, aged 68, applied at the Invalids Hotel and Surgical Institute, for examination and treatment. He had been dropsical for over two years, and had become so badly affected as to be unable to lie down at night. His legs were so filled with water and enlarged as to render it almost impossible for him to walk, and there was a general anasarca. The least exertion was attended with the greatest difficulty of breathing. He had been under the treatment of several eminent general practitioners of medicine in Canada but found no relief. They were unable to discover the real cause of his ailment, but to the specialist who has charge of this class of diseases at our institution, and who annually examines and treats hundreds of such cases, it was at once apparent that the dropsy was caused from a weakened condition of the heart, which rendered it unable to perform its functions. He was put upon a tonic and alterative course of treatment, which also embraced the use of such medicines as have been found to exert a specific, tonic action upon the muscular tissues of the heart. He improved so rapidly that in less than two months he was able to lie down and sleep soundly all night. The bloating disappeared, his strength improved, and in three month's more he was discharged perfectly cured.
CASE II. A man aged 42, consulted us by letter, stating that he was troubled with general bloating which had made its appearance gradually and was attended by general debility and other symptoms which have been enumerated as common to general dropsy. He had been under the treatment of several home physicians without receiving any benefit; he had steadily grown worse until he felt satisfied that if he did not soon get relief he could not live very long. He was requested to send a sample of his urine for examination, as we had suspicions, from the symptoms which he gave, that the cause of his dropsy was albuminuria, or Bright's disease of the kidneys. On examination of the urine, albumen in very perceptible quantities was found to be present. We had, about this time, come into possession of a remedy said by very good authority, to be a specific in degeneration of the kidneys when not too far advanced, and we determined to test it upon this well-marked case. We accordingly prescribed it, together with other proper tonics and alteratives, at the same time giving the patient important hygienic advice, which must be complied with if success is attained in the management of this very fatal malady. Our patient gradually improved, and in a few months' time was restored to perfect health, which he has continued to enjoy ever since. From our subsequent experience, embracing the treatment of quite a large number of cases of Bright's disease of the kidneys, we are satisfied that it is, in its early stage, quite amenable to treatment.
CASE III. A man aged 35, single, consulted us for what he supposed to be enlargement of the testicles. The scrotum was as large as his head, and it was with difficulty that he could conceal the deformity from general observation. The disease was immediately recognized by the attending surgeon as hydrocele. The liquid was promptly drawn oft by tapping, and a stimulating injection was made into the scrotum to prevent re-accumulation. We mention this case only because it is one among a very large number who have consulted us supposing that they were suffering from enlargement of the testicles, cancer, or some other morbid growth within the scrotum, when a slight examination has shown the affection to be hydrocele, a disease which is speedily cured by tapping, with a little after treatment. The operation is perfectly safe and almost entirely painless.
CASE IV. A lady, aged 24, consulted us by letter enumerating a long list of symptoms which clearly indicated abdominal dropsy, resulting from suppression of the menses. A well-regulated, hygienic treatment was advised, and medicines to restore the menstrual function by gradually toning up and regulating the whole system, were forwarded to her by express. After four months' treatment, perfect recovery resulted. Cases like this latter are very common and generally yield quite readily to proper management. No harsh or forcing treatment for restoring the menstrual function should be employed, as it will not only fail to accomplish the object sought, but it is also sure to seriously and irreparably injure the system. The most difficult cases which we have had to deal with, have been those which had been subjected by other physicians to the administration of strong emmenagogues in the vain effort to bring on the menses.
RHEUMATISM.
Prominent among constitutional diseases is the one known as rheumatism. It is characterized by certain local symptoms or manifestations in fibrous tissues. This term has been applied to neuralgic affections and to gout, but it differs from each in several essential particulars. Rheumatism may be divided into (1) Acute, (2) Chronic, (3) Muscular.
ACUTE ARTICULAR RHEUMATISM. Acute articular rheumatism implies an affection of the articulations or joints. It usually commences suddenly; sometimes pain or soreness in the joints precedes the disclosure of the disease. The symptoms are pain in the joints, tenderness, increased heat, swelling and redness of the skin. The pain varies in its intensity in different oases, and is increased by the movement of the affected parts. Swelling of the joints occurs, especially those of the knee, ankle, wrist, elbow, and the smaller joints of the hands and feet. The swelling and redness are generally in proportion to the acuteness of the attack. Acute articular rheumatism is always accompanied with more or less fever. Sweating is generally a prominent symptom, being strongly acid and more profuse during the night. The appetite is impaired, the tongue is coated, the bowels are constipated, or there is diarrhea.
THE DURATION OF THIS DISEASE. Unlike fevers, its course is marked by fluctuations; frequently after a few days the pain subsides, the fever disappears, and convalescence is apparently established, when, suddenly, all the symptoms are renewed with even greater intensity than before. This disease rarely proves fatal, unless the heart is involved.
CAUSES. Rheumatism is frequently supposed to be occasioned by a suppression of the functions of the skin, and is generally attributed to the action of cold upon the surface of the body. But this acts only as an exciting cause. It is a disease of the blood. This form of rheumatism usually occurs between the age of fifteen and thirty, and prevails most extensively in changeable climates. Acute articular rheumatism seldom terminates in the chronic form.
CHRONIC ARTICULAR RHEUMATISM. Articular rheumatism, in the subacute or chronic form, is frequently observed in medical practice. The symptoms are pain and more or less swelling of the joints, although not of as grave a character as in acute rheumatism. There is frequently an absence of increased heat and redness. As in the acute form, the different joints are liable to be affected successively and irregularly, until, after a time, the disease becomes fixed in a single joint, and the fibrous tissues entering into the ligaments and tendons are liable to be affected. The appetite, digestion, and nutrition are often good, and, in mild cases, patients are able to pursue their daily vocations. The disease is supposed to be the same as in the acute form, but milder, and, strange to say, more persistent. A diseased condition of the blood is supposed to be involved in both instances, but this morbid state is less extended, and, at the same time, more obstinate in the chronic than in the acute form. Sub-acute articular rheumatism is not always chronic, and may disappear in a shorter time than in the acute form. Chronic articular rheumatism is not generally fatal, but there is danger of permanent deformities.
MUSCULAR RHEUMATISM. This affection is closely allied to neuralgia, and may properly be called myalgia. It exists under two forms, acute and chronic. In acute muscular rheumatism, there is at first a dull pain in the muscles, which gradually increases. When the affected muscles are not used the pain is slight, and certain positions may be assumed without inducing it constantly; but in movements which involve contraction of the muscles the pain is very violent. In some cases, the disease is movable, changing from one muscle to another, but usually it remains fixed in the muscle first attacked. The appetite and digestion are not often impaired, and there is no fever. The duration of this form of rheumatism varies from a few hours to a week or more.
In subacute or chronic muscular rheumatism, pain is excited only when the affected muscles are contracted with unusual force, and then it is similar to that experienced in the acute form. The chronic form is more apt to change its position than the acute. The duration of this form is indefinite. In both the acute and chronic forms some particular parts of the body are more subject to the affection than others.
The muscles on the posterior part of the neck are subject to rheumatic affection. It is termed torticollis or cervical rheumatism in such cases, and should be distinguished from ordinary neuralgia. When the muscles of the loins are affected, it is commonly known as lumbago. In case the thoracic muscles are affected, it is known as pleurodynia. In coughing, sneezing, and the like, the pain produced is not unlike that in pleuritis and intercostal neuralgia.
One of the most marked features of muscular rheumatism, is the cramp-like pain, induced by the movements of the affected muscles, whereas the pain is slight when those muscles are uncontracted. This feature is very serviceable in distinguishing muscular rheumatism, or myalgia, from neuralgic affections. Another trait which distinguishes muscular rheumatism from neuralgia, is that the former is characterized by great soreness, while the latter is not. There is also a distinction between inflammation of the muscles and muscular rheumatism. In the case of the former, there is continued pain, swelling of the parts, occasional redness, and the presence of more or less fever, which conditions do not exist in the latter. Persons subject to rheumatism of the muscles, are apt to suffer from an attack, after exposure of the body to a draught of air during sleep, or when in a state of perspiration.
TREATMENT OF ACUTE RHEUMATISM. Administer the spirit vapor-bath to produce free perspiration, which should be maintained by full doses of the Compound Extract of Smart-weed. The anodyne properties of the latter also prove very valuable in allaying the pain. Tincture or fluid extract of aconite root may also be employed, to assist in equalizing the circulation, and also to secure its anodyne action. Black cohosh seems to exert a specific and salutary influence in this disease, and the tincture or fluid extract of the root of this plant may be advantageously combined with the aconite. Take fluid extract of aconite-root, thirty drops; fluid extract of black cohosh, one drachm; water, fifteen teaspoonfuls; mix. The dose is one teaspoonful every hour. The whole person should be frequently bathed with warm water, rendered alkaline by the addition of saleratus or soda. The painful joints may be packed with wool or with cloths wrung from the hot saleratus water, and the patient kept warm and quiet in bed. The acetate of potash taken in doses of five grains, well diluted with water, every three or four hours, is very valuable in acute rheumatism. Its alkaline qualities tend to neutralize the acid condition of the fluids of the system, and it also possesses diuretic properties which act upon the kidneys, removing the offending blood-poison from the system through these organs. If the joints are very painful, cloths wet with the Compound Extract of Smart-weed and applied to them, and covered with hot fomentations, very frequently relieve the suffering. The majority of cases yield quite promptly to the course of treatment already advised, if it is persevered in. The disease, however, sometimes proves obstinate and resists for many days the best treatment yet known to the medical profession.
TREATMENT OF CHRONIC RHEUMATISM. The general alkaline baths recommended in the acute affection are also valuable in the chronic. The spirit vapor-bath, the Turkish, as well as the sulphur vapor-bath, are all worthy of a trial in this obstinate and painful disease. Alternatives are a very valuable class of agents in chronic rheumatism. The following mixture, in teaspoonful doses three times a day, in alternation with the Golden Medical Discovery, has proved very successful in this disease: acetate of potash, one ounce; fluid extract of black cohosh, one ounce; fluid extract of poison hemlock, two drachms; simple syrup, six ounces. This thorough alterative course, if well persevered in, together with the use of alkaline and vapor-baths, will generally prove very successful. The specialist, however, dealing with chronic diseases exclusively, will occasionally meet with a case which has been the rounds of the home physicians without benefit, that will tax his skill and require the exercise of all his perceptive faculties to determine the exact condition of the patient's system, upon which the obstinacy of the disease depends. When this is ascertained, the remedies will naturally suggest themselves, and the malady will generally yield to them. But, although the treatment of this disease has entered largely into our practice at the Invalid's Hotel, and has been attended by the most happy results, yet the cases have presented so great a diversity of abnormal features, and have required so many variations in the course of treatment, to be met successfully, that we frankly acknowledge our inability to so instruct the unprofessional reader as to enable him to detect the various systemic faults common to this ever-varying disease, and adjust remedies to them, so as to make the treatment uniformly successful. If the several plans of treatment which we have given do not conquer the disease, we can not better advise the invalid than to recommend him to employ a physician of well-known skill in the treatment of chronic diseases. If such a one is not accessible for personal consultation, a careful statement of all the prominent symptoms, in writing, may be forwarded to a specialist of large experience in this disease, who will readily detect the real fault, in which the ailment has its foundation. Particularly easy will it be for him to do so, if he be an expert in the analysis of urine. A vial of that which is first passed in the morning, should be sent with the history of the case, as chronic rheumatism effects characteristic changes in this excretion, which clearly and unmistakably indicate the abnormal condition of the fluids of the body upon which the disease depends.
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DISEASES OF THE SKIN.
ECZEMATOUS AFFECTIONS.
Eczematous affections constitute a very important class of skin diseases, the prominent characteristics of which are eruption and itching. They are progressive in character, passing through all the successive stages of development, from mere redness of the skin to desquamation, or thickening of the cuticle. The affections belonging to this group are eczema, psoriasis, pityriasis, lichen, impetigo, gutta rosacea, and scabies, or itch. A careful examination of each of these diseases shows it to be a modified form of eczema, and, therefore, they demand similar treatment.
ECZEMA. (Humid Tetter, Salt-rheum, Running Scall, or Heat Eruption.) The term eczema is used to designate the commonest kind of skin diseases.
In this disease, the minute blood-vessels are congested causing the skin to be more vascular and redder than in its natural state. There is an itching or smarting in the affected parts. The skin is raised in the form of little pimples or vesicles, and a watery lymph exudes. Sometimes the skin becomes detached and is replaced by a crust of hardened lymph, or it may be partially reproduced, forming squamae, or scales. There are three stages of this disease; the inflammatory, accompanied by swelling, and the formation of pimples or vesicles; that of exudation, which is succeeded by incrustation; and that of desquamation, in which the skin separates in little scales and sometimes becomes thickened. Rarely, if ever, does the disease pass through these successive stages, but it is modified by its location and the temperament of the patient.
The many varieties of eczema are designated according to their predominating characteristics. Thus, when pimples or vesicles are abundant, it is termed, respectively, eczema papulosum and eczema vesiculosum, a fine illustration of which may be seen in Colored Plate I, Fig. 1. Again, when characterized by the eruption of pustules, it is termed eczema pustulosum, a representation of which may be seen in Plate I, Fig. 2; and, when the prominent feature is the formation of scales, it is termed eczema squamosum.
Eczema may be general or partial; in other words, the eruption may appear in patches or be distributed over the entire surface of the body. The latter form often appears in infants, but rarely occurs in adults. Two or more varieties of the eruption may be associated, or one form may gradually develop into another.
Infants and young children are peculiarly subject to this disorder, and, if the disease be not promptly arrested, it will assume the severest form and eventually become chronic. The muscles are soft, the eyes are dull and expressionless, and the little sufferer experiences the most excruciating torments. Frequently the whole body is covered with patches of eczema, the secretions are arrested, and, where the scales fall off, the skin is left dry and feverish.
Eczema has no symptoms proper, since the morbid feelings are due to constitutional debility, of which eczema is the result. The signs of eczema are redness, heat, an itching or smarting sensation, the formation of pimples or vesicles, exudation, incrustation, the separation of the cuticle into scales and a gradual thickening of the skin.
CAUSES. Three forms of constitutional derangement predispose the system to eczema; nutritive, assimilative, and nervous debility. In the former, there is a diminution of nutritive power, so that the patient becomes weak and emaciated. Assimilative debility is indicated by an impaired digestion and a consequent suppression, or an abnormal state of the secretions. Eczema occasioned by nervous debility, is accompanied by all the morbid conditions incident to irritation and exhaustion of the nervous system. Eczema may be excited by a violation of the rules of hygiene, as undue exposure, or sudden transition from heat to cold, deficient or excessive exercise, impure air, or improper clothing.
PSORIASIS. Psoriasis may be defined as a chronic form of eczema. The transition of the last stage of eczema into psoriasis is indicated by a tendency of the inflamed, thickened, scaly skin to become moist when rubbed. It usually appears in patches on various portions of the body. The skin is parched and highly discolored. The hairs are harsh and scanty. The patient is constantly tormented by an unbearable itching sensation and, if the skin is rubbed, it exudes a viscous or sticky fluid. These are the characteristic signs of psoriasis. It generally appears on the flexures, folds and crooks of the joints, the backs and palms of the hands, the arms, and the lower portions of the legs.
PITYRIASIS. (Branny Tetter, or Dandruff.) This affection is a mild form of psoriasis, from which it may be distinguished by a more superficial congestion or inflammation of the affected parts, the absence of swelling, and the formation of smaller scales, having the form and appearance of fine bran. It generally appears on the scalp, sometimes extends over the face, and, in rare instances, affects the entire surface of the body. The signs peculiar to this disease are slight inflammation, itching, and the formation of minute scales.
CAUSES. Pityriasis is caused by nutritive debility, and is often associated with erysipelas, rheumatism, and bronchitis.
LICHEN. (Papular Rash.) Lichen is a term used to designate an eruption of minute conical pimples, which are more or less transparent, red, and occasion great annoyance. The eruption is attended with a severe, hot, prickling sensation, as if the flesh were punctured with hot needles. The pimples contain no pus, but if opened, they exude a small quantity of blood and serum. This disease more frequently occurs between the ages of twelve and fifty, but occasionally appears during dentition, when it is called "tooth rash." The lichen pimples are sometimes dispersed singly over the skin and gradually subside, forming a minute scale, corresponding in position with the summit of the pimple. When the pimples appear in clusters, there is a diffused redness in the affected part, and, if they are irritated, minute scabs will be formed. Lichen generally appears on the upper portion of the body, as on the face, arms, hands, back, and chest.
The various forms of lichen are designated according to their causes, signs, location, manner of distribution, and the form of the pimples.
Lichen Simplex is the simplest form of this disorder, and is indicated by the appearance of minute pimples, which, when the distribution is general, are arranged like the blotches of measles. Sometimes the eruption is local and bounded by the limits of an article of clothing, as at the waist. In eight or ten days, the cuticle separates into minute scales, which are detached and thrown off; but a new crop of pimples soon appears and runs the same course, only to be succeeded by another, and thus the affection continues for months and even years.
Lichen circumscriptus is an aggravated form of lichen simplex, and is characterized by a circular arrangement of the pimples. The circumference which marks the limit of the patch is sharply defined. This form of lichen usually appears on the chest, hips, or limbs, and is not unfrequently mistaken for ringworm. |
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