A treatise on the influenza of 1837, containing an analysis of one hundred cases, observed at Birmingham, between the 1st of January and the 15th of February / by Peyton Blakiston.

Date:: 1837

Credit: A treatise on the influenza of 1837, containing an analysis of one hundred cases, observed at Birmingham, between the 1st of January and the 15th of February / by Peyton Blakiston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$bowels still regtilar; no appetite; pulse 04, sharp and small; skin dry; respiration 24, natural. [Diluent drinks.— Tinct. Uyoscyami, 3 j. Aquae, ^ j. kora somni.— Pulv. Antim. comp. gr. iij. horn somni.] 29. Has passed a much better night; the headache, and the tightness of the chest have almost disappeared; cough is loose, with expectoration of thick white mucus; appetite good; pulse 72, feeble; skin natural. [Perstet in usu Tinct. Hyoscyami.] 31. The pain in the head and chest is entirely gone; has now a cold in the head; nose is stopped up; offensive smell and taste; little or no appetite; stools very light coloured; excessive lassitude and debility, with very low spirits. \Pil. Hydrag. gr. v. omni node.] Nearly ten days elapsed from this time before this patient recovered his appetite, strength, and spirits. Similar to this case were four others, three males, aged 26, 35 and 45; and one female, aged 40. This case, at first sight, can hardly be distinguished from a common catarrh; for two days the symptoms indicate no- thing more; towards the close of the second day, however, headache and great lassitude supervene, and increase greatly the next day, accompanied by aching pains in the back and limbs; the tongue soon becomes furred, the appetite fails, the liver performs its functions but imperfectly, as may be gathered from the light colour of the stools, denoting a diminution in the quantity of bile secreted from the blood ; the intestinal canal does not appear to be deeply affected. The catarrh soon decreases, it seems transferred to the lining membrane of the nose, and thus passes off; but the appetite remains bad; a nauseous taste in the mouth, and an unpleasant smell in the nose continues, accompanied by an excessive degree of debility and great depression of spi- rits altogether disproportionate to the mildness of the previous symptoms.$