On scarlatina, in a letter addressed to his son / by William Ingalls.

  • William Ingalls
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On scarlatina, in a letter addressed to his son / by William Ingalls. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    operation ; besides evacuating the contents of the stomach, it was followed b)\ several dejections. .\ov. 4th. . Passed a tolerable night; soreness of the throat ; cephalalgia ; cough ; anorexia ; fever; on the parts of the body covered with clothes an eruption, which, in the course of the day, spread over the whole cutaneous surface ; in the night de- lirium supervened. [His diet consisted of sugar baker's trea- cle partially candied ; and treacle and tepid water, till he be- came convalescent. Refined sugar was prescribed for the cough ; but he objected to it because it scratched his throat.] I remained in the room almost the whole time during the sick- ness of your brother. In the course of the night, viz. of the 4th, there was observed an expression of uneasiness of which it is difficult to give a distinct idea. Besides the throbbing of the carotid arteries, which is very obvious in scarlatina angi- nosa, and by some is deemed to be a very prominent symptom ; the irregularity of inspirations and expirations ; the rapid con- tractions and relaxations of the muscles of the larynx, and con- sequently the correspondingly rapid descent and ascent of this organ ; the muscles attached to the os hyoides and the anterior portion of the os maxillare inferius ; also, the muscles on which the diversified motions of the face, eyelids, eyeballs, and the short muscles of the head depend, being also strongly agitated, caused a disordered action in the neck and throat, and gave a cast to the countenance, indicating there existed no ordinary irritation in the system. That the actions of the muscles concerned in deglutition are associated with those just enumerated, is confirmed by anatomy and physiology; so that the tumultuary motions of the muscles of the pharynx, proceeding from the inflamed and thickened state of the mucous membrane of this organ, produce, by abortive ef- forts in swallowing, consentaneous actions in those belonging to the larynx, os hyoides, the anterior part of the lower jaw, the lips, eyelids and eyeballs. Hence, by the disturbed state of these organs, we have a clue to direct us to the seat of the dis- ease. These phenomena, to which may be added a very limit- ed rolling motion of the body from side to side, together with
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