Practical medicine and medical diagnosis / by Byrom Bramwell.

  • Byrom Bramwell
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical medicine and medical diagnosis / by Byrom Bramwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/164 (page 3)
    Plan and Scope of the Course.—The instruction I propose to give you Avill be as practical as possible, and will relate more to the diagnosis tlian to the treatment of disease. I shall, in the first place, describe to you the method of investigating and recording medical cases (Casc-taldng and Case-recording). I will next consider the important subject of the body heat or temperature fi/ec^-ica^ Therm,ometry). I will then take up the examination of the various sys- tems and organs in detail. In treating this part of the subject, I will:— (1) Briefly recall to your memories the medical anatomy and the physiology of the organ under consideration. (2) Describe the clinical methods by which we ascertain the condi- tion of that organ, giving you a detailed description of the instruments employed in the investigation of medical cases, their mode of application, and the information to be derived from their use. (3) Point out the normal physical signs, i.e. the signs appreciable to the senses (unaided and aided) of the physician, which result from the physical condition of the organ in its healthy state. (4) Consider the pathological physical signs, i.e. the signs which result from the physical condition of the organ when diseased. (5) Detail themore important abnormalsensations or symptoms, which the patient feels as the result of such pathological conditions, taking care to explain, whenever it is possible, the relationship of the symptoms to the lesion, i.e. the manner in which the lesion produces the symptoms. (6) Tell you how the different disorders and lesions are to be dis- tinguished (Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis). This will constitute a considerable, and an important part of the course. If time permits, I will (7) indicate the points to which attention is to be directed in forming the prognosis ; and (8) enumerate the chief indications for treatment. A course of lectures of this description would be very incomplete with- out practical instruction. I shaU therefore divide the class into small sections for practical tutorial work; and will in this manner give you the opportunity of making yourselves practicallyfamiliar with the methods of investigation, and with the different instruments used in clinical research. Importance of Practical Knowledge.—The kind of knowledge which I shall do my best to communicate to you in this course of lectures is, in my opinion, of the first importance to the student. As I have already said, medicine is a vast subject, and it is quite impossible or any of you to hope to master (i.e. to get a real, sound, and personal knowledge of) all the details of individual diseases during tlie brief period of the curriculum. The time has, I think, now come either for