First lines of the practice of physic / by William Cullen, M.D. ... ; with practical and explanatory notes, by John Rotheram, M. D. ; in two volumes ; vol. I[-II].

  • Cullen, William, 1710-1790.
Date:
1805
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First lines of the practice of physic / by William Cullen, M.D. ... ; with practical and explanatory notes, by John Rotheram, M. D. ; in two volumes ; vol. I[-II]. 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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    BOOK I. OF FEVERS. CHAPTER I. OF THE PHENOMENA OF FEVERS. 8.] 'T^HOSE diseases are more strictly called Fevers, X which have the general symptoms of Pyrexia, without having along with them any topical affection that is essential and primary, such as the other orders of the Pyrexiae always have. 9.] Fevers, as differing in the number and variety of their symptoms, have been very properly considered as of dis- tinct genera and species. But we suppose that there are certain circumstances in common to all the diseases com- prehended under this order, which are therefore those essen- tially necessary to, and properly constituting the nature of fever. It is our business especially, and in the first place, to investigate these ; and I expect to find them as they oc- cur in the paroxysm, or fit, of an intermittent fever, as this is most commonly formed. 10.] The phenomena to be observed in such a paroxysm are the following. The person is affected, first, with a lan- guor or sense of debility, a sluggishness in motion, and some uneasiness in exerting it, with frequent yawning and stretching. At the same time, the face and extremities be- come pale ; the features shrink ; the bulk of every exter- nal part is diminished ; and the skin over the whole body, appears constricted, as if cold had been applied to it. At the coming on of these symptoms, some coldness of the ex- tremities, though little taken notice of by the patient, may be perceived by another person. At length, the patient himself feels a sensation of cold, commonly first in Ins back, but, from thence, passing over the whole body ; and now Jiis skin feels warm to another person. The patient's sense of cold increasing, produces a tremor in all his limbs, with frequent successions or rigors of the trunk of the body. When this sense of cold, and its effects, have continued tor some time, thev become less violent, and are alternated with