Elements of the theory and practice of medicine ; designed for the use of students and junior practitioners / by George Gregory ... [etc.].

  • George Gregory
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of the theory and practice of medicine ; designed for the use of students and junior practitioners / by George Gregory ... [etc.]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    for liquids is increased. In severe cases of fever there is an absolute loathing of food, accompanied often with nausea and vomiting. Thirst is one of the most familiar of all the cha- racters of fever, and yet one more frequently wanting than any other. The desire is almost invariably for cold drink, and doubtless this is a beautiful provision of nature. There is no ground whatever for believing with Asclepiades, and the followers of his school, that any danger is to be apprehended from the indulgence of this appetite. 5. The restlessness and want of sleep which occur in febrile diseases are characteristic symptoms, which deserve notice. They are seldom wanting in the early stages of fever, and are peculiarly distressing to the patient, often continuing during the whole course of a long fever. If the patient dozes for a time, his dreams are harassing, and he wakes unre- freshed. The return of sleep is one of the surest indications of convalescence. 6. Nothing more strikingly characterizes the presence of fever than a general diminution and depraved state of the secretions all over the body. This is exemplified in the dry- ness and clamminess of the mouth, and the white and furred tongue, which are so frequently observed in all febrile diseases. The skin is dry and parched from the cessation of cuticular transpiration. The urine is scanty and high coloured. The bowels are generally constipated. The evacuations which may be procured are, for the most part, dark and foetid, owing, as we may presume, in a great measure, to the diminished quan- tity and vitiated quality of the bile. These and several other phenomena of fever are referrible to the important general prin- ciple now laid down. The restoration of secretion is generally considered as the test of the decline of fever, and hence it is that in Sauvage's excellent and philosophical definition of fever,* we find the terms cum madore cutis in declinatione. This, however, is not appli- cable unless such change be general over the body. Occasional perspirations are rather evidences of the contintiance of the febrile state, and as such frequently become the direct guides of our treatment. * Pulsus magnifudo ct frequentia, cum frigore in insultu, fervore in decursu, tnadorc in declinatione, et semper virium prostratione majori t][uam a virium vita- lium gradu foret expectandum.