An essay on fevers : to which is now added, A dissertation on the malignant-ulcerous sore-throat / by John Huxham, M. D. fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, and of the Royal Society at London.
- John Huxham
- Date:
- [1785?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An essay on fevers : to which is now added, A dissertation on the malignant-ulcerous sore-throat / by John Huxham, M. D. fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, and of the Royal Society at London. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.
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![Of the DISSOLVF.p AND PUTMD the orifices of the ferous and limpha-. tic arteries; by which, on the Hight- eft occafions, tlie blood-globules arc forced into them, and form obltruc- ticns errore loci, as it is called: whence inflammations and ruptures gf the veffels frequently follow, par- ticularly in the brain and lungs.— Here nothing will relieve equal, to blood-letting, which (if not too im- jnoderate) is fo far from weakening, that it ftrengthens the patient, by re- ftoring a due (equilibrium between the folids and fluids: the keeping up of which, however, is a matter of great ^licety in fome cafes and conftitutions; though, in general, it admits of a confiderable latitude, even confiftent with health. Some delicate, florid, plethoric people fuffer immediately, from a very fmall degree of over or Mnder living; and I have, known fome men of this conftitution, that have had as regular a menftrual difcharge, by fome kind of hsemorrhage, as the more delicate fex.—The beft bred and i^ioft accurately fed cock, will not hold his athletic Hate above twenty-four hours, * and dwindles from it fiir- prifingly foon — ^da non ultra pro- gredi potcji, retro, quaji riiind qua-, dam, renjohitur, as Celfus + fays of a plethoric man. There is, 2dly, a conftitution or crafis of the blood, quite oppofite to the former, in which there are too few blood-globules, and ihofe too loofely compared ; and in which the ferum is too watery and vapid, and fometimes of a ropy flimy nature, prom this weak pituitous blood all the fecretions are imperfcft, and not fufiiciently participant of an animal nature; the bile inert, the animal fpirits flat and deficient, the faiiva a mere infipid mucus, and fo on.—• Hence univerfal indigeftion, v.eak^ nefs, coldnefs, palene^, cacpchymy, dropfy, kc. Jn a word, fuch a floV/ motion of the humours, that at length, for w^nt of a due circulation, they * Lib. II. Cap. 2. ^ See Dr. Bryan Robinfon on tl]* foo4 and dilcharres of human bodies, p. SSj. run Into morbidconcretions, obftrudl- ing the veflels in fyme places, and llagnating in others, v.'here they fall into fpontaneous corruption, produc- tive at laft of fuch a degree of acri- mony, as to end frequently in fevers of a very malign nature, and danger- ous confequence: and this the more fo, as the vclTcls, in fuch a miferable conftitution, haye greatly loft their elafticity, and. the blood its moft vi- tal principles: fo that, in the event, either the flimy lentorftagnates up the heart, or the corrupted humours cor- rode and deltroy the moft delicate and elTential parts of the animal fabric, particularly the compages of the brain, where the humours naturally move exceeding flow, and' the veflfels are of the moft tender ftrufture. Thus as too rapid a circulation often burfts the minute veifels, fo the humours mov- ing too flowly, ftagnate, corrupt, and at length corrode them, Thefe two different ftates of the fluids may not improperly be called conftitutional, as tney naturally fol- low the refpeftive ftate of the folids ; fo as that a ftrong rich blood always attends a ftrong elaftic fet of velTels, and a weak watery blood a relaxed habit of body : where either confide- rably deviates from the ftandard of nature, it becomes a real diforder, and is to be duly regarded in what- ever concurring difeaf'e happens.* CHAP. V. Of tJpc diffolvcii and putrid State of the Blood. J^UT, befides thefe, there is more- over a third ftate of the blood, of more dangerous confequence than either; 1 mean a ftate of it, that more • Ardent snd inflammatory fevers arc naturally tlte-eiTeiS of ovcr-elaiHc and rigid fibi ts, an<] a very denfe vifcid blood ; as the low and (low nervous kinds arc of a too lax (late of veirds, and a weak and tliio hlood. But there are feveral difeafes, efpe- cially thofe arifiiij; from eontagibn, which arc common to both» jmrae-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21441960_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
