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?]

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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$(3f the slow *r, Ri^otrs t eV iKi jnen, &c, and are too often ai^ually efteCted. The hot, acrid, faline, vet- Jatilc, and fpicy food and medi- cines, very hot air, &c. will pro- duce a putrid malignant: on the • contrary, cold, watery, flimy, mu- cilaginous things, as ciicuml 'C s, me- lons, crude trafhy fruit, vapid li- quors, damp cold air, &c» bring on flow nervous fevers. Could we fuppofe both the one and the other to arife from contagion, ^Which is commonly the cafe in pe- llilential and petechial fevers, and TFnay fometimcs be. fo in the flmv nervous) I fliould liken the adlion of the morbtuc effluvia in the. former, to that of the poifon of a viper, •which immediately afFefts and de- ftroys the texture of the blood-glo- bules, and brings on a very fpeedy corruption: but in the latter, to the virus of a mad dogy which works fcut flowly, and ftems primarily to affed the lymph and fuccus ner\-o- fus, and manifefts no figns of putri- dity, at leaft till the very clofe of the tragedy. ' Now as fhefe two' fevers have a vety different origin, they cannot but fhew their effedls in different fymptoms, and require a very dif- ferent method of cure-, and yet I am very fenfible, the <3ne may be, and very often is, blended with the other; I mean, that a very acrimonious ftate of blood m^ty fubfift under a very V eak relaxed fyftem of vcfTels, and may not fhew itfelf with fo much violence, as if the moving powers and vefTcls were more ftrong and elaflic, and much more fufceptive of the itimulus of the morbid acrimo- ttious falts, &c. and of courfe more flow in its progrcfs, though perhaps equally fital. The different antece- dent flate of the fibres, and powers of nature, where contagion is the ]>roximatc caufe of the difcafe, doth undoubtedly alter the nature of the fiibfequent fever very greatly. By carefully dcfcribingboth thcfc'fcvers, tlieir nature and difference wilj more folly appear. CHAP. vn. Oy the Jlo-v) nervous fcvcr^ T Begin with a defcription of th-.! flow nervous fever, which hath been very cxadly taken from to(. many, who- have falJea viftims to this rnfidious and dangerous enemy. The parieirt at firft grows fome- what lilHefs, and feels flight chills and fbudders, with uncertain fudden flufbes of heat, and a kind of weari- nefs all over, like what is felt after great fatigue : this is alwaysattended with a fort of heavinefs-and dejeftion of fpirit, and more orlefs of a load, pain, or giddinefs of the head; a naufea and difrelifh of every thing foon follows,, without any confidert Uethirft, but frequently with ur? to vomit, though little but i;^. phlegm is brough.t up- Though a kind of kcid interval of feveral hours fometiraes inter- venes, yet the fymptoms return with aggravation, efpeciaiiy towards night r the head grows more hesrj'', or gid- dy, the heats greater, thepulfe quick-* cr, but weak, with an oppreffive kind of breathing.—A great torpor, or ob.- tufe pain and coldnefs, affects the hin- der part of the head frequently, and oftentimes a hea-vy pain is felt on the top all ?.long the coronary future ; this, and that of the backpart of the head, generally attend nerv ous fevers,' ?.nd are commonly fucceededby fome degree of a delirium. In this condition the patient ofteft continues for five or fix days, with a heavy pale far>k countenance, feem- ing not very fick, and yet far fron* being well ; reftlefs, anxiours, and commonly quite void of flcep, though fometimes very drowfy and hea\y : but although he appears ro thofe about him aftually to ileep, he is ut- terly inftnfible of it, and denies that he doth fo. The pulfe, during all this time, i» quickj weak, and unequal, fomc-$