Consumption curable! / by Dr. Hall.

  • William Whitty Hall
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Consumption curable! / by Dr. Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    g^ Prejudice, says a great Practitioner, is the bane efadvance- ment in every department of human knowledge. But in none does it tell more heavily against the weal of our common nature, than in our profession. For never will any man practice it with either true dignity or real usefulness, till he casts from him every trammel, whether of education, theory, or authority; until in short, he hears with his own ears, sees with his own eyes, and judges with a perfect- ly unbiassed mind. Consumption commonly called A Decline, implies a wasting away of the body, from the effect of a disorganising process going on in the Lungs, by which the patient gradually becomes emaciated. It was from this symptom, that the Greeks called this disease Phthisis, which signifies leanness, from a word which means to cause to dry. A symptom, which more certainly indicates consumption in its incip- ient stage, than any other. Consumption very commonly begins as a cold; yet it often happens, that patients are uuable to attribute its origin to any precise period, or any particular circumstance, whatever. One of the first symptoms, is the extreme liability of the patient to the frequent recurrence of r short, dry cough, on the slightest occasions. At first, there is no ex- pectoration, except perhaps a little frothy phlegm. The breathing is slightly impeded, a sense of tightness is felt across the chest, and the pulse is somewhat accelerated. If the cough becomes more trouble- some on every successive attack, we have strong reason to conclude, especially if the disease be hereditary, that these apparently slight attacks of cold, are in fact, the incipient symptoms of consumption. The disease may go on in this way for some time, without making much apparent progress; but it ought not to be neglected; for while it may sometimes be protracted for years, it will at others run thro' all its stages in the course of a very few weeks. As the disease progresses, the cough becomes more tronblesome, especially at night, or in the moruing- The expectoration increases m quantity, and alters its character by degrees, becomes more protracted, tough, and less clear, frequently streaked with blood, and finally assumes a greenish, mat- ter-like appearance. Emaciation, and difficulty of breathing increase with the languor and debility. The cough is now no longer short and nicking, but strong and violent, because the inflammation of the ; lining membrane of the lungs pervades the whole extent of the air tubes. But the part where the greatest uneasiness is felt, is from the top of the breast bone, upwards, along the throat. Sometimes blood is spit in abundance. Pain is felt under the breast bone—increased by coughing or lying on one side. Sometimes there is no pain, on- ly an inabiii'y to lie on the affected, side. The pulse gets full, hard and frequent; the palms and soles have a burning heat; fever comes on in the afternoon, and soon assumes a hectic character. The urine deposites a copious red sediment, on standing; yet the tongue may continue clear and the appetite good. But as the disease advances, the inroads it makes on the constitu- tion, become every day more apparent, the eye assumes a pearly lustre, and sinks deep into the head, the cheeks are hollow, and their bones prominent. As the substance of the lungs is expectorated, the chest falls in. There is now a flush on the cheek in the afternoon, and after a feverish, restless night, profuse perspirations breakout [See third page of cover.]