Catarrhal fevers : commonly called colds their causes, consequences, control, and cure / R. Prosser White.

  • White, R. Prosser (Robert Prosser), 1855-1934.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Catarrhal fevers : commonly called colds their causes, consequences, control, and cure / R. Prosser White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The subject bristles with difficulties, and the questions requiring solution will be found both intricate, and absorbing. Is it a morbid entity sui generis, or a modified expression of many pathological conditions, such as rheumatism, influenza, febricula, etc., altered by soil and surroundings, or the attenua- tion of virus ? What are the limits and extent of the common cold ? Does it confine its ravages to the nose, pharynx, and fauces, or can they pass on to the bronchi, the vesicles of the lungs, or even invade the mucous membrane of the stomach, and intestines ? Is it the immediate exciting agent of the “ thousand and one ills to which flesh is heir,” from toothache to peri- tonitis, as is popularly imagined? Does it initiate a sty in the eye or j)neumonia, a crick in the neck or bronchitis, superficial conjunctivitis or gastritis ; or can it lessen, or increase the activity of other patho- logical conditions, such as nephritis, phthisis, and laryngitis? What are its causes and consequences, its modes of propagation, its treatment, and pro- phylaxis ? It is endeavoured, in the following pages, to show that common colds are of a highly infective, and contagious nature, that they are readily disseminated from one individual to another, are a source of in- convenience if not danger to the strong, and are often followed by the severest consequences in the old, and young, the feeble, and debilitated. Again, we find in those who suffer from some chronic affection, the onset of true catarrhal fever may be the active factor, in overburdening an already embarrassed heart, setting up the final catarrh in the later stages of 1—2
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