Volume 1

The influence of tropical climates on European constitutions / By James Johnson ... and James Ranald Martin.

  • James Johnson
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The influence of tropical climates on European constitutions / By James Johnson ... and James Ranald Martin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    labour when the body is kept in an unexcited state, than when stimu- lated by the luxuries of the table. The same remark will apply to those who have become the victims of misfortune. Let them not fly to the momentary solace of stimulants, which only consume more rapidly the taper of life, and render them less able to bear the vicissitudes of this world. When a man has escaped the miseries of dyspeptic feelings, and brought the sensibilities of his stomach to a natural state, by great attention to diet, he should be careful how he deviates too soon from the rigid regimen by which he was restored to health. Nothing is so liable to relapse as dyspepsia—and indulgence in variety of dishes, or vegetables and fruit, with bad wines, will be almost certain of making the individual pay dear for the experiment. But it is of still more import- ance to keep to a low quantity of food. ‘The least over-exertion of the stomach in mastering a larger proportion than it can easily digest, will be sure to rekindle the morbid sympathies of the body, and the wretched feelings of the mind. The patient must always balance between irri- tation and debility. When he feels irritation, he must lessen and simplify his food—when he experiences much debility, he must increase it. The false debility, or rather feeling of debility, already described, must not be confounded with real debility. Sect. XI].—Mepicinat TREATMENT. Tuer foregoing rules of diet will pretty generally apply to most cases and stages of dyspepsia, whether consisting in morbid sensibility of the gastric nerves, without apparent disorder of function; or accompanied by the various symptoms of indigestion and biliary derangement. It will, also, apply to what has been termed “ inflammatory dyspepsia,” equally as well as to that which is denominated “‘ nervous.” This dietetic regulation is the basis of the treatment. Without it, no effectual cure can be accom- plished—and by it alone, nine cases in ten of common indigestion, in its earlier stages, might be removed. But much auxiliary assistance may be derived from a judicious application of medicine. After adjusting the subject of diet, our attention should next be directed to the state of the secretions. The mode of ascertaining their habitual condition is too often erroneous. Thus, a brisk purgative is given, and then the secretions are examined. But the same medicine, if given toa person in health, would very frequently evacuate matters that would be considered morbid. Besides, the action of purgatives will often rouse the liver and other glands to pour forth secretions very different in quantity