Johnson's family physician : from the ablest medical authorities, giving numerous and dangerous diseases to which the human race is subject, the symptoms and treatment, or what is necessary to be done in an emergency for the patient before the physician arrives, thereby alleviating suffering and often saving life / by E. Darwin Hudson, with articles from the most eminent physicians, among whom are Willard Parker [and others].
- Hudson, E. Darwin (Erasmus Darwin), Jr., 1843-1887.
- Date:
- 1880
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Johnson's family physician : from the ablest medical authorities, giving numerous and dangerous diseases to which the human race is subject, the symptoms and treatment, or what is necessary to be done in an emergency for the patient before the physician arrives, thereby alleviating suffering and often saving life / by E. Darwin Hudson, with articles from the most eminent physicians, among whom are Willard Parker [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![constriction of the chest, as by a band or cincture, producing a sense of suffocation, faintness, and often apprehension of ap- proaching death. Angina pectoris may be due to organic or functional heart disease. The grave cases result from dilatation and aneurism of the heart or embolism of the arteries of the heart. Functional cases are due to emotional causes and debility. Men over fifty years of age are most frequently attacked. Valerian, aromatic stimulants, morphine, and nitrite of amyl are useful in the attack, which is usually, not always, short. Between paroxysms the patient should lead a tranquil, retired life, and make use of a plain, nutritious diet. Ankylo'sis, or Anchylosis [from the Gr. ayKv7.oq, benf'j, in surgery, a stiffened and more or less fixed and immovable joint, so called from the crooked position often seen in limbs with such joints. Ankylosis may result from suppurative inflammation, as in white swelling of the knee, and is to be regarded as a favorable termination of such disease. These cases result often in neo- plastic exudations—new tissues—adhering to the cartilages of both articulating bones ; and not unfrequently these new growths are partly or completely ossified, converting the two bones into one. The cartilages or lig- aments of a joint may become shrunken from disease, the opposing synovial mem- branes may adhere to each other, or other important structural changes may prevent motion. Spurious ankylosis is a case in which a spasm or cicatrical contraction of the muscles, or even of the skin, prevents motion, while the joint itself is not the seat of disease. Cases of so-called hysteria some- times are accompanied by a stiffness of one or more joints; but such cases are readily detected after the administration of an an- aesthetic, when the joint at once becomes movable. The prospect of recovery of motion in an ankylosed joint is small indeed. Joints stiffened at an inconvenient angle may be put into better shape during ansesthesia, and then be allowed to become ankylosed again in the desired position. Excision of joints has been considerably practised, and with some success as a means of cure. Anthelmin^tics [Gr. avri, against, and i7-fiLvg, a worm j are medicines which either destroy or drive out intestinal para- sites ; the former are called vermicides, the latter vermiftiges. The last named are most commonly employed. Against the ordinary lumbricoid worm [Ascaris lumbricoides), or round-worm, an infusion or fluid extract of senna and spigelia (pink-root) is safe and eflScacious. To drive out the worrying seat- worms or thread-worms (Oxyurus or Ascaris vermicularis) nothing is better than santonin, introduced into the bowels in the form of a suppository. For the more formidable tape- worm (Tcenia) carbolic acid, oil of turpen- tine, oil of fern, kousso, pumpkin-seeds, and pomegranate-seeds are used. It is important that the head of the tape-worm shall pass away, as, till that happens, the joints con- tinue to be reproduced. An'thrax. See CARBUisrcLE. Apho^nia (loss of voice) may be (1) nervous aphonia, temporary and cured by time, rest, tonics, and electricity, or (2) aphonia due to disease of the vocal cords. (See Throat, Diseases of.) Aph^thae. See Mouth, Diseases of. Ap^oplexy [Lat. apoplexia, from the Gr. aTTo, away, and ■kaJ/gcu, to strike; as we speak of a stroke oi apojjlexy or of paraly- sis], a disease marked by the sudden failure of volition, sensation, motion, and mental action, the symptoms being caused by a pres- sure upon the brain originating within the cranium. Apoplexy is of various kinds, differing not so much in symptoms as in pathology. The typical form is character- ized by an escajje of blood into the substance of the brain from a ruptured vessel. The rupture itself may be caused (1) by a non- inflammatory, fatty degeneration of the blood-vessel, caused by bad nutrition, etc.; (2) by a brittle condition of the vessel, re- sulting from an inflammatory process. These causes may be supplemented by a full habit of body or by a hy2)ertrophied heart, or both; and it is easy to see how such second- ary causes might assist in the rupture of a weakened blood-vessel. Apoplexy may, how- ever, be produced by an extravasation of blood between the membranes, by a sudden and large serous eflfusion into the ventricles of the brain, or even by a congestion (hy- persemia) of the brain. The apoplectic stroke may end in partial recovery or in speedy death. Cases not fatal generally re- sult in permanent or temporary paralysis of one side of the body (hemiplegia), usually on the side opposite that in which the mischief has occurred. The symptoms of apoplexy are often un- expected. The patient falls suddenly (with or without an outcry), his resjiirations are long, slow, and stertorous, the pulse is slow, one or both the pupils usually small. If the patient does not die during the attack, a secondary inflammation follows which may destroy life. Bleeding may be resorted to if the pulse be strong and the heart and lungs in good condition, but it is often in- jurious. Mustard to the extremities and frictions of the skin should be resorted to, and the bowels should be moved by enema. Persons having reason to fear apoplexy](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131041_0011.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
