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
Catalogue details

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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    should avoid excesses of all kinds, yet live upon nutritious food, paying special atten- tion to hygienic conditions. Arthri'''tis. See Rheumatism and Syno- vitis. Arthri^tis Deformans. See Eheumatism. As^caris [Gr. dff/cap/fj, (plu. Ascar^ides), a genus of intestinal parasites, of which the most common is the round-worm, Ascaris lumbricoides, found in the intestines of man. Children frequently have them, principally in the small intestines. The body of this worm is round, elastic, with a smooth sur- face, of a whitish or yellowish color; it tapers especially towards the anterior ex- tremity, which commences abruptly by three tubercles which surround the mouth. The body is transversely furrowed with numerous fine lines, and marked also with four lines from head to tail. In the female there is usually a constriction of the body at the dis- tance of about one-third of its length from the mouth. Sometimes, especially in young and weakly children, their accumulation may cause serious disturbance; even con- vulsions may be thus produced. There are no symptoms (apart from the passage of the worms from the bowels) invariably connected with their presence. Itching of the nose, capricious appetite, swelling of the abdomen, and grinding the teeth when asleep, may all occur, but they may also be produced by other causes. Ascaris vermicularis is the small white thread-worm or seat-worm, which, although called aanapiQ by Hippo- crates, is by most recent writers called Oxy- uris vermiculari't. Its length is from two- twelfths to five-twelfths of an inch, the fe- male being larger than the male. The head is blunt, widening on each side; the body tapers (at least in the female) to a point. Seat-worms, by the itching they produce, often distress children very much ; they are less frequently met with in adults. (For treat- ment of worms, see Anthelmintics.) Asci^tes [from the Gr. acnoi, a skin, a leathern bag for water, alluding to the shape of the patient's abdoraenj, dropsy of the abdominal cavity, is most frequently an in- dication of portal obstruction, caused by cirrhosis or other disease of the liver, which hinders the return of venous blood to the heart and causes pressure in the veins, leading to transudation of serum into the peritoneal (abdominal) cavity. In other cases it is a symptom of general dropsy; or it may result from cancer or tubercle of the peritoneum; or, in children especially, it may appear as a temporary and quite inex- plicable phenomenon, without serious dan- ger or distress. Ascites must be regarded in almost all cases as very grave; in a few cases the immediate danger passes away for the time; but such results are temporary and unfrequent. The treatment is palliative. Diuretics may be useful, but hydragogue cathartics are much more effective in re- lieving the symptom. Tapping may be practised wheVe the dfopsy very seriously distends the abdomen. The diagnosis be- tween ascites and ovarian dropsy is some- times very difficult. The distinctive marks can be appreciated only by the skilled phy- sician. Asphyx^ia [from the Gr. a, priv., and o<f>v^i^, the pulse], originally meaning cessation of the motion of the heart, has by usage come to signify arrest of breathing (proper- ly apnoea) by suffocation or strangulation. It occurs in'drowning, by water excluding air from the lungs; in hanging or choking, by the compression of the windpipe, pre- venting the entrance of air; in the presence of certain gases, as chlorine or pure car- bonic acid, by spasmodic closure of the glottis or entrance to the windpipe. It has been proved by careful observations that after death by asphyxia the left cavi- ties of the heart are empty, and the right distended with blood. This is owing to the fact that venous blood, not renewed by ex- posure to the oxygen of the air, will not cir- culate through the lungs, thus being forced to accumulate in the right or venous side of the heart. The mode of treatment of as- phyxia must depend on its cause. (See Drowning.) In partial strangulation, ab- straction of blood in moderate amount may unload the heart and promote the movement of the blood, after the cause of obstruction has been removed. For asphyxia from ir- respirable gases the first necessity is a supply of pure air. When the heart has almost or quite ceased to beat for a few moments, life is sometimes restored by artificial respira- tion or by application of galvanic electri- city to the chest. Asth'ma, az^ma [Gr. aad/ua, a gasping for breath], a term somewhat vaguely used to designate diseases characterized by diffi- culty of breathing occurring in paroxysms; thus, spasm of the glottis is sometimes called thymic asthma; autumnal catarrh is known as hay asthma; the dyspnoea (difficult breathing) of Bright's disease has been, with questionable propriety, called uraemic asthma; and similar symptoms arising from heart or lung disease have also been mistaken for true asthma, which, how- ever, may be associated with these various diseases. True asthma, according to Nie- meyer, includes only those cases where the point of the irritation producing the attack is either at the origin of the vagus nerve or in some remote part of its course. This does not exclude cases of reflex asthma, such, for