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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![a whitish point, which contains a little mat- ter ; this opens and after a few days more there is discharged a slough of cellular tis- sue, and the cavity left heals, leaving a de- pressed scar. Boils often attack young and plethoric persons, and their appearance is not incompatible with robust health, al- though they may be so numerous as to greatly reduce the strength. Men in train- ing for athletic exercises, or others who have suddenly changed their habits, are subject to them. Sometimes boils continue to succeed each other for a length of time. The treatment of boils is simple. The in- testinal canal should be cleared by laxative medicines, and the digestive powers im- proved by tonics and antacids. The tinc- ture of perchloride of iron is often a useful remedy. The skin should be kept healthy by frequent washing, while the inflamed point should be poulticed. Wet lint is a suf- ficient application after the core has been thrown off. Free incision of the boil greatly hastens its course. Brain, Diseases of. See Brain Fever (meningitis). Apoplexy, and Nervous Diseases; also. Concussion of the Brain. Brain Fever is a popular name for acute cephalic meningitis (see Meningitis), a dangerous disease, characterized in its ear- lier stages by very high fever and intense headache, usually followed by delirium and death. Inflammation of the brain itself (encephalitis) is less common, but is even more fatal than the former. It is not always easy to discriminate between the two during life. Cold applications to the head and mild but persistent derivative treatment are gene- rally indicated. Breast, Abscess of, chiefly arising from overloading of the breast with milk, follow- ing childbirth. It is best prevented by a brisk purge, quinine, and febrifuges, and the unloading of the breast by the nursing in- fant, the breast-pump, thorough rubbing, and inunctions of warm camphorated oil. When abscess is formed it must be poulticed or incised. Bright's Disease (or Ne'phria), so called after the English physician, Dr. Bright, who first investigated its character, consists es- sentially of a degeneration of epithelium of the kidneys. This impairs the excreting powers of the organ, so that the urea is not properly removed from the blood. The dis- ease is characterized by albuminuria. When we apply heat and nitric acid to the urine from a kidney so affected, albumen is coagu- lated; under the microscope we observe casts of the tubules of the diseased or- gan. Headache and sickness of stomach are common symptoms, and dropsy usually attends the disease. The retina is usually attacked by a degenerative inflammatory disease, which impairs the sight, and is de- tected by the oiihthalmoscope. The causes are, indulgence in strong drinks, exposure to wet and cold, gout, and syphilis. The indications for treatment are, to remove any of those causes which may be present, relieve congestion of tlie kidneys, at the same time endeavoring to increase strength by iron and other tonics. When considerable dropsy occurs, cathartics may be called for. Bright's disease may be either acute or chronic. The prospect of recovery is small, but patients sometimes attain a comfortable, but generally a precari- ous, degree of health. Bro^ken Bones. See Fracture. Bro'ken Breast. See Breast, Abscess of. Bronchi^tis [from bronchus, and -itis,] in- flammation or hyperemia (congestion) of the mucous membrane lining the air-pas- sages, and usually accompanied by a mo-re or less excessive secretion of mucus from that membrane. Young children, old peo- ple, and those who are feeble or ill-nour- ished are especially liable to it. More or less bronchitis is usually associated with pulmonary consumption, with obstructive heart disease, and with asthma. It is often seen in patients with intermittent fever, ty- phoid, measles, and smallpox. Perhaps the most fruitful cause is exposure to sudden and extreme changes of the weather, leading primarily to that form of acute bronchitis which is known as a cold on the lungs. Influenza is an epidemic bronchitis caused by some unknown influence probably exist- ing in the air. (See Influenza.) The symptoms of bronchitis are of vari- ous character, varying according as the disease is seated in the larger or the smaller bronchi; the disease is also much more for- midable in young children and in aged per- sons than in others. There is especial dan- ger in the case of infants that collapse of small portions of the lung may ensue. Bronchitis may be either chronic or acute. Uncomplicated chronic bronchitis may re- quire the use of sedatives or tonics, with systematic exercise and careful attention to the other hygienic conditions, but the treat- ment of individual cases will vary with the circumstances and special condition of the patient. Acute bronchitis is in general to be treated by expectorants or emetics, to re- move the secretion, and by diaphoretics and counter-irritants, such as mustard, on the extremities and the chest, to relieve the con- gested blood-vessels of the bronchi. When the case is extreme and suffocation threat- ened, an infant may be often relieved by a warm bath. There are other special reme-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131041_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
