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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    HOUSEHOLD TREASURY OF USEFUL INFORMATION. THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN. Abra'sion. See Wounds (contused, etc.). Ab'scess [hat. absces''sus,irom abs, away from, and ce^do, to go, because the pus separates itself from the rest of the body], in surgery, is a circumscribed collection of pus in any part of the animal organism, as distinguished from purulent infiltration, which designates such a collection not cir- cumscribed. The term diffuse abscess is, however, applied, though improperly, to pur- ulent infiltration. An acute abscess is one which is the result of active inflamma- tion. Cold abscess is the result of chronic inflammation. The tendency of an acute abscess is to point or come to a head; that is, from the outward pressure of the accumulating pus the walls yield mechani- cally in the direction of least resistance. In favorable cases the evacuation of the pus, natural or artificial, is the initiation of re- covery ; but if the abscess be of the cold variety, or be deep-seated and extensive, or be associated with symptoms of blood-poi- soning, the question of recovery becomes a much more complicated one. The general symptoms of abscess are fever and subse- quent rigors; the local are pain, heat, redness, and swelling, followed by soft- ness and fluctuation of the fluid contents. Abscesses should be poulticed to hasten pointing and evacuation, and to relieve pain when mature they may be evacuated by incision. Ac'ne. See Skin Diseases. Ad^dison's Disease [named from its dis- coverer, the late Dr. Addison of Guy's Hos- pital, London], or Supra-renal Melasma, a rather rare disease, the most obvious symp- tom of which is a gray-black or bronze color of the skin, gradually coming on. The chief lesion discovered after death is a cheesy de- generation of the supra-renal capsules, the result of peculiar chronic inflammation. Pa- tients usually suffer from extreme debility, depression of spirits, pain in the epigastrium and back, often accompanied by dyspepsia, vomiting, diarrhoea, and grave nervous symp- toms. No remedy is known, and the dis- ease, though careful nursing is extremely useful, is probably never cured. A'gue [probably from the Fr. agu, an old form of aigu, sharp, in allusion to the violence of the disease] is the common name for the Intermittent Fever (which see). Albuminu^ria [from albumen and the Lat. urVna, urine ] is the presence of albumen in the urine, constituting a very important symptom of disease. Albumen is sometimes observed in small proportion in the urine of persons apparently healthy. Artificial ob- struction (by vivisection and ligation) of the emulgent veins in the lower animals pro- duces albuminuria, thus illustrating the fact that passive engorgement of the kidney may cause this symptom, as in organic disease of the heart. Albuminuria has been reported as following the injudicious use of oil of turpentine, in which case it results from an active congestion of the kidney. Albumi- nuria is sometimes associated with dyspepsia, in which case it may be either a temporary and probably unimportant symptom, or a precursor of Bright's disease-—a malady which is among the most formidable of all with which we have to deal. In the latter disease it is chiefly due to two causes—(1) checked perspiration by exposure of the body to cold and wet, and (2) excessive use of alcoholic drinks. This symptom has also been observed in malarial and typhoid fe- vers, pneumonia, smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, erysipelas, peritonitis, consumption, pregnancy, rheumatism, leucocythsemia, pur- pura, and a great variety of other conditions. In most cases it results from a degeneration of the kidney, characterized by swelling, opacity, and molecular decay of the renal epithelium. Albuminuria is detected either by acidu- lating and boiling the urine in a test-tube