The cyclopaedia of practical medicine: comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc (Volume 1).
- Date:
- 1849-59
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The cyclopaedia of practical medicine: comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc (Volume 1). 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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![66 AIR, (C HA KG I- OF) the whole ingredients of the atmosphere. The present state of our chemical knowledge may not, indeed, enable us to determine what is the pre- cise nature of the other ingredients, hut we are not the less sure of their existence, and that they often exert a pernicious influence on health. The attempts of chemical philosophers to ascertain the nature of the agents now referred to, which con- taminate the air in different situations, and speed- ily produce specific diseases, or more slowly un- dermine the health, have hitherto proved most unsuccessful. Even our means of measuring some of the obvious physical qualities of the at- mosphere are still very imperfect; so that in treat- ing of them we are often obliged to employ the terms in common use, instead of the more accu- rate and definite language of science. [Even the change from a better to a worse air has been found serviceable. In Edinburgh, the inhabitants of the most airy parts of the New Town have frequently sent their children, when labour- ing under hooping cough, to the Cowgate—a filthy street, which runs at right angles under one of the largest thoroughfares in the Old Town, and in which, at a certain hour in the night, the inhabitants eject all the offensive accumulations from their houses, to be washed away by the water of the reservoirs let on for the purpose.] Although change of air implies some change of climate, in the extended acceptation of this term, yet by the former expression is commonly meant a removal from one place to another in the same country or climate. And it is in this more limited sense that we use the expression change of air on the present occasion. In another arti- cle, the medical effects of different climates, and of change of climate, will be fully discussed. (See Climate.) In the present article we shall con- fine ourselves to a few practical remarks on the principal circumstances which should guide the practitioner in prescribing change of air, in order that the patient may derive all the benefit from that remedy which his case admits of. It is upon the just adaptation of the remedy to the individ- ual case that all the advantages to be expected from change of air depend. In designating the predominating qualities of the air in different places, which give to them sev- erally a peculiar character, in reference to their effect on the human body, we shall employ terms in common use, as their import is well understood, and they are sufficiently explicit for our present purpose. The epithets soft and mild, as opposed to sharp and harsh ; moist or damp, as opposed to dry ; heavy or oppressive, as distinguished from light and elastic, are expressions in general use ; and the effects of the conditions of the atmo- sphere which they indicate, in soothing or excit- ing, in depressing and relaxing, or in exhilarating and bracing, are well known by experience. The different states of the atmosphere just noticed, exert a more powerful influence in proportion as the constitution is delicate, and, accordingly, change of air becomes a much more important remedy in the diseases of such persons. It is, indeed, chiefly from observing the manner in which invalids and delicate persons are affected by the atmosphere of different situations, that we ure enabled to estimate its less powerful influence on the more robust constitution. Habit, and the conservative powers inherent in the human system, enable man to resist, to a cer- Sl.SU 'IK- action of the deleterious quaht.es of the atmosphere ; yet no person, however strong Irnv be his constitution, will long remain altoge- ther uninfluenced by them. Their effects are tn general, observable on the organization of the inhabitants of such places, and in the manner in which the various functions of life are performed in a state of health ; and they are, perhaps, still more remarkable in the nature and character of the diseases to which such persons are most ob- noxious. Although these circumstances are more strikingly observed in the natives of different cli- mates, they are sufficiently evident in the inhabit- ants of different districts in our island. In proof of this, we need only compare, in the state of health, the firmly-knit frame, the florid counte- nance, and the elastic motions of the mountaineer, with the sallow complexion and languid gait of the inhabitant of the humid plain, or confined valley. The contrast is equally strong when these individuals are suffering from disease. In the former, we have acute, febrile, and inflammatory affections ; in the latter, diseases of slower progress, with comparatively little excitement of the vascu- lar system, but with great sensibility of the nervous system. Were any proof necessary that this dif- ference depended on the locality, we find it in the fact that persons, in removing from one district to another, gradually assume the characteristics, both of health and disease, of the inhabitants of the new locality. For example, the character of the same disease attacking the Welsh mountaineer on his own hills, will be very different from that which he would be subject to after a residence of some time on the southern shores of Devonshire or Corn- wall. The physician in the metropolis, who has constant opportunities of seeing patients from all parts of the country, cannot fail to remark how much the character of their constitutions and the nature of their diseases vary according to their place of residence. It is unnecessary to point out the important practical bearing of this observation, which so happily illustrates the well-known re- mark of Baglivi, differre pro natura lucorum genera medicinal. But our attention, for the present, must be limited to the consideration of the effects of change of air in remedying disease and improving the general health. The leading circumstances which require con- sideration in prescribing change of air, are the nature of the disease, the constitution of our patient, and the quality of air best suited to these. Before noticing these, however, it may he well to make a few remarks on the periods of disease a: which change of air can be employed with any prospect of benefit, or even without disadvantage. In acute, febrile, or inflammatory diseases, it is, of course, during the stage of convalescence only that change of air is proper : but when the con- valescence is sufficiently advanced to admit of a removal, and the season of the year is favourable for such passive exercise in the open air as a con- valescent can bear, a case will rarely occur in which the return of perfect health may not be materially promoted by such a measure. When the patient resides in a crowded city, or other confined situation, the change is more urgently called for; and, indeed, we feel convinced »hat under such circumstances, many cases of severe disease occur, after which complete restoration of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21116805_0066.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
