Volume 1
A textbook of practical medicine : with particular reference to physiology and pathological anatomy / by Felix von Niemeyer.
- Felix von Niemeyer
- Date:
- 1881
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A textbook of practical medicine : with particular reference to physiology and pathological anatomy / by Felix von Niemeyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.
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![DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGAJSTS. SECTION 1. AFFECTIONS OF THE LABTNX, CHAPTER I. ITYPEEiEMIA AjSTD CATAEEH OF THE MUCOUS MEMBEAJfE OF THE LAEYIiTX. Etiologt.—[Whenever there is hypergemia of a mucous mem- brane, active or passive, the condition known as catarrh is also more or less distinctly observable. The morbid processes characterizing this condition are very manifold, now one, now another of them predominating, thus imparting to catarrh a great diversity of form. Here a flow of mucus may prevail, due to changes in the epithelial and glandular cells ; there the main feature may be a liberation of crude round cells, the so-called pus-corpuscles or mucus-corpuscles, as in purulent catarrh or blenorrhcea. In cases even yet more intense there may be an excessive serous exudation, which imparts a watery character to the discharge, or else causes an infiltration of serum within the mucous membrane itself—oedema—instead of the usual more moderate succulence.] Now we find that fiabihty to catarrh varies greatly among persons exposed to the same exciting cause; and that in one this mucous surface, in another that, is always the favorite point of attack. Special predis- position, in some cases, seems to coexist with a thin epidermis and a strong tendency to perspire; for those who sweat readily are the more apt to be suddenly chilled by the rapid evaporation of their perspiration. Badly-nourished, cachectic persons too, who are less capable of resist- ing the action of hurtful agents, are, on the whole, more prone to ca- tarrh than full-blooded and robust individuals. In other instances there is no clew whatever to the cause of an intense predisposition to this afiection. Effeminate habits seem to aggravate it. At all events, we see that country people, shepherds, and others, who live continu- ally exposed to changes of temperature and to stress of weather, are less frequently thus affected than persons of sedentary habits, and those who are but rarely subjected to such exposure.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21508604_0001_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
