Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The practice of medicine / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![is often accompanied with snoring and dreaming; a liability to fits of ver- tigo and headache ; and sometimes attacks of hemorrhage, especially from the nose or from congested piles. In uncomplicated cases, there is not necessarily any special liabilhy to dropsy, or fever, or inflammation. The blood, though present in excess, may yet be healthy, and will possi- bly be distributed equally to every part of the body. The chief fear is, that owing to the distension of the vessels the walls of one or more of them will give yva,y; a result of little moment if the blood escapes out of the body, though of vital consequence if it flow into the delicate structure of the brain from some ruptured capillaries. The treatment of general plethora must consist in the adoption of a restricted diet, or the employment of non-nutritious substances; in the avoidauce of beer and all other alcoholic drinks; in lessening the hours devoted to sleep; and in the use of active exercise in pure air. Saline pur- gatives often do good (F. 165, 167, 169). The bromide of ammonium (F. 37) might be useful. So also, rather large closes of liquor potassse (F. 73) have been recommended, especially where there is a rapidly-increasing tendency to grow fat; although the efficacy of this medicine is very doubtful. In extreme cases the abstraction of blood ought to be had recourse to; the quantity to be taken being measured by the immediate effects. Venesection judiciously employed will often afford sensible re- lief; and provided the intervals between its employment be not too short, it is difficult to see what harm can ai-ise. Of course I am supposing, that though the body is healthy in structure there exists more or less dis- tress ; this being due to the blood-forming process going on too rapidly. 3. ANJEMIA.—Deficiency or poverty of blood [anaemia, from Avac/wq =z bloodless, the opposite condition to v Evat.[j.o<; := full-blooded ; sjjaneemia, from Z-avoq = thin or poor -f- aqm = blood ; hy(Uraemia, from Tdwp — water; or oligsemia, from 'OXiyoq = little] ; arises generally in cases where there has been deprivation of the proper materials necessary for the for- mation of healtlry blood; such materials consisting of good food, pure air, light, sufficient clothing to afford protection from cold, &c. Anaemia is met with where the digestive functions are imperfectly performed, as well as in the course of many serious chronic maladies. It occurs also in those diseases which are attended with a gradual draining of the circu- lating fluid,—as happens in persons suffering from bleeding piles, dysen- tery, women with rnenorrhagia or cancer uteri, &c. Profuse discharges of watery or albuminous fluids lead to it; while the same condition may of course be produced artificially by excessive venesection, the adminis- tration of mercury or antimony or active purgatives, and such like means. The ansemic state is not peculiar to any particular period of life: both males and females are equally affected by it. If the blood be analyzed, it will be found that the red globules are deficient. Instead of existing in the proportion of about 130 per 1000 parts, as in health, they are re- duced to 80 or 60, or even (in severe cases) to 30; while the hsematin in those present seems paler than it should be. The number of the white cells is probably unaltered. The fibrin usually remains as in health, though it has sometimes been found diminished [hypinosis, from Tno =](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21079961_0038.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
