Volume 1

The household physician : a family guide to the preservation of health and to the domestic treatment of ailments and disease, with chapters on food and drugs and first aid in accidents and injuries / by J. McGregor-Robertson ; with an introduction by John G. McKendrick.

  • M'Gregor-Robertson, J. (Joseph), 1858-1925
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The household physician : a family guide to the preservation of health and to the domestic treatment of ailments and disease, with chapters on food and drugs and first aid in accidents and injuries / by J. McGregor-Robertson ; with an introduction by John G. McKendrick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Household Physician PART I. THE HUMAN BODY; ITS VAEIOUS TISSUES AND OEGANS, CONSIDEEED AS TO THEIE STEUCTUEE AND FUNCTIONS, (1.) IN THE STATE OF HEALTH AND (2.) AS ALTEEED BY DISEASE. INTRODUCTION. Health: Its Conditions. Disease: Its Kinds—Organic and Functional; Congenital; General or Constitutional and Local; Zymotic— Epidemic, Endemic, Sporadic—Hereditary and Acquired; Acute, Subacute, and Chronic. Its Cawses—Predisposing: Age; Sex; Surroundings; Occupation and Habits; Heredity; Previous Disease—Exciting: Mechanical; Chemical; Vital. Its Detection—Subjective and Objective Symptoms; General and Special Examination of the Body; Diagnosis and Prognosis. Its rreutment—General and Special; Preventive, Palliative, Specific, and Expectant. The human body in health may very well be compared to a steam-engine in thorough work- ing order. Such an engine is made up of a great many different parts, each of them of good material, well made, and each part accurately fitted into its proper place. The furnace is sup- plied with its due quantity of coal, the boilerwith its due quantity of water; and steam is produced in proper quantity to drive the engine. Now the result of the orderly and harmonious action of all the parts is that, as soon as the motive power is apjTied, the engine is propelled along the road, regularly, and smoothly, and speedily. It is not sufficient, however, tliat the engine should start in good order, it must be main- tained in good order. This is the work of the engineer, whose business it is not only to drive the engine, but also to take care that nothing is permitted to interfere with it, that the boiler is kept clean and duly replenished with water, that the smoke has free vent, and that the ashes, or whatever would choke the furnace, are regularly got rid of, and in every other way to keep it bright and clean. This is a picture of the human body in health. It, too, is a machine made up of many different parts or organs, as they are here called, bones and muscles, heart and lungs, liver and stomach, brain and nerves, and so on. These parts must be Avell made; tliere must be no flaw or defect in their struc- ture. It, too, has its driving force, or motive n power, obtained from the food which has been digested by the stomach and bowels and passed into the blood. Here also each organ, or part of the body, ought to work in union and har- mony with every other part. The human ma- chine likewise produces its waste materials, and these, like the smoke and ashes of the steam- engine, must be regularly got rid of. Thus the comparison of the living human body to the working steam-engine enables us to see that for health there are, generally speaking, three things necessary, viz.: I. The different parts of the body must be without defect, each organ must have its struc- ture ])erfect; and the different organs must work harmoniously together. II. The motive jmwer must be regularly maintained; that is, the body must be properly nourished. III. All waste materials produced by the work of the body must be regularly expelled from it, else they will collect in the blood and so interfere with the healthy condition of the body. Now let us see more exactly what these con- ditions of health mean. I. While perfect structure of every j^art is the first condition of health, there are certain imperfections that may exist, and yet it is not possible to say that disease is present. Thus a man may have lost a limb or an eye, or be deaf on one side, and yet be perfectly healthy. Or