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
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.
499/602 (page 429)
![REMITTENT FEVER. district where it occurs by the clearing of jungle, and by similar means. The exercise of great care may enable one, compelled to live in a malarious district, to evade the disease. The person should sleep in the upper part of the house, should avoid going out late in the aftei- noon and early in the morning; all water should be filtered or boiled before use; excessive fatigue should be avoided; and quinine should be regu- larly taken. Whenever a person, from repeated attacks of the fever, has become constitutionally affected, nothing should be allowed to prevent removal from the malarial situation to a healthy climate for a prolonged period. Remittent Fewer {Bilious Remittent—Jungle Fever) is a form of ague, but more severe in its symptoms and of a much more fatal tendency. It is due to the same cause as ague, and presents similar symptoms. Symptoms.—The disease has its cold, its hot, and its sweating stage like ague. The cold stage is, however, very short, and hardly recog- nizable. The fever of the hot stage is very high, and this period is prolonged, lasting from six to twelve hours. The vomiting which occurs is violent and distressing. The material vomited up is first colourless, then bilious and sometimes bloody. The sweating stage is not so mai’ked as in ague. With it the fever diminishes and the other symptoms improve, and the remission occurs, which differs from the interval of ague in the important fact that the disease does not disappear for a time as in ague, but simply abates to renew its violence in a short time— from ten to twelve hours. The remission usually occurs in the morning, and the fever is at its height at midnight. Day after day the attacks recur, usually at first with increasing severity. The illness lasts from five to fovu’teen days, and a favourable termination may be expected when the remissions are distinct and last for several hours. Treatment is similar to that of ague. It is said to be well to begin with a ^nirgative as soon as the disease manifests itself, and to an ordinarily strong adult 3 to 5 grains of calomel, the same of compound extract of colocynth and of powder of scammony, with 5 grains of quinine ai’e advised. In the absence of these separate ingredients, one blue and one compound colo- cynth pill with 5 grains of quinine fonn about the same dose. No more medicine is to be given till the first remission, when 10-grain doses of quinine m\;st be administered as ad- vised for ague. If the pereon cannot retain the quinine on the stomach it should be carefully injected into the bowel (see Enema). To relieve the sickness, small pieces of ice should be given to suck, and warm cloths are applied over the stomach. When the fever remits, nourishing food is necessary, and if the exhaustion is great stimulants in repeated very small quantities. The other directions given under Ague apply equally to Remittent Fever. Rheumatic Fever {Acute Rheumatism).— Acute rheumatism is a disease accompanied by very high fever, and attended by characteristic joint pains. The tendency to the disease runs markedly in families; and previous attacks in- crease the liability of a return. It affects mostly persons under the age of thirty. Exposui'e to colds, chills after overheating, &c., are frequent causes. Symptoms.—The disease usually appears with signs of an ordinary attack of cold, such as a general feeling of illness, loss of appetite, sore throat, disturbed sleep, pains in the bones, feverishness, &c., the signs of what is commonly called an influenza cold, symptoms described under catarrh (p. 154). The chief signs of the fully formed disease are, high fever, pains in the joints, and severe sweats. The joints attacked ai'e usually the lai’ger ones, ankles, knees, wrists, shoulders, and elbows. The joints are not at- tacked all at once, but one after another as a rule, one joint getting well when another is be- coming more painful. The pain is often exces- sive, so that the person lies straight and motion- less in bed, afraid even of the slightest shake to the bed. The affected joints are hot, tinged with redness, tender to touch, and swollen. When the swelling has fallen, and the pain nearly gone, a feeling of stiffness remains. The muscles are also afiected, and liable to painful twitchings. After the pain has begun in a joint, it increases till it is very severe, and then gra- dually dies away, the swelling disappearing with it. However much the joint may be swollen, matter is pi’actically never formed in it. During the illness the whole body is bathed in sweat, which has a peculiar sour smell, easily perceived by everyone who comes near the patient. The sweats continue throughout the disease, and gradually pass off with recovery. The fever is often so high as itself to threaten life. In ad- dition to these symptoms the tongue is white, appetite bad, bowels irregular, and pulse fast (120 ])er minute). While these are the usual signs of a regular](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28124674_0001_0499.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
