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.
501/602 (page 431)
![Tubercle and Scrofula; Gout.] SCROFULA OR deposit of lime salts in it, and become con- verted into a little solid mass in the substance of the tissue where it is lodged. Now the effects produced by the formation of such tubercles depend on the organ or tissue of the body in which the diseased process is going on. In the general disease tuberculosis the formation of the grey nodules proceeds in most of the organs of the body—lungs, liver, kidneys, lymphatic glands, bowels, membi'anes of the brain, &c., and the symptoms produced are those of a fever, and strongly resemble symp- toms of typhoid fever. This form of the disease may last two or three weeks, and its termination is death. The true nature of the disease it is extremely dithcult to recognize during life. On the other hand the formation of tubercles may be limited to one organ of the body, at least at first. Thus if the formation is principally in the lungs, it produces consumption (p. 277). In the bowels it produces consumption of the bowels (p. 105). The same process going on in the membranes of the brain is the cause of acute water-in-the-head (p. 101); and a similar tubercular deposit in lymphatic glands is be- lieved to be the cause of the swelling and break- in down of the glands that are the main fea- tures of scrofula. Recent investigations have tended to estab- lish a relationship between the growth of tubercle and the activity of some peculiar form of germ. That tubercle spreads by contagion is evident. In cases of tuberculous consumption the throat is commonly affected by tubercular ulceration, so that the voice is hoarse and may be lost; and this is due to the contact of the spit from the lungs. Moreover, in such cases tubercular ulcers are usually found in the bowels, probably because the contagious matter is swallowed and the ulceration thereby ex- tended. But definite experiments have conclu- sively proved the truth of the contagious char- acter of the disease (refer to p. .393). The tendency to tubercle is hereditary. No age is free from the possibility of an attack; but it is most common in early life. It is needless to discuss the symptoms or treatment of the general disease, and the special affections of lungs, bowels, and brain have been considered elsewhere. Where the tendency to this form of disease is known to exist in families, much may be done to avoid its appear- ance. The cenend treatment is the same as that suggested for scrofula, which, as has been already indicated, is a manifestation of the tubercular taint. KING’S EVIL. Scrofula {Struma—King’s Evil) is a consti- tutional condition in which the general health is much weakeneil, and in which there is a great tendency to slow infiammation of various parts of the hotly and to the formation of abscesses and ulcers slow to heal. (The disease was calletl King’s Evil from the idea that it could be cured by the king’s touch.) It is a condition occurring in families and descending from parents to chil- dren. The organs of the body specially apt to Slitter are the lymphatic glands, which become enlarged, softened, and readily break down, becoming converted into cheesy material. W hen it is the glands about the neck (p. 208) that are specially affected, the disease is evident, but other glands deep-seated and not within reach of examination are equally prone to the aftec- tion, which may, therefore, not be so evident. Scrofulous persons are often in early life of a pasty complexion, pale and flabby, with sluggish circulation, stunted in growth, with short nar- row chest, and prominent belly, and soft muscles. Others again are of bright fair complexion, with light red hair, and are unusinilly bright and clever. Many children, though ajiparently scrofulous, gradually grow out of this condition and become vigorous men and women. While inflammation and formation of matter in the glands are the popularly known signs of the scrofulous condition, many other organs of the body may be the seat of sci'ofulous disease. Thus some kinds of inflammation of the eyes are essentially scrofulous; scrofulous diseases of bone and joints are common; chronic eruptions and ulcers of the skin, discharges fi’om the ear and nose, are also frequently the result of the bad condition of health. Consumption of the lungs or bowels may arise from the same gen- ei’al weakness. Scrofula is believed to be a manifestation of tubercle, discussed above, and the breaking down and suppui’ation of glands, the distinctive feature of scrofula, to be the result of the deposit within the glands of tuberculous matter. Treatment.—Nothing so much aids in the progress of a scrofulous tendency than bad food, bad air, want of cleanliness, and the absence of opportunities of healthy exercise, and nothing is so effective in removing the disposition to the disease than the removal of these evils. A scrofulous child should be regularly bathed; it should be clothed in flannel. Plenty of fresh air and sunlight are absolutely necessaiy. Nothing is, consequently, so valuable as a change from a close town to the sea-coast. Moderate sea- bathing is very useful. If this cannot be ob-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28124674_0001_0501.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
