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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    Diseases of Women.] there is a sense of burning and smarting, beai- ing-down pain, frequent desire to make water, and pain in passing it; aching and throbbing are felt in the passage, and walking is attended ^ with difficulty. The external parts may also be ^ swollen and inflamed. There is also dischaige, at first of clear and then of yellowish mattei-, which is often badly smelling. Aftei a shaip attack the inflammation may pass of! in a few days or weeks, or it may become chronic in pei- sons whose vital powers are depressed. ^ Treatment.—In the period of acute inflam- j mation the person should be kept at rest in bed; brisk saline purgatives, seidlitz-powders, oi effervescing citrate of magnesia, should be given, and mild food, milk, soups, &c. Sthnulo.nts must not be given. Without skilled advice hot hip baths may be given, or injections of water as warm as can be comfortably borne. The in- jection should be given with an enema syringe (Higginson’s or Davidson’s, see Plate VIII.). The nozzle should be of caoutchouc, five or six inches long, and several openings should exist round the extremity of the nozzle, not one at the very point. The person should lie on her back, with the hips raised. The water should be injected slowly, and care must be taken that it escapes quite easily. From a half to one gallon of wa- ter may be used at one time, and the injection may be repeated twice or thrice daily in sharp attacks. After the injection a medicated pes- sary of 3 grains extract of belladonna should be pushed up into the passage and allowed to re- main. It ffives great relief. When the acute stage is past an injection of 30 grains sulphate of zinc to 1 jnnt of water is to be used. At the same time any bad state of general liealth requires treatment if the disease is to be got rid of. Discharges from the passage (ir/a’i;es,ZeM- corrhcea).—The lining membrane of the passage is studded with minute glands, which produce a clear thickish fluid for keeping the parts moist. Under a variety of circumstances it is so increased in amount as to appear externally as a discharge. Just as when one has cold-in-the- head, or catarrh as it is properly called, the minute glands studding the lining membrane of the nostrils pour out their discharge, which ordinarily is simply sufficient to keep the nos- trils moist, and there is in consequence a “run- ning at the nose,” so, as the result of exposure to cold or damp, the genital passage may be affected, with catarrh and the discharge ap- pear. It may be thin and milky in appear- HITES.” ance, or thick and sticky, or yellowish. Com- monly it is whitish, and has, therefore, been called “the whites.” Besides being the result of cold, it may occur as a symptom of depressed health, in ])ale delicate girls for example, as an expression of defective nourishment. It may also be a consequence of yji’olonged nursing. The discharge may originate, not in the pas- sage, but in the womb itself, and may be the expression of some disorder there. In pale, weakly girls such a clear discharge may occur at the monthly periods without any discharge of blood. It will be the constant attendant of chronic inflammatory conditions of the pas- sage. The subject of such a chronic dischai’ge usu- ally complains of backache, discomfort in the lower part of the belly, and general weakness. This weakness may itself be the cause of the discharge, but the occurrence of the discharge will make the weak state of health all the worse. Treatment ought to be directed to the cause of the disoi-der. In states of bad general health efforts must be made to improve the general health. For such a purpose the bowels must be regulated, prefei'ably by such a gentle medicine as a mineral water, for example a wine-glassful of Hunyadi Janos each morning. A moderate amount of exercise should be obtained daily. Overwork of eveiy kind is most injurious, whe- ther in the case of the married woman who has a house and children to look after, or in that of the girl who has some business occupation in the workshop, wai'ehouse, office, or school, or in the case of the girl going in for the higher edu- cation. Easily digested, nourishing food is es- sential. Change of air and sea-bathing are very valuable, and quinine and iron tonics ought to be administered. In the way of direct treat- ment to the parts the person should restrict her- self, failing advice, to simple measures. Warm- water injections, and injections of a lotion of sulphate of zinc (2 grains of sulphate of zinc to 1 ounce of water), are useful, or injections of iron-alum of the same strength. If the dis- charge be irritating, an injection of a lotion containing ^ ounce of carbonate of soda (bak- ing soda) to 1 pint of water, affords great re- lief. If such measures fail competent advice must be obtained. Indeed, where at all possi- ble, such advice ought to be obtained from the commencement, as the inflammation may ex- tend up into the womb and onwards to the ovaries, or to the bladder, and lead to very seri- ous consequences.