A treatise on fever, or, Selections from a course of lectures on fever : being part of a course of theory and practice of medicine / delivered by Robert D. Lyons.

  • Lyons, Robert Spencer Dyer, 1826-1886.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on fever, or, Selections from a course of lectures on fever : being part of a course of theory and practice of medicine / delivered by Robert D. Lyons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    that a sudden, copious, and complete elimiiuition of effete material )mal>ecn brought about by one or two or more channels : thus we ahull find that the patient has been affected with a moat abundant diaphoresis; or that a smart diarrhoea has survened ; or again, an excessive dejxwit has taken place in the urinary secretion. In other easels a lysis or crisis of the disease seems to be brought about by the occurrence of a haemorrhage from some particular part or organ. In this way we find, occasionally, that an epistaxis, or blooding from the nose, or again, a transudation of blood from the intestinal mucous surface, is attended by relief of all the febrile symjH toms, and seems to take the part of a true crisis. Much attention was paid by the older physicians to the subject of crisis, and with them it played a far more im]K>rtant part than our experience warrants us in assigning to it in the present day. The doctrine of critical days has been a much vexed question in the schools. Fever was supj>oscd to be a diseased action, obeying certain laws of periodicity with a precision truly marvellous. The tendency to a natural issue of the disease by crisis, on certain days, was regarded as a kind of morbid law in the system. Certain davs from the commencement of the disease were r especially regarded as critical, and if the crisis by sweat, urinary deposit, or diarrhoea did not fall exactly upon an orthodox critical day, there was much temptation to ante-date or post-date the commence- ment of the disease, and thus to make facts square with theory. The most favourite critical days were the 5th, 7th, 11th, 14th, and 21st. We are far from denying that at certain periods febrile disease pre- sents an unmistakable tendency to terminate on