Volume 1

The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others].

Date:: 1908-1909

Credit: The standard physician : a new and practical encyclopaedia of medicine and hygiene especially prepared for the household / edited by Sir James Crichton-Browne [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

333/430 (page 307)

$Chancre develop and S])read. The skin is exposed to innumerable injuries, and, as a result, these cellular intlainmations below the skin are of frequent occur- rence, especially on the lingers, where they give rise to so-called felons. The symptoms are heat, redness, and throbbing pain. The infected region swells, and also the neighbouring lymph-nodes become swollen and sore. ]:ivcn lymph-nodes at a distance may become ])ainful. In severe infections the chain of lynpdiatics leading to and from the site of infection may also show reddish and swollen. It is advisable, as a general thing, to have an incision made as early as ])ossiblc, so that the pus will not invade the deeper tissues and cause a dangerous extension of the inflammation. CEREALS.—The important cereals are wheat, rye, barley, oats, buck- wheat, Indian corn, and rice. All these products are distinguished in that they most favourably combine the principal nutritive elements needed by man—namely, carbohydrates and proteids ; in that they are rich in nutritive salts ; and in that they are inexpensive, and therefore within the reach of everyone. As stated in the article on Bread, those cells of the wheat- grain that are richest in j)roteids are arranged near the external covering of each individual grain, whereas the starch-cells (carbohydrate cells) occupy the centre of the grain. (Aits, whole wheat, rolled oats, rice, and barley furnish very wholesome porridges and soups. In spite of the high nutritive value of the different varieties of cereals, a diet based exclusively upon them is not advisable. The fact that in Asia many millions of human beings live on little but rice, while performing the severest kind of manual labour, cannot be considered determining for entirely different racial qualities and modes of living. Aside from the fact that only a part of the vegetable albumen of cereals is utilised in the body, whereas another, although smaller, part leaves it without having been used at all, an exclusive bread-diet is not without some danger to the organism. It may give rise to general affections of the bones, especially during the period of development, as well as to diseases of the stomach and intestine. These disadvantages become most manifest in individuals with mental occu- pations, whereas manual labourers, owing to their plentiful exercise and active metabolism, suffer less from these consequences. P)read, as well as porridges and soups made irom cereals, are, however, of prime importance as popular foods. These foods have the faculty, in combination with fruit, vegetables, and small quantities of meat, of preserving the full working capacity without endangering health. In ]3rc})aring cereals it is of impor- tance to cook them well, as this will make them much easier of digestion. CEREBELLUM. —See Introductory Chapters (p. 15S). CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS. -See Meningitis. CHANCRE.—A preliminary eruption in two distinct diseases, and char- acterised as hard chancre and soft chancre. For hard chancre, see \'enereal Disease ; for soft chancre, see Chancroid.$