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.

336/430 (page 310)

$Chenopodlum Chicken-Pox THE STANDARD PHYSICIAN 31O 8 to 10 i)er cent, of fat, and 3 to 5 per cent, of milk-sngar. Artilicial cheese prepared from oleomargarine is not to be recommended. CHENOPODIUM (WORMSEED).—The seed of the Clienopodiiini an- thelminticiini, a rank weed which grows about cities and towns. The seeds are about the size of a pin-head, of a light brown colour, and have a disagreeable odour and taste. The powdered seed is a very good remedy for roundworms in children. The oil of wormseed is also used. The child should fast for about twelve hours before taking the drug, which should be followed by a j)urge. CHEST, DROPSY OF. —A disorder caused by an exudation of blood- serum into the pleural cavity. In contrast to pleurisy with effusion, there is no inflammatory ])rocess present in the pleura in this condition. This process is merely a part of a generalised dropsy, and is an accom])anying symptom of some severe disorder, as diseases of the heart or of the lungs, cancer, chronic Bright’s disease, leucocythemia, dysentery, or of cachexia due to syphilis or to malaria. The recognition of the disease demands a very careful medical examination, in order to exclude a wet pleurisy on the one hand, and to discover the underlying disease on the other. The essential effects of a collection of fluid in the pleural cavity are to cause marked pressure on the lungs and to displace the heart. Pressure on the lungs makes respiration more difficult, and a dyspnoeic condition may be brought about. The skin assumes a bluish tinge on account of the abnormal quantity of carbonic acid in the blood, and the pulse becomes small and rapid. Treatment must be directed to the underlying disease, so that no general indications can here be formulated. The accumulation of the fluid itself is only made a subject for attack in case its volume is so great as to lead to a possible danger from asphyxiation. When this is the case, aspiration of the contained fluid is indicated, which, if skilfully executed by a practised hand, is an almost harmless procedure. CHEST, PAINS IN.—The lung has so little sensitiveness that even exten- sive destruction of its tissue may take place without producing the least amount of pain. The distressing symptoms to which this name is given come from the pleura, the thoracic muscles, the ribs, or from the intercostal nerves. Pain as the result of irritation or inflammation of the pleura is very fre- quent, and in the early stages of a pleurisy it constitutes the most significant and distressing symptom. If, after the inflammatory process has subsided, adhesions are left between the pleura covering the lungs and that covering the ribs, sensations are produced which are annoying and even painful. This is due to the tearing action to which the bands are subjected by movements necessitated by the respiratory act. The pain which results from any affection of the ribs is increased by pressure over the diseased area. This is also true in fracture of the ribs,$