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
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

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.

    361/430 (page 331)
    Cold ■ stomach and intestines, which ma}' prove fatal. There is intense abdominal pain, salivation, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, often accompanied by much straining and the passage of blood-streaked mucus. There may be giddiness, dehiium, and collapse, or the patient mav remain entircH’ con- scious. In case of poisoning the stomach should be emptied if possible, and tannic acid given. The services of a jihysician are, of course, rer]uired. Colchicum is used principally in gout, and is very helpful in this condition. It is often combined with iodide ot potash for use m chronic rheumatism. The wine of the seed is given in doses of half a teaspoonful. ■ COLDS.—As a means of jirotection against too marked a reduction of the temperature of the body—which normally is 98'6°F.—-man is covered with skin. The adipose, or fatty tissue, which is found beneath the skin also contributes in this function. Fat, being a poor conductor, retains the body-heat and prevents too marked a reaction to the temperature of the environment, w'hich, w'ere it otherwise, might be injurious to the body. In temperate and frigid climates this layer of fat is not sufficient ; and hence clothes are necessary. These are likewise poor conductors of heat, and represent, as it were, an external layer of adipose tissue. The skin is supplied with numerous blood-vessels, wiiich are kept in a certain state of contrac- tion or of expansion by the nerves. If the skin is acted upon by variations in temperature, wiiich are felt as cold or as heat, the nerves in the skin convey an impulse to the cord, from wiiere impulses wiiich cause either a narrowing or a dilatation are sent to the blood-vessels. The stimulus of cold narrow's the blood-vessels, causing less blood to how^ through the skin. In this manner less blood is exposed to refrigera- tion, and thus too marked a cooling of the body is prevented. But if the blood-vessels do not contract rapidly on the stimulus of cold—that is, if they have lost their capacity of reaction ; as, for instance, in consequence of weakness—this self-protective mechanism of the body is impaired, and a large quantity of blood is cooled. The greatly refrigerated blood acts upon the internal organs and disturbs their activity, so that the many substances which should be excreted by these organs are retained in the body. As a result discomfort and chilliness, the first signs of a cold, manifest them- selves. If there happens to be any organ which has been weakened b}^ a previous disturbance, that organ w'ill be the first to suffer from the conse- quences of the cold, and will become the seat of a fresh attack of congestion. This renew'ed weakening of the affected organ permits the colonisation of bacteria, w'hich multiply, and thus may give rise to the various disorders resulting from exposure to cold. In order to prevent a cold, it is important to maintain a healthy, well- nourished skin, which is rich in blood and capable of reacting to cold stimuli (see Hardening), and also to keep up a moderate layer of fat on the body. In the early treatment of a “ cold ” it is important to induce profuse action