A demonstration of the curability of pulmonary consumption : in all its stages. Comprising an inquiry into the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of tuberculous diseases in general / By Wm. A. M'Dowell, M.D.

  • M'Dowell, William A. (William Adair), 1795-1853.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A demonstration of the curability of pulmonary consumption : in all its stages. Comprising an inquiry into the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of tuberculous diseases in general / By Wm. A. M'Dowell, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    king the actual, much greater than the apparent, pro- portion of albumen, and reducing the constituents of the blood almost exclusively to albumen, water, and mineral ingredients. 73. Either of those principles may be in excess; and the disproportion of one, may produce an unnatu- ral condition, or separation, of another; somewhat as in the ordinary action of chemical affinity, the ab- straction or the excess of one element may cause the separation of another, or otherwise greatly modify the properties of the compound. 74. It is, for example, so well established as to be generally admitted as a pathological fact, that excess of saline matter in the blood, sometimes so changes its character as to cause excessive absorption and ulcera- tion of the tissues of the body, (scurvy;) and on ac- count of observations hereafter stated, I consider it highly probable that deficiency of saline and ferruginous matter, may be no unfrequent proximate cause of albu- minous deposits in the tissues. 75. Dropsical effusion rarely, if ever, consists of water alone; but is generally in combination with a fluid, susceptible of coagulation, which is often found to be manifestly albumen. 76. Either of these deposits, the aqueous or the albuminous, jointly or separately, and either in form of dropsy or tubercle, may occur without appreciable disorder of any of the tissues or organs of the body. Dropsy especially, experimentalists have found, may be produced in healthy animals simply by gradually and perseveringly injecting water into their veins. The surcharge presently comes to be deposited in the tissues of the body, until a general dropsy results.