A treatise on pulmonary consumption : comprehending an inquiry into the causes, nature, prevention, and treatment of tuberculosis and scrofulous diseases in general / by James Clark.

  • Clark, James, Sir, 1788-1870.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on pulmonary consumption : comprehending an inquiry into the causes, nature, prevention, and treatment of tuberculosis and scrofulous diseases in general / by James Clark. 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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    will have the positive assurance that his diagnosis is correct in a very large proportion of cases. Yet it often happens that a patient presenting all the indications of tuberculous disease which have just been stated, is said, and believed to be, merely threatened with disease of the lungs, or to have an affection of the trachea or bronchi; and it is commonly added that, with care, all will do well. This arises from the habit of trusting to sypmtoms alone for a knowledge of disease, and of neglecting pathological anatomy, without a knowledge of which the physician is unable to connect the external pheno- mena of disease with the morbid condition of the organ. Second stage.—The circumstance which has been Con- sidered as indicating the transition from the first to the second stage of phthisis is a remarkable change in the expectoration. The colourless frothy fluid, which had hitherto been expecto- rated, is observed to contain small specks of opaque curdly matter, of a pale yellowish colour ; the proportion of which gradually increases, forming patches surrounded with the transparent portion in which it seems to float. Specks or streaks of blood are also often observed in the expectoration at this time. With this change in the expectorated matter, the Other symptoms generally increase ; the cough becomes more frequent, the evening chills are more severe, the succeeding heat of skin is greater and more general, and the morning perspirations are more abundant and more regular in their recurrence. The hectic fever is now established ; the pulse is frequent at all times, and the respiration hurried, even when the patient is at rest. The loss of flesh is very evident, and what remains is soft and flabby ; the sense of languor and debility increases, and the patient feels himself quite unequal to the bodily and mental exertion to which he had been accustomed. The face is generally pale during the day, while a circumscribed flush of the cheek is often remarked towards