Consumption : its nature, prevention, and homeopathic treatment / (with illustrations of homeopathic practice).

  • Hitchman, William.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Consumption : its nature, prevention, and homeopathic treatment / (with illustrations of homeopathic practice). 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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    air, which is that air remaining in the lungs that can- not he expelled by the most violent effort. 2. Reserve air, or that which remains in the lungs after a gentle expiration, but which could he expelled hy muscular effort. 3. Breathing air, that which is required in per- forming the ordinary inspiration aod expiration. 4. Complemental air, that air which may he drawn into the lungs by the most violent inspiration. 5. Vital capacity, all the three latter combined, being the greatest voluntary expiration following the greatest inspiration. The quantity of air which can he expired does not depend upon the girth of the thorax, but the height of the individual, and this being known, the num- ber of cubic inches he can expire in a healthy state may be ascertained with accuracy ; the application of this principle, therefore, in the diagnosis of consumption is most important. I have uniformly found that persons who are the subjects of a decline expire a quantity of air very much less than they ought to do if healthy. In many cases the quantity of air expired when patients were in health was exactly measured, and the experiments being repeated some time after, they were found to expire a great many inches less than on the first occasion; at this time no disease whatever could be detected in the lungs hy experienced auscultators, albeit they died of consumption some months afterwards, as proved beyond doubt by post-mortem inspection. The ordinary or natural weight of each individual may differ from the above standard, both in excess and defi- ciency, but at all times deficiency of weight tends to show deficient nutrition. The absolute loss of weight in con- 2