Five dissertations on fever / by George Fordyce.

  • Fordyce, George, 1736-1802.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Five dissertations on fever / by George Fordyce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    animal substance do not restore it: they combine with it, but not after a vital fashion —True means of preventing putrefaction, arc, to carry oif the fever, and to avoid all depressing causes—Hemorrhage a dangerous sign—Bark, an ounce in the twenty- four hours, the remedy—Formulas.—Convalescence—A crisis before the sixth day is followed generally by fever of an intermittent type—Notion of concoction of febrile matter to be expelled from the system, erroneous—After signs of early crisis, peruvian bark to be administered every hour f ■r forty-eight hours—A return of the fever, after an interval, shows the disease to be an intermittent, and it is to be treated as such— Crisis, brought about by preparations of antimony, ipecacuanha, or other medicines, to be followed by the exhibition of the bark—Removal of local pains and fever, by leeches, blisters, &c, does not require to be followed by the bark—Imperfect crisis, with remaining headache, foulness of tongue and depression of strength will justify the use of the bark, provided the symptoms are at first slight—In severer cases, where there are daily paroxysms, preparations of antimony, or the like, are most beneficial— A crisis, even though imperfect in the second week, would require the use of the cinchona subsequently—A crisis on the fourteenth day or afterwards, followed by a diminution of fever, indicates progressive diminution until it disappears entirely— Disposition of fever to return, great in the first week, less in the second, and very little in the third week, gave rise to the idea of there being noxious matter undergoing a concoction—Purgatives used under this impression—They do no good in this way. Mercury causing salivation supposed to be carried off by purgatives—The author's experiments lead to a different inference—Fever and relapses brought on by purga- tives— These only required when there is costiveness, and then to produce but one evacuation—Food after a crisis, in the first or second week, to be the same as that in the fever,for several days—All solid animal food to be avoided—Frequent relapses by the use of this food—Crisis, even in the third week, does not justify this kind of food. Very moderate nourishment and sleep, the means of restoring strength—Signs of sub- sidence of the fever, as enumerated, will not still justify the use of animal food— A perfect crisis in the first or second week, should authorise the patient to leave his bed and put on his ordinary clothing—So, also, after crisis in a more advanced period. ......... 309 HISTORY OF IRREGULAR INTERMITTENT FEVERS. Tf.ktia.nt, Quotidian, axii Quahtan Fevktis, Comi'ahed—Tertian thought by some to be the true fever type—'Most common deviation from the tertian type is the recur- rence of the paroxysm, after twenty-four hours, or the quotidian—Next is the quartan, or recurring lever after seventy-two hours—Deviations in both quotidians and quar- tans from the precise hour, particularly in quartans—Anticipating quotidians and quartans—Retarding ones—Indisposition in anticipating and retarding quotidians and quartans, as in the regular tertian, to return in the night time—A quotidian left to itself runs a shorter course than a tertian—The first leaves the patient in about ten ■weeks—A regular tertian in seldom less than fourteen weeks—A quartan will run on for si.v, seven, or eight months—A quotidian less apt to leave the patient free from any habitual disease than a tertian, and a quartan less than a quotidian—Sometimes, but rarely, there are quintans, sextants, and septants—■These soon return to the com- mon types—Intermittents sometimes occur at the end of thirty-six hours—To all these going through their course regularly, and whose paroxysms are not beyond eight, ten, or twelve hours, preceding remarks on regular tertian fever will apply—Iiiregclari- ties avd Accidents in Intermittent Fevers—First variation, a prolongation of the paroxysms—First cause of this prolongation, general inflammation—Sometimes this last called inflammatory fever or inflammatory diathesis—Differs from fever—It may arise, continue, and terminate, without fever—The most common symptom of general inflammation is hardness of the pulse—Difference in the sensitive powers of persons, in hearing and touch—Dr. William Hunter, and John Hunter—Their differ- ence in the perceptions of sounds, and of the pulse—Appearance of the blood when drawn from the arm, if the pulse be hard—Conditions for the blood assuming a buffy coat—Gradation, in the degree of hardness of the pulse—Obstruction of the pulse, mistaken for hardness—So have fulness and strength—Hardness, a mark of strong action of the arteries—The blood kept fluid by its life, which it retains for some time after—Hardness of pulse, an evidence of increased activity of the living power—In a 1