An essay on infantile remittent fever, with especial reference to its diagnosis from hydrocephalus : for which a prize of thirty guineas was awarded by the South London Medical Society, October 1849 / by Charles Taylor, M.R.C.S.

  • Taylor, Charles, M.R.C.S.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on infantile remittent fever, with especial reference to its diagnosis from hydrocephalus : for which a prize of thirty guineas was awarded by the South London Medical Society, October 1849 / by Charles Taylor, M.R.C.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    ray endeavour in the first place to give a succinct account of what is known on the subject, and have there- fore quoted fi-eely from the pub- lished works of the most esteemed au- thors ; and, in the next, have recorded my own opinions, founded on a careful study of those authors, and the results of i^ersona] experience and observation. 1 had originally appended a table of upwards of one hundred cases of fever in children, derived chiefly fi'om disi3en- sary practice, but have thought it unne- cessary to introduce it here. I would merely remark that it served to show the different forais or varieties in which fever may appear in children, some having at the time been termed simple fever, some, fever with worms, some, gastric, some, acute, others, chronic remittent fever, others, in which the term gastric was su- peradded to either the word acute or chronic. Some of the chronic cases were noted as ocurring after scar- latina, measles, or small-pox, and it also exemplified the concurrence of fever of different foi-ms in the child, with ordi- nary continued fever in the adult. The deficiency of illustrative cases I am fvdly sensible of; it arises from the circum- stance that cases of infantile remittent fever are in their commencement re- garded as of little danger; and there- fore, in short private notes, moi'e par- ticularly in a tabular form, daily symp- toms are not I'ecorded, but merely the occurrence of typhoid, cerebral, or chest symptoms, noted, without par- ticularizing those symptoms. Many other deficiencies also exist in this essay on so extensive a subject, embracing as it does that of fever in general in children ; and, indeed, to have ap- proached in any way to a complete trea- tise would require more extended ob- servation and lengthened investigation than at the time 1 was able to bestow : ihe truth of the remark quoted by Sydonhani, multum adhuc rostat opera)is self-evident, but [ ti-ustfuture of opinion on the subject, and tend to reconcile them. Among the various disorders inciden- tal to children, those of the pyrexia! form most frequently come under our notice. They may be divided into— 1st. The exanthemata; which, al- though not peculiar to infancy and childhood, are, nevertheless, more liable to occur in early life. 2d. Those which are termed inflam- matory,'' and are accompanied by more or less fever in one or other pai-t of their course. 3d. In addition to the foregoing there is stiU another class, in which fever is essentially the disease, and not merely a symptom indicative of other and more tangible lesion. In the early age of our art, it appears that many authors were aware of the existence of an affection in children, characterised by fever, to which various appellations were given. Tlie following are mentioned by Dr. Butter-i< as having described it:—Mus- gi-ave, Mercurialis, as febris sy- nochus puerorum; Timoens, febris ardens continua infantum ; Liei;taud, la fievre ardentedes eufans,'' la fievre lente des enfans ; Sauvages, hectica infantilis; Hoffman, febris lenta in- fantum, and others, not omitting Syden ham, who has described a chronic form as occurring in children. Estet symi> toma aliud, infautibus permolestum, longe diversum, et a febribus variarum annorumconstitutionum, et ab illaprox ima memorata. Est vero hecticai species, infantes diu afiligens, qua infestati sine insigni wZigwoca/ore languent, cum appe- titus dejcctione, et tam artus, quam corporis truncus ubique emaciantur.f The majority attempted to accpunt for this occurrence of fever in children, by the presence of worms, and hence we find described a worm fever, by * Butter's Treatise on Infantile Remittent Fever. t Sydnnliain, Opera. Svilenlmm Society edi- tion, p. 505.