Consumption curable : the manner in which nature and remedial art operate in effecting a healing process in cases of consumption, and by which the development of tubercles may be prevented / by Francis Hopkins Ramadge.

  • Ramadge, Francis Hopkins, 1793-1867.
Date:
[1839?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Consumption curable : the manner in which nature and remedial art operate in effecting a healing process in cases of consumption, and by which the development of tubercles may be prevented / by Francis Hopkins Ramadge. 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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    MEANS BY WHICH TUBERCLES IN THE LUNGS MAY BE PREVENTED. [The remarks of Dr. Ramadge, together with the cases which he describes, under this head, are too diffuse to be extracted here. The following is the substance of them :] The advantages derivable from short excursions, or still better, voy- ages by sea, always invited my recommendation when circumstances rendered them available. Impregnated as the sea breezes are with saline particles, they act, I conceive, as stimulants of the lungs to deeper and more frequent inspiration, and thus forward the enlarge- ment of the chest, a point to which I have more than once adverted, in the course of this work, as of primary importance. They may also be regarded as possessed of a tonic power, bracing and invigorating the surface of the body, and, by continuous sympathy, exerting a beneficial influence on the viscera, especially those connected with the digestive functions. Another strong inducement to recommend a sea voyage, in the case of persons laboring under incipient consumption, is the probability of the patient's having his chest expanded in the manner described above, and thus increasing the chances of his contracting some variety of catarrh—hence bidding defiance to phthisis. Of the different kinds of exercise I would particularize running and riding, as the most calculated to forward the purposes of prevention ; indeed, as the best general prophylactics. After a quick and brisk run, the respiration becomes frequent and deep, and the panting that ensues by exercising the muscles of the chest, favors a healthy development of that part, and enlarges the volume of the lungs. It has been my universal practice to recommend a constant attention to this healthy exercise, in those schools I have been in the habit of attending, and to advise the preceptors to promote it by every inducement within their power ; and I have never been disappointed in the results experienced. Nor are its happy effects confined to the mere expansion of the chest; by the greater portion of air thus brought into contact with the venus system, the blood becomes more effectually decarbonized, the animal heat increased, the action of the heart more vigorous, and the multifa- rious secretions are carried on with greater energy. Riding, which stood so high in Sydenham's estimation, is an exer cise of no mean value, for the self-same reasons, with this advantage, that it yields all the good effects of the former, unattended with its fa- tigue. To those, however, in whom consumption has decidedly appeared, the benefit derivable from this mode of exercise may, per- haps, be enhanced by the tendency to an upward motion imparted to