Report of a Committee of the associate medical members of the Sanitary Commission on the subject of pneumonia.

  • United States. Sanitary Commission.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of a Committee of the associate medical members of the Sanitary Commission on the subject of pneumonia. 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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    gravity in these cases, to wLicli attention lias not been suffi- ciently directed, is the large amount of exudation matter de- posited in the lungs. In fatal cases, in which an entire lung is solidified, the increased weight of the affected lung, due to the solidifying deposit, may be as high as four pounds. This large quantity of matter is, of course, withdrawn from the solid con- stituents of the blood.* 3. The complications of pneumonia account for the danger to life in certain cases. One of the most serious complications is pericarditis. This occurs oftcner at the South than at the Nortli. This complication does not render the termination necessarily fatal. Patients may recover, even when, in addition to this complication, an entire lung is involved. A degree of pleurisy exceeding that generally co-existing with pneumonia, and attended by considerable effusion (which is rare), accounts for the danger in some cases. It may be remarked here that the co-existing pleurisy is the source of acute pain in pneu- monia. Pneumonia, without pleurisy, is attended with little or no pain. Intermitting fever and pneumonia may be asso- ciated,—each affection serving to mask, to a greater or less ex- tent, the other. This complication is attended with great dan- ger, and calls for prompt and efficient measures of treatment addressed to the intermitting fever. In the intemperate, de- lirium tremens is apt to become developed, and prove a serious complication, claiming efficient treatment. Cholsemia, or jaun- dice, is occasionally an incidental event in pneumonia. It does not, however, denote an important hepatic complication, and does not call for active remedies designed to act upon the liver. Tlie propriety of recognizing bilious pneumonia as a variety of the disease, may fairly be questioned. * See Clinical Lecture, Kac Orleans Medical Timen, Mnrcli, 18C1, nnd the ^'elc Yoi'k Medical 21i»ne«.