Pathological and practical observations on diseases of the abdomen : comprising those of the stomach, and other parts of the alimentary canal, œsophagus, cæcum, intestines, and peritoneum / by S.O. Habershon.

  • Habershon, S. O. (Samuel Osborne), 1825-1889.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and practical observations on diseases of the abdomen : comprising those of the stomach, and other parts of the alimentary canal, œsophagus, cæcum, intestines, and peritoneum / by S.O. Habershon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    with that found in more elevated situations, on the sea or its coasts, &c.; so also with reference to diet, to light, to clothing, to temperature, to habits of mental or bodily training or exer- cise • the right use of all these is not less important in the restoration to health, than in the maintenance of it, and in both cases alike, is within the province of medical science. Too frequently medicine is taxed to obviate the disease whilst its cause is pertinaciously adhered to. It is in vain to recommend to the dyspeptic patient remedies which would certainly mitigate his disease, whilst intense anxiety remains, and hurried, half masticated meals, are taken at irregular hours and without due moderation—or, again, it is useless to direct means to relieve a disturbed brain, whilst excitement is added to excitement, the senses stimulated by light, noise, animated conversation, and active thought—or to give opium to check peritonitis, to quiet muscular movement, when the patient is allowed to move from the recumbent position. The consideration of the fundamental conditions of life de- mands strict attention, not only as indicating the tendency vital action has to assume its natural direction, but also in enabling us to use and apply effective means for the removal of morbid processes; and we are at no great loss to under- stand the intellectual power and acumen of those who, be- cause everything is not known in the pathology and treatment of disease, would contemptuously discard that which is known and established. We deplore the ignorance of those who know not the value of opium in peritonitis, &c., of iodide of potassium in secondary syphilis, of purgatives and mercurials m hepatic engorgement, of preparations of steel in many forms of ana9mia, of quinine and arsenic in intermittents ; our object is not to confute errors which arise from wilfully closing the eye to light already attained, but to seek to add facts upon which science may safely advance. We have generally divided the chapters according to the anatomical divisions, rather than in a strictly pathological