Volume 2

A manual of medical treatment, or, Clinical therapeutics / by I. Burney Yeo.

Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: A manual of medical treatment, or, Clinical therapeutics / by I. Burney Yeo. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    15/844 (page 3)
    landsca])e which presents all that is bright and beau- tiful in Nature, and where illness and even death are robbed of many of their saddest accompaniments. It is, of course, almost unnecessary to say that cases of acute phthisis are not amenable to treatment by climate. Cases of rapidly progressing disease, especially with diffused infiltration on both sides, and considerable fever, are also to be excluded. All cases during attacks of haemorrhage, of intercurrent pneumonia, bronchitis, or pleurisy, with notable rise of temperature, should be kept at home, and the need of complete physical rest in all cases with a daily rise of temperature of two or three degrees or more should be borne in mind. Cases presenting unmistakable evidence of progressive intestinal ulceration should not be permitted to travel. With these exceptions most cases of chronic phthisis may be more or less benefited during some considerable part of their course by climatic treat- ment. With regard to the selection of a particular climate, and the conditions to be looked for in it, the absolute or relative purity of the air is, without doubt, the condition of chief importance. Compared with this, questions of small differences of temperature or of humidity are of far less concern. It must have occurred to every practical physician of some experience to see patients the subjects of chronic, stationary phthisis, with a good 'deal of bodily strength and activity, who for a long series of years will go from one health resort to another, differing materially in climatic characters, and will enjoy fairly good health in all. We should learn from observations like these that we may allow some of our phthisical patients a great range of choice in the selection of a climate, provided it complies with the essential conditions of purity and asepticity of atmosphere. We know that the air over the open sea, and the air in elevated regions, are alike in their freedom from