A practical treatise on phthisis pulmonalis : embracing its pathology, causes, symptoms and treatment / by L.M. Lawson.

  • Lawson, L. M. (Leonidas Merion), 1812-1864.
Date:
1861
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on phthisis pulmonalis : embracing its pathology, causes, symptoms and treatment / by L.M. Lawson. 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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    constitution. It would be erroneous, however, to characterize this condition as dyspepsia, or any form of primary gastric disorder; on the contrary, the acidity, nausea, vomiting, diar- rhea, and so on, met with in persons of this class, are but the results of over-eating, to gratify a craving appetite. These paroxysms of gastric disorder at once produce the impression of primary dyspepsia; and the constipated or relaxed bowels, vitiated bile, or light-colored stools, together with occasional pain in the stomach and bowels, confirm the first impression. But a careful analysis of the facts shows that the morbid con- dition is often secondary, being dependent on improprieties in diet, either in regard to quantity or quality. The dyspeptic phthisis of Dr. Wilson Philip, and the stru- mous dyspepsia of Dr. T. J. Todd, are widely different from that legitimate tuberculous indigestion to which I have referred. Dr. Philip's indigestion is a primary disorder of the stomach and liver, acting either as a predisposing or exciting cause of phthisis,-and is, therefore, no measure of the intensity, or index to the existence of a tuberculous constitution, acquired or hered- itary. On the contrary, it is merely an inveterate dyspepsia, which may ultimately lead to the deposit of tubercles. And the strumous dyspepsia of Dr. Todd is the result of primary disease, and not a necessary element of the tuberculous consti- tution. The conclusion, therefore, which appears most in accordance with the facts is this: the derangements of primary digestion incident to the tuberculous constitution can not, as a rule, be regarded as a cause of the tuberculous constitution, but that the digestive defect, whatever it may be, is a part of the con- stitutional infirmity, and therefore is an accompaniment, and not a cause, of whatever derangements ensue.