Hepatitis and hepatic abscess : their ætiology, diagnosis and treatment / by G. Harrison Younge.

  • Younge, G. Harrison.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hepatitis and hepatic abscess : their ætiology, diagnosis and treatment / by G. Harrison Younge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/56 (page 11)
    very important points, viz., in that the amount of nitrogenous food is excessive during the hot season, and that the principal meal is taken daring the intense heat of midday, when the stomach is least able to digest it. It would be almost impossible to alter the former, as any diminution of the meat ration would be strongly resented by the men; but the latter might easily be altered. A light meal might be given at midday, and dinner be issued in the cool of the evening. In a recent work on “ Inflammations of the Liver and their Sequelae,” Dr. George Harley states that “gluttony and intemperance ” are the chief causes of hepatitis and hepatic abscess. Ha has been led to this conclusion by “the fact that the natives of hot climates, whose mode of life is entirely different from that of Europeans, are not one whit more liable to be affected with abscess of the liver than any man residing in Great Britain.” When he made this statement Dr. Harley could scarcely have been aware that hepatitis and hepatic abscess caused 6’33 per cent, of the total deaths in the Native Army. “ Gluttony and intemperance ” undoubtedly increase the liability to inflammation and abscess of the liver; but that they are the only, or even the chief, causes of these diseases cannot fora moment be accepted. They act by increasing the amount of work to be done by the liver; thus intensifying the effects of climate, and hastening the advent of hepatic exhaustion. On the other hand, abstinence will not insure us against diseases of the liver in the tropics. An interesting point has been noted by Surgeon- General H. H. Massy, Army Medical Staff, viz., that animals, which have been imported into India from a temperate climate, suffer severely from abscess of the liver. D.. Massy found that about 10 per cent of these imported animals died from hepatic abscess, a