A treatise on derangements of the liver, internal organs, and nervous system : pathological and therapeutical.

  • Johnson, James, 1777-1845.
Date:
1820
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on derangements of the liver, internal organs, and nervous system : pathological and therapeutical. 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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    from one where so important an organ as the lungs has suf- fered ; the greatest presence of mind is necessary to restrain the patient's appetite, which almost invariably exceeds the power of digestion, and produces a tendency to return of the febrile state. But this is not all; blood is formed in such abundance by the new supply of food, that the excre- tions are not adequate to keep a proper equilibrium in the circulation; hence, the slightest degree of plethora is apt to oppress the weakened organ, and relapse is the consequence. This caution cannot be too strongly impressed on the practi- tioner's mind, since any sanction which he may give to the solicitations of the patient or friends, will certainly be re- membered when the sinister occurrence takes place, and all the bad consequences will be laid to his charge. Subsect. 2. Asthma. This disease has been very use- lessly divided into almost as many species as there are excit- ing causes or morbid complications. There is but one species of convulsive, or periodical asthma, although it may be com- bined with various diseases which obstruct the free function of the lungs, occasioning more or less of permanent diffi- culty of breathing, which difficulty is always greatly aggra- vated during the proper asthmatic paroxysm. Thus there may be, and too often is, organic disease of the heart com- bined with asthma, and then we have angina pectoris. The lungs of an asthmatic individual may become, as the weak point, the seat of irregular gouty irritation; then we have gouty asthma. There may be dropsy of some of the pec- toral cavities, forming a dangerous complication; or there may be tubercular disease of the lungs themselves ; for there is nothing in asthma to forbid consumption, or vice versa. There is no disease which presents a finer specimen, or a more decisive illustration of atmospheric influence over the human functions; or of that broken balance in the excite- ment and circulation, which thence results, than asthma. The whole of the symptoms, predisposition, and consecu- tive phenomena give evidence to this statement. Symptoms. Preceding sense of fulness, tightness, flatu- lence in the epigastric region; with yawning, and discharge of pale urine. These symptoms are followed in the night by the above sensations in the chest, thus shewing the incipient oscillations of the vital power or excitement, accompanied, of course, by vascular derangement. It is remarkable, that the first warning symptom is often a sudden inclination to stool, or intestinal irritation, which as quickly shifts its seat to the stomach, and then flies to its favourite station, the chest.