Volume 1

Indigestion, biliousness, and gout in its protean aspects / by J. Milner Fothergill.

Date:
1881-1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Indigestion, biliousness, and gout in its protean aspects / by J. Milner Fothergill. 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.

    300/344 (page 288)
    patients with a liver will soon find that this is a prac- tice not adapted to their individual requirements; nor calculated to improve their condition. Abstinence and self-denial must rule them in their every-day walk in Hfe. But all are human, and, as such, hable to err—to slip on the narrow path ; and if a family festival, or an important celebration should lead to some departure from the beaten track, a mercurial pill and mineral laxative are permis- sible ; but they should be resorted to with a distinct sense of failing, of weakness, like the conviction of sin experienced by a penitent at the altar. When at the sea-side it is not advisable for persons who suffer from any form of hepatic derangement, to bathe much in the sea; especially in the early morning. The dip should be brief and far short of any chill. It should be taken about 11 a.m., and be followed by a walk. The warm bath followed by an hour or two in bed to keep up the action of the skin, is a measure which has much to be said for it; and agrees with many very well. But each case requires its own management adapted to the patient's wants, requirements and exigencies. The attempt has here been made to describe the digestive act in the alimentary canal first, and then after that the function • of the hver ; to give the readers the broad lines upon which to proceed. Sometimes the track is clear and distinct; sometimes broken and indistinct, despite the hght which advancing physiology is throwing upon it. The liver is the largest of all glands—has a function proportioned to its size. Up to a recent period we knew nothing of its func- tions, except the production of bile. Now, however, we re-