Cholera morbus.

  • Great Britain. Central Board of Health
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cholera morbus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    .V CHOLERA MORBUS. BOARD OF HEALTH. College of Physicians, October 20, 1831. The following are the early symptoms of the disease in its most marked form, as it occurred to the observation of Dr. Russell and Dr. Barry, at St. Petersburg, corro¬ borated by the accounts from other places where the disease has prevailed: — Giddiness, sick stomach, nervous agitation, inter¬ mittent, slow, or small pulse, cramps beginning at the tops of the fingers and toes, and rapidly approaching the trunk, give the first warning. Vomiting or purging, or both these evacuations, of a liquid like rice-water or whey, or barley-water, come on; the features become sharp and contracted; the eye sinks, the look is expressive of terror and wildness; the lips, face, neck, hands and feet, and soon after the thighs, arms, and whole surface, assume a leaden, blue, purple, black, or deep brown tint, according to the complexion of the individual, varying in shade with the intensity of the attack. The fingers and toes are re¬ duced in size, the skin and soft parts covering them are wrinkled, shrivelled, and folded ; the nails put on a bluish, pearly white; the larger superficial veins are marked by flat lines of a deeper black; the pulse becomes either small as a thread, and scarcely vibrat¬ ing, or else totally extinct.