The diagnosis and treatment of chronic nasal catarrh : three clinical lectures delivered at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York / by George Morewood Lefferts.

  • Lefferts, George Morewood, 1846-1920.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diagnosis and treatment of chronic nasal catarrh : three clinical lectures delivered at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York / by George Morewood Lefferts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    19/60 (page 17)
    LECTURE II. DIAGNOSIS. Gentlemen: Having taught you how to use the instruments for liagnosis, I propose commencing to-day the consideration of a subject tdiich I know will be of more than passing interest to you. The pa- tents that you see before you will illustrate its various phases; they will >e demonstrated in a few moments. My subject is “ Nasal Catarrh ” —- ne about which much is written to-day by the profession, much more lid by the laity. It is an extensive one, and I can not hope to treat it xhaustively in the time at my disposal in this course; perhaps it is just swell that I should not attempt to do so. What you most need, as eneral practitioners, is condensed and reliable information concern- lg diagnosis, and practical advice in regard to treatment. I have said that the subject will be of interest to you. We all hear a reat deal about “ chronic catarrh of the nose,” and you will see a good eal of it. Patients who suffer from it, and patients who have not got :, but imagine that they have, will come to you in numbers. You cer- linly, then, ought to be able to recognize it when present, to exclude : when absent, and, above all, be competent to treat it scientifically nd successfully. Let me ask just here: Do general practitioners Iways recognize it? Do they always examine for it? Are they not too pt, in too many cases, to accept the statement of the patient, make no xamination, prescribe a nasal douche and some wash, and allow the atient to disappear, perhaps to excite, in time, a catarrh where none 'fisted before? Patients will make their own diagnosis — it is corn- ion for them to do so — and often come to you for the treatment of lat which, perhaps, does not exist; often they will treat themselves, ithout any advice. The country is flooded with advertisements, pam- alets, and books on the subject of nasal catarrh. The field is a rich ae for the quack; “ sure cures ” multiply rapidly; new remedies are igerly sought for by the credulous; “ catarrh snuffs” crowd the coun- •rs of every drugstore, and “nasal douches” are manufactured and