Diabetes, mellitus and insipidus / by Andrew H. Smith.

  • Smith Andrew H. (Andrew Heermance), 1837-1910.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diabetes, mellitus and insipidus / by Andrew H. Smith. 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.

    12/86 (page 4)
    of derangement. Flatulence and eructation indicate that digestion is slow, allowing time for fermentation of the contents of the alimentary canal. Gastric un^ easiness is present, and the bowels are often obstin- ately colistipated. The enormous loss of the materials from which heat is produced, and the general disturbance of the processes of assimilation and disassimilation, together with the large amount of fluid taken into the system at a temperature lower than that of the body, result in a marked reduction of the bodily heat. In un- complicated cases, this is proportionate to the gravity of the disease. In mild cases the temperature will range from 97° to 98°; in severe cases it may fall as low as 93°, or even lower. In this condition an affection usually accompanied by hyperpyrexia, as for example, pneumonia, may run its course without bringing the temperature up to its normal standard. AncEmia is a natural result of the drains to which the system is subjected, but it may easily escape ob- servation for a time, being masked by an unusual red- ness of the lips and a passive dilatation of the capil- laries of the face. Consequent upon this thinness of the blood, dropsy is frequently developed, despite the discharge of perhaps five or six times the natural amount of fluid from the body. The oedema is soft and painless, and is usually confined to the lower extremities. It comes and goes in accordance with the changing conditions of the circulation.