An essay on pyrexia, or symptomatic fever, as illustrative of the nature of fever in general / by Henry Clutterbuck.

  • Clutterbuck, Henry, 1767-1856.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on pyrexia, or symptomatic fever, as illustrative of the nature of fever in general / by Henry Clutterbuck. 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.

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    tongue undergoes a remarkable change. In most cases, its upper surface (and this only), instead of the usual florid colour which belongs to it in health, becomes covered, to a greater or less extent, with an apparent crust, or fur, as it is called*, that differs in thickness, colour, and other respects, at different times, so as to afford the most important indications, not merely of the existence of pyrexia (and there- fore of its cause, inflammation), but likewise, in many cases, of the degree and quality of the inflammation, the danger that attends it, and, sometimes, even of the particular seat it occu- pies in the body. In slight febrile disorders, that are appaiently without danger, the fur on the tongue is of small extent, and confined to the middle and back parts of its surface ; and it is also generally thin, and light in colour. If the disease be on the increase, the fur on the tongue becomes thicker and more extensive, so as often to cover the whole of its upper surface. It also acquires * it is not, however, a deposition of foul matter on the tongue, but an alteration of its natural covering, the cuticle.