The value of meat in the preventive and curative treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis / by F. Parkes Weber.

  • Weber, Frederick Parkes, 1863-1962.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The value of meat in the preventive and curative treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis / by F. Parkes Weber. 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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    functions are only imperfectly carried out. This state of the liver in bad cases of phthisis is due, I take it, partly to the fever, partly to the imperfect aeration of the blood owing to the damaged lungs, and partly to a toxaemic condition resulting from the absorption of harmful substances from the alimentary canal and from the breaking down of tuberculous foci. In such conditions obviously the diet must be of the blandest kind. This brings me to another point. Obviously in the preventive and curative management of tuberculosis the liv^er and abdominal organs must be maintained in the greatest possible state of vigour and activity in order to make the best use of the food supplied. In preventive treatment, at least, how can this be better carried out than by insisting on a proper amount of open air exercise? By open air exercise, especially with a certain amount of up-hill work, the respiratory movements and the heart’s action are increased and the blood is better aerated; the deeper inspiratory movements exercise an intermittent squeezing or gentle “massage action” on the liver and other abdominal viscera and on the abdominal blood vessels, and thus greatly favour the portal cir- culation and the metabolic and excretory functions of the liver. Exactly the reverse is the case when a sedentary occupation is followed in the dark, close, working-rooms of large cities. In such cases, apart from the harmful influence of the tuberculous process itself, the liver is encouraged to become inactive and fatty, just as that of the goose is in the dark damp cellar when required for a Strassburg pie. The modern sanatorium treatment helps greatly to promote the circu- lation and activity of the important organs in the abdomen. By life as far as possible in the pure open air the proper aeration of the blood is maintained, and by the judicious use of hydrotherapy, muscular exercise and voluntary respiratory movements the healthy activity of the abdominal viscera is kept up so that the patient can make the best possible use of the food (notably the meaty food) which is given him. In this respect too, with reference to the question of special climates for pulmonary tuberculosis, one must admit that the rarefied air of high mountain resorts may, other things being equal, exert a special effect by its action in amplifying the respiratory movements, thus indirectly influencing the abdominal circulation and the functional activity of the abdominal viscera. 7