Cases illustrative of the cure of consumpton and indigestion / by G. Calvert Holland.

  • Holland G. C. (George Calvert), 1801-1865.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases illustrative of the cure of consumpton and indigestion / by G. Calvert Holland. 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.

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    nursing of patients, in the early stages of phthisis, is often most prejudicial. It enfeebles in place of invi- gorating the vital energies. It augments the suscep- tibility to atmospheric influences. It prevents the due elaboration and assimilation of food, without which it is impossible to correct those structural changes, or abnormal vital actions, which constitute the nature of the disease. Cod-liver oil often disagrees with the patient, or fails to produce its beneficial results, unless accom- panied with out-door exercise. Tlie remedy is to be regarded in the light of food. It has to undergo im- portant modifications in the digestive organs before it can exert its salutary influence on the system at large; and such preparatory changes, as a general rule, can be effected only when the body is placed under cir- cumstances favourable to the free and vigorous play of the powers of life. The food, at the same time, should be as substantial or nutritious as can be taken without inconvenience. The appetite, and the ability of the stomach to elaborate what it receives, should regulate the quantity, and, in many instances, the quality of the ingesta. The fear that these may be too stimu- lating, or otherwise injurious to the pulmonary affec- tion, will seldom be found to have any just weight, except when the patient, either from the advanced state of the disease, or the indolent course of life which he leads, is withdrawn from the essential accompany- ing conditions,—fresh air and exercise. Combine these, and the daily use of friction over the entire