Remarks on the antecedents and treatment of consumption / by Charles Drysdale, M.D.

  • Drysdale, Charles R. (Charles Robert), 1829-1907.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the antecedents and treatment of consumption / by Charles Drysdale, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    331 in 100,000 in Manchester; and actually 402 in 100,000 annually in Merthyr Tydfil. In London the annual mortality from phthisis is 277 in 100,000, or lower than Liverpool or Manchester; but nearly three times that of Berwickshire and at least three tiniPS the proportion in Norway. The annual mortality of England is 1 in 45, and the • annual deaths from consumption are 258 in 100,000 against 237 in 100,000 in Scotland, and less than 100 in 100,000 in Norway. Dr. Christi- son also informs us, that there are places where consumption has never appeared among the natives, and that the western islands of Scotland are so favoured in tliis respect, that no j)erson born and reared in these islands has been knoVn to have died of the disease, if they remained there. From the extracts I have quoted from Dr. Christison, we may learn that town-employ- ments are the great cause of pulmonary consumption, which is now the leading disease of our day; and this may not a little diminish the feelings of satisfaction with Avhich many are accustomed to dwell on the increase of population, which has latterly been so marked in the towns, although hot in the countr}'^ parts of Great Britain. Otlicr Persimal Antecede7its.—Copland and others have laid much stress on the effects of excesses in seocual intercourse or in masturbation (which latter habit generally arises from the want of normal sexual intercourse) in producing the disease. Dr. Edward Smith mentions that 11 per cent, of his phthisical patients confessed to. sexual excesses: 18 per cent, had mas- turbated ; also, that 22 per cent, had had frequent involuntary emissions. Mental exertion of too severe and long-continued a kind tends to produce tubercle; and sad emotions, especially those of disappointed love, have always been credited with the frequent production of decline. Seasons.—The influence of seasons is undetermined. Climate or Topical Infiiiences.—It is well known that con- sumption is found in tropical climates as well as in temperate zones. In South Africa, according to the traveller Livingstone, whose Medical education weU qualifies him for an observer, the disease seems to be unknown among the African tribes, as he tells us distinctly that, although he was constantly consulted by the natives for their various diseases, he never met a case of phthisis, Foverty.— One of the most frequent antecedents of phthisis pulmonalis in Europe is poverty, or the inability to obtain the necessaries of existence by means of labour or otherwise. Lombard, D'Epind, and Lebert have given sufficient evidence that this disease is much more prevalent among the poor than among the upper classes. This cause of consumption has not, in my opinion, been sufficiently dwelt upon liy medical authors ^