Observations on typhus : abridged from an essay submitted to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1840 / by Andrew Anderson.

  • Anderson, Andrew, 1818-1870.
Date:
[1840]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on typhus : abridged from an essay submitted to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in 1840 / by Andrew Anderson. 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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    frequently observed faintness of respiration appears to depend, in some cases on weakness, in most, on pulmonary engorgement. There was suffusion of the eyes in all the 65 cases; injection in 38; the pupil was dilated in 17; contracted in 8 cases. The fauces were red and congested in 42; swollen in 3; ulcerated in 2; aphthous in 2; a peculiar vesicular eruption was observed in 20 cases, or nearly i of the whole. It generally lasted a day or two, and was frequently succeeded by small dry crusts. With regard to the pulse and respiration, I have obtained some curious results. The average pulse of 36 cases, observed daily, and including 415 observations, was 108.5; the numerical frequency of the respiration, 30.5. Both are more frequent in women than in men,— in the former 114 and 34; in the latter 103 and 27, respectively. The pulse and respiration are more frequent in cases with chest complica- tion, than in those of simple fever; and the difference is greater in women; and is also, both in males and females, proportionally greater in the respiration than in the pulse, in the ratio of more than 7 to 1. But not only does this ratio vary with the nature of the disease; in uncomplicated cases the respiration is proportionally less frequent as the pulse quickens. The urine very seldom offers anything like a cloud at the period of convalescence—much more frequently in the early days. It has, dur- ing the fever, a regular progression in point of density, acidity, and the quantity of uric acid, these being all at first great, and gradually lessening to a minimum, which in the case of uric acid is nothing; after which they rise gradually as they fell. The acidity about the 14th to the l7th day is so slight, that on standing a very short time the urine becomes alkaline from decomposition. In 130 cases, convalescence occurred before the 25th day in 112, or above 86-lOOs; from that date to the 35th, in only 18, or 14-lOOths of the whole. Of periods of 5 days, then, that in which most cases convalesce, is that from the 15th to the 19th day inclusive; of those of 3 days, those from the 16th to the 18th, and from the 19th to the 21st; next to them being that from the 13th to the 15th days. The date of death was observed in only 94 cases; of periods of 5 days, the most fatal is from the 13th to the 17th; the next that from the 8th to the 12th. Of periods of 3 days, that from the 11th to the 13th is most fatal, and is followed by those from the 14th to the 16th, and from the 8th to the 10th. Of the periods of 5 days, therefore, that most fatal is also that in which most patients convalesce. Numerical Mortality in fever:— I.— With reference to Age—for the year 1837-8. Age. Admissions. Deaths. Age. Admissions. Deaths. ^ . r I to 5 ^■^^f b to 10 20 4 or 1 in 5 50 to 55 42 13 or 1 in 3.2 138 6 23 55 to 60 16 6 2.7 10 to 15 261 iO 26 60 to 65 17 ou. X 5 3.4 16 to 20 460 35 11.4 65 to 70 n 1.2 20 to 25 445 26 17.1 70 to 75 3 3 25 to 30 297 37 8 75 to 80 0 0 30 to 35 246 38 6.4 ? 12 8 1.5 35 to 40 179 36 4.9 40 to 45 142 33 4 Total, 2352 292 8 45 to 50 72 25 2.9