Remarks on dyspepsia. Read to the Lexington Medical Society, Dec. 12, 1834.

  • Yandell, Lunsford P. (Lunsford Pitts), 1805-1878.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on dyspepsia. Read to the Lexington Medical Society, Dec. 12, 1834. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    tingling of the ears, and heaviness of the head take place, with'torpor of the limbs, feebleness of the extremities, and sensations of palpitation about the prcecordia, more intolera- ble than hunger. Patients feel themselves agitated, and as it were driven to and fro, like reeds or trees by a gust of wind; they are sleepless, though heavy, and ready to fall asleep in a state resembling coma; they are meagre, pale, languid, de- prived of strength, inactive, inanimate and indolent, but sud- denly excited to anger.* Cullen enumerates among the causes of dyspepsia, seda- tive or narcotic substances taken into the stomach, such as tea, coffee, tobacco, ardent spirits, opium, &c, frequent sur- feits, or immoderate repletion of the stomach, frequent vom- iting, drinking of warm watery fluids, and the very frequent rejection of saliva, which act immediately upon the stomach; and intense study, disorderly passions, an indolent and seden- tary life, intempr.rntum aut intempestivum usum veneris^ &c, which acting upon the whole body, or particular parts of it, yet are felt chiefly in the stomach. Aretaeus, in the chapter just referred to, says, it attacks those who from necessity have lived on thin and spare diet, and those of laborious and patient erudition, who are so absorbed in the precepts and practice of philosophy as to hold in contempt a plenty and variety of nourishment. They never change the scene, or take exercise, or indulge in any relaxation of mind; their love of learning detaches them from every other considera- tion—from their country, their parents, their kindred, from themselves, for the whole of their lives. Their whole frame becomes tabid. Pale and wan, in youth, they have all the infirmities of age; their minds, from being incessantly exert- ed in deep thought and meditation, become fickle and ener- vated: their severity of temper prohibits any indulgence in cheerfulness, and laughter and mirth are strangers to them. It may be doubted whether Cullen*s first class of causes 16 operative to the extent which he supposed. A fit of indi- gestion may be produced in a healthy person by a hearty • t>» e»u»i» «t Mgnig mm-btrrum. Lib. 2, Op. ft.