On the practical use of inhalations, in diseases of the throat and chest / by John Harwood.

  • Harwood, John, -1854.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the practical use of inhalations, in diseases of the throat and chest / by John Harwood. 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.

    74/78 (page 64)
    I to the exhalant vessels of the lungs, these organs are compelled to perform their functions, whatsoever may be their condition, under the great disadvantage of partially suppressed exhalation also ; thus tending to augment their disorder, or to accelerate the progress of disease, by the addition of inflammatory action.* It is a circumstance also, worthy of much more atten- tion than it receives, that the liability to inconvenience, from an unfavourable state of the atmosphere, is by far the greatest, when delicate invalids are exposed to its action, under circumstances in which no increased power whatever, of resistance to its effects, is aroused by bodily exercise. And this is precisely the case during an airing in an open carriage, in a cold, or a cold and moist wind; for then the circulation continues almost as qui- escent as in the chamber, and the animal heat, if not preternaturally augmented by the effects of actual pul- monary disease, remains at its natural minimum; and is therefore the more readily and rapidly abstracted from the system, by these causes. It should therefore be regarded as a matter of some importance, that during the months of spring, autumn, and winter, the earlier part of the day, is generally the * So important are the exhalant functions, that on an average, about a pound and a half of fluid, charged with carbon, lime, phos- phoric acid, &c., are thus thrown off from the lungs alone, during every twenty-four hours; besides an approximation to a similar quantity, insensibly and sensibly afforded by the exhalant vessels of the skin. But in warmer climates, the activity of these functions is so greatly increased, that I am informed by J. B. Estlin, Esq., that during his stay in the West Indies, more than three pounds, formed about the average amount of exhalation from the human body, during the night only ; he having ascertained the fact, by accurate experiment on several persons, all being in perfect health.