Domestic medicine : a treatise on the practice of medicine, adapted to the reformed system, comprising a materia medica / by J. Kost.

  • Kost, J., 1819-1904.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Domestic medicine : a treatise on the practice of medicine, adapted to the reformed system, comprising a materia medica / by J. Kost. 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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    already been stated that the preternatural oxydation explains all the symptoms common to fever. The premonitory symptoms of intermittents, remit- tents, and continued fevers, characterized by a sense of languor, listlessness, drowsiness, stupor, yawning stretching, and depression of spirits, which are so gen-, erally noticed by authors, could only be expected as legitimate consequences of a diminished state of the vital energies, brought on by the remote causes, as already stated. The chill which succeeds or accompanies the state of languor, is dependent upon a morbid sensation of the nervous system, common to a want of vital integrity, as is illustrated by the sedative effects of cold. Cold, as is well known, has no inherent power to produce a shake as in ague; for we find that in such parts of the body where the nervous circulation is obstructed by ligatures, the peculiar effect here referred to does not take place. Many different sedative agents are capable of produ- cing this sensation or effect upon the nerves. Thus the effects of the various passions, as joy, anger, grief, fear, &c, present the same phenomena, wThen the exciting power of the passion is over. Intense pain, likewise, is capable of modifying sensa- tion. Thus in the passage of biliary or urinary calculi, and the formation of pus, as well as in painful surgical operations, or even in toothache, we often find that the effect upon the nerves is the same, and the sense of chill, rigors, and even shakes, are produced. It is certain that the sense of chill and the shake of ague, is not, in this instance, occasioned by cold, as we find the heat of the body is about the same as in the natural state. Nor will heating the body remove the chill. The author has frequently seen patients shake most violently in the vapor bath of the highest endurable temperature.* The excessive oxydation which is con- sidered as the proximate cause of fever, and which we know, from the acknowledged laws of our constitution and the physical elements, must of necessity be liable to take place in this exposed condition of the system, is * The fact that tonics are better remedies for agues or chills than simple stimulants, goes far to establish the above position.