The great difficulty of treating disease, by those who are not physicians, is the liability to mistake the character of the affection, being unable through obscurity of the symptoms to ascertain the organ or tissue affected. Without entering minutely into diagnosis, the author will endeavor to simplify the study of morbid conditions of the human body, so that the unscientific may more readily ascertain the disease and apply the appropriate remedy or treatment. 1. General condition pertaining to:
2. The general appearance of the patient.
3. The position or posture.
4. The sensations of the patient. Whenever any of these conditions are at variance with the normal state, the presumption, or rather certainty, is that some organ or tissue is assailed by disease. Some of the general indications of the patient in many cases often make known the character of the affection, when not suggested by other symptoms. For instance, the skin is remarkably moist and soft in delirium tremens; the perspiration profuse and sour in acute rheumatism; exhausting sweats in the latter stages of consumption or profuse suppuration; the crackling feeling of emphysema, and the pitting under pressure in dropsy. The pulse is hard and wiry in abdominal inflammations; in acute hydrocephalus its frequency is very great, slow and labored in brain diseases, irregular in disease of the heart, almost imperceptible in cholera or in the latter stages of the low fevers. The tongue covered with a thin white layer is indicative of disorder of the stomach; when patchy, the stomach is considerably irritated; when yellow, the patient is bilious; when shining, glazed, and chapped, it indicates long-continued inflammation or ulceration of the bowels; aphthous patches indicate imperfect nutrition, etc. In cholera the stools resemble rice-water; when clay-colored, it denotes a deficiency of bile; when yeast-like, fermentation takes place instead of digestion. The urine is dark-colored in fevers, very limpid and abundant in hysteria, scanty in dropsies, acid in rheumatism. The aspect is often very significant. In scrofula the corners of the nose and lips are swollen, in chlorosis a waxy pallor is observed, in malignant diseases a sallow hue, in heart-diseases a blue color of the lips, in pneumonia a dusky flush, in phthisis a hectic flush. When the expression is anxious, it indicates disease of the heart and dyspnoea; when pinched and contracted, there is much suffering, as in the low forms of fever; the skin is white in anaemia, yellow in jaundice and malignant cases; it has a muddy hue in splenic diseases, blue in cholera, and livid in commencing mortification. If the patient's head is elevated by choice in bed, it denotes heart-disease; when he is very feeble he lies on his back; in peritonitis the knees are drawn up; in cramps or pain of the abdomen, he lies on his side. In order that the reader may not have a confused
idea of what is meant by inflammation, I will describe it insomuch as to
give its phenomena. These are redness, heat, swelling, and pain.
When all these are present it constitutes inflammation. When a fever
or disease partakes of this character, it is inflammatory. Chronic
inflammation is characterized by all the essential conditions of the acute
form, differing, however, in this, by being preceded through all its changes
with symptoms so mild that it is only after a certain time that the patient
is much inconvenienced constitutionally. Inflammation always denotes
increase of activity of the vascular system. When of a localized
character, the increase is noticed in the capillary circulation; when general,
as in fevers, or of some important organ, the whole circulatory apparatus
is abnormally active.
MIASMATIC FEVERS These, as signified by name, owe their origin to, or are caused by, a peculiar principle to which the name of malaria or miasm has been given. Of the chemical nature of miasm we literally know nothing; but we have abundant evidence that it is a specific cause of disease. There are, practically, two kinds of malaria: First, koino-miasmata, the product of vegetable decomposition, or terrestrial emanations; second, Idio-miasmata, the deleterous effluvia originating from the decomposition of matter derived from the human body. Both of these are prolific causes of disease, yet the profession, owing to the subtile nature of the miasms, are in a great degree ignorant as to the manner of operation. These two causes may act separately, and produce their different symptoms, or they may operate together, causing a confusion of morbid phenomena. "Marsh gas," or the product of vegetable decomposition,
owing to its diversification, is of course the greater cause of disease.
Two requisites, heat and moisture, are necessary for its production; and
hence, where these abound in any quantity, so proportionably is the miasm
evolved. For this reason, low, marshy lands are at certain seasons
very unhealthy, while those regions at a greater elevation are peculiarly
healthy in this respect. Wherever vegetation is profuse, and to which
abundant heat and moisture are contributed, there we may reasonably expect
a plentiful product of miasm and consequent disease. Experiments
have proved that in decomposition of vegetable matter, animal matter--infusoria--is
produced in very rapid succession, having an exceedingly short-lived existence.
These infusoria are inhaled at every breath, as the air contains swarms
of them, but which are imperceptible to any of the senses. It is
reasonable to suppose that they, in a great measure, contribute largely
to periodic fevers. The diseases generally classed as Malarial are
Intermittent, Remittent, Yellow, and Typhus Fevers.
INTERMITTENT FEVER This is commonly called Fever and Ague, or Chills and Fever. As the name implies, the fever is not constant, as in the continual fevers, but intermits, so that in its career there are well-marked periods of absence of febrile symptoms. It is a fever characterized by a succession of attacks, with equal intervals and intermissions, that are complete, but irregular, owing to the paroxysms being of uncertain duration. By interval is meant the time from the beginning of one paroxysm to the beginning of the next, and by intermission the period of time between the close of one parosysm to the beginning of the next. The length of the interval determines the the variety of ague. When the interval is twenty-four hours, it is called quotidian; thirty-six hours, tertian; and when seventy-two hours, it is called quartan. These varieties duplicate, and are then called double quotidian, etc. The disease is announced by a proxysm which has three stages, the cold, the hot, and the sweating. The cold stage is well marked; the patient yawns, has a feeling of weakness, stretches, no appetite, and no inclination to move. Paleness is observed in the face and extremities; the patient shakes, the teeth chatter, and the skin shrinks, causing horripilation or "goose'flesh." When this stage declines, the hot stage comes on, which is characterized by a high fever. This is followed by the sweating stage, which increases from a mere moisture at first to a profuse perspiration. After this the body returns to its natural temperature, and apparent health returns. During the cold stage the circulation is thrown upon the internal organs, the spleen becomes congested, which organ is enlarged, causing what is known as the ague cake. A quotidian begins generally in the morning, a tertian at noon, and a quartan in the afternoon. The cold stage is shortest in the quotidian, and longest in the quartan. Intermittent fever is more common in the spring and autumn than at other seasons of the year, and in fall more severe and dangerous. TREATMENT. -- Commence treatment with a cathartic, as senna or the Renovating Pill. In the cold stage give hot drinks, and even stimulants may be of service. Induce warmth and comfort by extra covering, foot-baths, bottles filled with hot water applied to the surface, etc. In the hot stage, cooling drinks and anything that mollifies febrile action. When an intermission ensues, administer Peruvian
bark, or, preferably, one of its active principles, quinine. This
can be given in a large dose, or smaller doses repeated. Fifteen
grains may be given at once or in successive doses. It may be taken
in pills or in solution with elixir of vitriol. Quinine is a specific
in this disease, and it rarely ever fails in curing every case, if the
patient be placed under its influence. Peculiar head symptoms and
buzzing in the ears denote the influence of this admirable remedy.
My experience has not taught me that there is much danger in an overdose,
and I consider it more or less harmless; yet, like every other remedy,
it must be judiciously and intelligently administered. The web of
the black spider rolled up in five-grain pills, and taken, one pill at
a time every two hours, is a valuable domestic remedy. Decoctions
of dogwood bark are successful in many cases, so also of the bark of the
tulip tree.
REMITTENT FEVER This is commonly called Bilious Fever. It is a disease whose attack is generally sudden and well marked, without prominent premonitory symptoms, if any, at all times. There is sense of languor and debility for a few days previous to the onset; slight headache, lack of appetite, furred tongue, bitter taste in the mouth in the morning, pain in the joints, and a feeling of uneasiness. The first onset is announced by a rigor or chill, distinct in character, though generally brief and sometimes slight, but at times severe and prolonged. Sometimes the chill is first felt in the feet; at other times commences at the shoulder-blades, or in the back, running from thence through the whole body. Usually there is but one well-marked chill; the paroxysms of fever returning subsequently, and seldom preceded by a cold stage. The symptoms of this disease intensify at certain periods of the day; preceded occasionally, but not generally, by a chill. Between this period of severity in the febrile symptoms and a similar period following there is generally a decrease in the violence of the symptoms, during which the fever moderates, but does not, as in intermittent fever, totally disappear. It remits in severity, and hence the name. The pulse in the hot stage ranges from one hundred to one hundred and thirty. The pains in the head, back, and limbs are almost insufferable. The covering of the tongue is yellowish or dirty white, and in severe cases, in the advanced stage, the tongue is parched, brown or nearly black in the centre, and red at the edges. Food is distasteful, and nausea and vomiting ensue, with frequently pain, upon pressure, in the epigastrium. The bowels are at first costive, but become loose, and the faeces are dark and offensive. TREATMENT. -- Give an emetic or cathartic in the formative stage. When the disease is fully developed, sponge the body all over several times a day with cold or tepid water, whichever is most grateful to the patient, and give cooling drinks, as the effervescing draught. When the fever is high, moderate it with tincture or fluid extract of green hellebore, in doses of from three to ten drops. Dover's powder should be given as a diaphoretic. Ice-water can be drunk at pleasure. A mustard poultice should be placed over the pit of the stomach whenever tenderness exists. Quinine is the great remedy in this disease also, and should be administered in the same manner as advised in fever and ague. It is to be given in a remission. Whenever the fever has been subdued by large doses of quinine, its administration should not be abruptly ceased, but be continued in smaller or tonic doses for several weeks afterward. There is a form of fever called Congestive. It is also called pernicious fever. It is not essentially remittent, but may also be intermittent in character. The congestion may only operate upon one of the internal organs, or upon all of them. Congestion may ensue in the earlier or later stage of the disease. There is usually congestion of the brain, and profound stupor follows. It assumes all types of periodic fevers, but is more frequently quotidian or tertian. The first attack generally simulates a simple attack of intermittent, and excites but little attention. The second attack is severe, producing great coldness, and the patient has a deathlike hue of face and extremities. As the disease advances, the heat of the skin becomes pungent. The skin also becomes dry, husky, and parched, followed, after a time, by a cold, clammy sensation. The eyes are dull and watery, and at times glassy, the countenance dull, sleepy, and distressed; the tongue trembles upon protrusion, indicating weakness, and is at first covered with a whitish fur, which changes to either brown or black; the breathing is difficult, and inspirations often thirty to the minute. Pressure over the liver, stomach, or bowels occasions pain; and the mind is often disturbed, and falls into lethargy and stupor, or is delirious. The treatment is the same as in remittent fever. Quinine and the other remedies are of the same signal service. In stupor friction is to be made along the course of the spine with spirits of turpentine or ammonia. In convalescence the diet must be light and nutritious, and as strength returns may be increased. Exercise out of doors should be encouraged. If recovery be slow, it should be hastened by wine, ale, or brandy, and the usual vegetable tonics. Any person who is suffering from almost a continuity
of the disease, or the so-called chronic form of malarial fever, desirous
of corresponding with me on the subject, I should be most happy to reply
to, for in the vast and beneficent domain of Herbalism there are many remedies
that can be advised as curative, to mention which would occupy too much
space in a volume of this size. We can be eclectic in Nature's laboratory.
YELLOW-FEVER The first symptoms of this fever seem identical with remittent, often well marked by periodicity, but finally reaction occurs, and it assumes a typhoid character. The disease is ushered in generally with a chill, severe at times, though usually moderate, of short duration, and rarely repeated. The chill is followed by slight fever, with increased heat of surface; but this rarely rises to any considerable height, and continues only for two or three days, when, in cases likely to prove fatal, it is succeeded by coldness of surface, etc. Sweating exists in many cases. The pulse is singular in character, but rarely rises above a hundred; the tongue is moist and white for the first few days, but as the disease advances it becomes red, smooth, shining, and dry, having a black streak in the middle. The most prominent symptoms are nausea and vomiting. In fatal cases the vomiting is persistent, and towards the termination the green biliary matter thrown up changes to a thin black fluid, having a sediment like the grounds of coffee. This is the terrible black vomit (vomita-nigra)of yellow-fever. The bowels are generally costive, and the abdomen tender upon pressure. Severe headache generally exists, and the countenance bears a singular expression, in which a smile seems to play upon the lips, but the rest of the face bears a wild or sad look. Restlessness is common to this disease night and day. Blood often escapes from the nose, gums, ears, stomach, bowels, and urinary passages. The skin bears a tinged color similar to that in jaundice. The disease appears both endemically and epidemically. At first the disease is hard to recognize, presenting but the usual symptoms of fevers in their incipient stage, with no symptoms to distinguish the disease, or, if any, very obscure; but when the severe pain in the back and loins exists, the conjunctiva injected, and a red flush of the face and forehead is present, the identity of the disease is no longer in doubt, especially when extraneous circumstances, calculated to suggest the probability of an attack of yellow-fever, are also present. TREATMENT. -- In the early stage of the attack it should be treated, as regards medicines, the same as a case of malarial fever. If any derangement of the stomach exists, a gentle emetic is proper; this rouses the nervous system from its lethargy, promotes the action of the liver, and, by determining the blood to the surface, restores the capillary circulation. The best emetic for this purpose is lobelia combined with boneset. The febrile stage requires a thorough bath with tepid water and whiskey over the entire surface, with friction by rubbing with a towel or the hand. Large mustard poultices should be placed over the spine and abdomen. Immediately upon the decline of fever, if the symptoms denote urgency, administer the antiperiodic remedies advised in intermittent and remittent fever. The sulphate of quinia may be combined with tannin, because the astringent properties of the tannin have a beneficial effect in subduing inflammatory action of the mucous membranes. This remedy should not be delayed a moment if the patient is in a period of prostration, and its retention by the stomach should be favored by anodynes, carminatives, or stimulants, as the case may require. Oil of turpentine and Cayenne pepper can also be combined with advantage in this disease. The strength of the patient must be supported by every means that can be employed -- gruel and weak animal broths, bread-water, my nutritive fluids, milk and water, etc., are important means for this object. The revulsive influence of a blister over the stomach is of great service in this state. If reaction is induced and convalescence established, the remaining strength of the patient must be careully husbanded by proper tonics and wholesome and digestible diet, increasing the quantity as the patient gains strength. All exposed to yellow-fever should avoid the night-air
and sudden changes of temperature; they should sleep in the highest part
of the house; be moderate in taking exercise; they should take nutritious
but not stimulating food, and never expose themselves to infected air with
empty stomachs or when fatigued.
TYPHUS FEVER This is also called Hospital, Jail, Camp, Putrid, and Ship Fever. It is usually preceded by lassitude, debility, and loss of appetite, and ushered in by rigors and chills, and characterized by frequent exacerbations and declines during its progress. It generally presents itself as an epidemic, and runs a uniform course. From the third to the seventh day of the fever the peculiar petechial eruption occurs. It is of a florid, reddish, or reddish-pink color, disappearing on pressure, which distinguishes it from the petechiae of typhoid. The breathing is hurried, the skin dry and hot, the tongue thickly coated, and the thirst urgent. There is great distress about the head, which often results in delirium. This stage of excitement continues generally, with little increase or abatement in the symptoms, for some time. The fever is greatest towards evening, least in the morning. The bowels are generally costive, and if it continues for some time, all the secretions become vitiated, the body exhaling a nauseous odor, and the tongue, gums, and teeth become coated with a dark-brown slime. Collapse generally follows, voluntary powers depressed, surface relaxed, and diminished in temperature, often covered with a clammy sweat; pulse small and tremulous. The tongue becomes black and dry, voice faint, breathing short, feeble, and very anxious. The mental functions become greatly disordered, the patient is restless and fearful, his delirium is low-muttering, and he lies in a state of stupor from which he can be scarcely aroused. Often an irritating cough is present, coming on as if in convulsive paroxysms. In this stage of collapse the patient is disposed to lie on his back, with his feet drawn up, and there is a great tendency in his body to slide towards the foot of the bed. As the disease progresses, all the symptoms of prostration increase. A convulsive motion of the tendons, as in typhoid, is observed; his stupor becomes fixed; hiccough, involuntary discharges from the bowels, a cadaverous smell of the body, generally occur towards the close of the disease. Death, in violent cases, is generally preceded by extreme prostration, cold, clammy sweats, involuntary fecal discharges, and a discharge of grumous blood from the mouth, nose, and anus; or by convulsions. This is a contagious disease, and emphatically one of poverty and low life. TREATMENT. -- Place the patient in a well-ventilated
apartment, wash the body with soap and water, and give an emetic and cathartic,
if the patient's condition requires it. Then give quinine in two
or three grain doses every two or three hours, until its effects are observable.
Control the fever with veratrum, as advised in typhoid cases. If
great prostration is present, add capsicum or prickly-ash to the quinine,
which should be continued in regular doses throughout the greater part
of the course of the disease. A decoction of ladies-slipper, or,
preferably, cypripedin, in two or three grain doses every two hours, should
be given in delirium or tendinous convulsions. Support the strength
with iced-milk, chicken-broth, beef-tea, milk-punch, etc. The bladder
should receive attention, and, if distended, should be evacuated by the
influence of a sitz-bath, or by a catheter. In cases of cerebro-spinal
congestions, make counter-irritations along the course of the spine, apply
cold water to the head, and bottles of hot water to the feet. Convalescence
is to be aided by the proper tonics, as golden-seal, columbo, etc., and
complete repose should be allowed to the convalescent.
ERUPTIVE OR EXANTHEMATOUS FEVERS These are all characterized by fever and the usual
constitutional disturbances, together with an eruption or exanthem distinguishing
each variety. They owe their origin to animal or vegetable malaria,
or both combined, and the peculiarities of this class are, that they, when
once affecting the system, render the patient comparatively excmpt from
any future attack of the disease.
TYPHOID FEVER This is a very insidious disease, its commencement being scarcely perceptible. The patient has a sense of indisposition, but is unable to describe his condition. He feels slight debility, a dull and heavy feeling in the head, which increases and terminates in violent frontal headache. At full development of the disease, the limbs are weak, accompanied by lameness, and sometimes rheumatic pain. The bowels may at first be constipated, but in a few days the tendency is to diarrhoea. The pulse is quickened, a creeping, chilly sensation is felt, and the skin is dry and warm. The tongue is but slightly coated, and the appetite often remains until the disease is fully developed. After the full development, a number of small vesicles, called sudaminae, may be observed on the abdomen. They are small, and may escape notice unless carefully observed. On the fifth day after the occurrence of these, another eruption occurs, which consists of small red or purple spots, resembling flea-bites. These spots are called petechiae. If these are observed, the disease is unmistakably typhoid fever. When the abdomen is percussed, it yields a drum-like resonance, and a gurgling may be heard on the right side, a little below the navel. Nervous symptoms arise, frequently delirium, great pain in different parts of the body, stupor, and a buzzing noise in the head are often complained of. The tongue becomes red, and is protruded with much difficulty, pulse increases, eyes have a watery appearance, and remain partly open when asleep. The breathing becomes difficult, mouth half open; and a black substance (sordes) collects on the teeth. The urine becomes nearly suppressed, and has a dark-red appearance. The bowels bloat, and evacuations of frothy and watery excrement are frequent. If the disease is about to terminate unfavorably, the patient becomes stupid, with low, muttering delirium, his muscles jerk, hiccoughs, picks at bed-clothes, and labors under profound coma. The anatomical character of this disease is ulceration of certain glands, called Peyerian, of the intestines, which are sometimes perforated by the process, when, of course, death inevitably follows. The course of the disease is from 11 to 21 days. TREATMENT. -- If the disease is suspected, the patient
should be placed in bed, and his bowels evacuated by warm-water injections,
if costive. If indigestible food is contained in his stomach, an
emetic of lobelia should be administered. Rice-gruel should then
be given. The tincture of American Hellebore should, on the approach
of the febrile paroxysm, be given until the pulse becomes less frequent,
and perspiration ensues. Lye and slippery-elm poultices should be
applied to the abdomen as long as bowel symptoms prove troublesome.
Quinine and Hydrastin should be exhibited, with a view to overcome the
periodicity of the fever. At the same time a cold infusion of marsh
mallow, acacia, and flax-seed, should be taken. Apply cold water
to the head, and keep the feet warm. Control the fever throughout
its whole course with the veratrum or aconite. If the patient is
restless and unable to sleep, give a little morphine in a decoction of
Ladies'-slipper. If the diarrhoea is persistent, let the patient
take a decoction of rhus and cranes-bill. When the red tongue is
noticed, administer the spirits of turpentine, in from six to ten drop
doses, three or four times a day. Beef-tea, brandy, etc., should
be given to support the strength through the course of the disease.
During convalescence care should be taken that the patient does not eat
hearty food. Convalescence should be assisted by golden-seal and
other tonics. The danger in the treatment of this disease is over-medication,
and hence only such agents as are chemically called for should be given,
and the patient's strength well supported throughout the course of the
fever.
DIPHTHERIA Diphtheria is scarcely more than a modification of scarlet fever. The patient first complains of lassitude, headache, loss of appetite, has rigors and chills, active and quick pulse, a light furred tongue, redness of the back of mouth, enlargement of the glands about the neck, a hot, dry and pungent skin, and in most cases an exudation upon the mucous surfaces of the upper air-passsages. This soon becomes organized into a tough, white membrane, covering the soft palate and tonsils. These sometimes degenerate into ulcers. The breathing in consequence of this membrane becomes hurried and difficult, pulse quick, and frequently the asphyxia ensuing ends in death. It generally reigns as an epidemic and is regarded as contagious. TREATMENT. -- The first step in the treatment should be a thorough emetic and an active cathartic; free perspiration should be produced by aconite or veratrum, and the kidneys should be kept in vigorous operation. Flannel cloths, wet with the compound tincture of capsicum, myrrh, and lobelia, should be applied to the neck, changed every half hour, and applied as hot as the patient can bear it. Jugs of hot water should be applied to the feet. The inflammation of the throat should be subdued by a gargle of a hot decoction of golden-seal. If the disease assumes an unfavorable aspect, give a powder containing one grain of quinine, one-half grain of capsicum, and one grain of hydrastin every two hours. If the patches ulcerate, use a gargle of sumach and wild indigo. For the difficulty of breathing give sanguinaria and lobelia in emetic doses for the purpose of dislodging the membrane. The secretions should be increased even to ptyalism by irisin, the effect of which will be to overcome the adhesiveness of the membrane. The "Herbal Ointment" used for this purpose, and also to subdue the local inflammation, acts specifically and should be used in all cases. During convalescence the diet should be nutritious,
and baths, fresh air, and a liberal amount of fresh fruits ordered.
SMALL-POX (Variola) The symptoms are divided into four periods. The period of invasion occupies about three days, and is marked by languor, lassitude, restlessness, stretching, gaping, petulance, sullen mood; these are followed by chills and rigors. Towards evening the skin becomes hot and dry, pain attacks the head, loss of appetite, nausea, and frequently lumbago. On the third day, heat, fever, flushed face, headache, and in children sometimes convulsions. The period of eruption commences on the fourth day (often on the third), with the appearance of a series of small red circular points (papulae). They do not rise above the surface then, but can be seen in it, and felt by the finger. They are situated in the substance of the skin, and roll about under the finger, the size that of a small pin's head. These gradually enlarge, the patient in the mean time suffering severely, until the period of suppuration arrives. The fever is now great, the hands, feet, and face swell, and salivation is profuse and constant. There is hoarseness and pain, and the saliva emits a most disagreeable odor. Then comes the period of recovery. The pustules scab, the fever and other unpleasant symptoms gradually disappear, and, if all goes right, the danger is over from the twelfth to the fifteenth day after the eruption. What is known as confluent small-pox is when the pustules are very numerous and running together; and when all the symptoms are very severe, the disease is known as malignant. Variola patients emit a peculiar fetid odor, which is characteristic, and distinguishes it from Varioloid. TREATMENT. -- An active purge should be given at the outset. For this purpose a combination like the "Renovating Pills" should be selected, as the catharsis produced is thorough and unattended with subsequent debility or costiveness. Diaphoretics should be given to promote early appearance of the eruption. The patient should be placed in a cool and well-ventilated room, and frequently sponged with tepid water. Not much treatment of a medicinal character is required. The fever should be controlled by aconite or veratrum, as in all active fevers. If complicated with pneumonia, pleurisy, etc., the treatment necessary is such as is advised in those diseases. Pitting to a great extent may be avoided by sweet-oil applied to hands and face. Varioloid is but modified small-pox. It has all the essential characteristics of the disease except its virulence. The treatment is the same as advised for small pox. The utility of vaccination is a mooted question.
It has unquestionably done great harm, as in many cases scrofulous and
syphilitic taints have been implanted. Aside from this, however,
it has been the means of almost banishing the dreadful plague from existence,
and its practice should be encouraged. Great care, however, should
be exercised in the selection of the vaccine virus, so that its purity
is unquestionably established before being used as an agent of prevention.
CHICKEN POX (Varicella) This is a very mild eruptive disease, characterized by a slight fever of short duration, and followed by vesicles which desquamate about the fifth or sixth day. The fever is sometimes ushered in by slight rigors, though there is seldom any chill. There is often headache, and vomiting occasionally. The eruption appears in one or two days after the inauguration of the fever. It consists of red spots at first, which quickly become vesicular, and are frequently attended with itching. TREATMENT. -- Very little treatment is required,
except in cases of feeble vitality, when the disease often assumes a severe
character. In such cases the stomach and bowels should be well-cleansed,
the surface sponged with hot water, and the fever controlled with arterial
sedatives. Tonics should be given if the patient is enfeebled.
The diet should be nutritious, but composed of easily digested articles.
MEASLES (Rubeola). This is an acute inflammation of the entire skin, of an infectious and contagious nature. It is ushered in with chills, followed by heat, drowsiness, pain in head, back, and limbs, sore throat, dry cough, and other symptoms common to febrile action, growing in violence until the fourth day. Then the eruption appears, producing heat and itching. The breaking out appears in patches of half-moon shape, which distinguishes this disease from the other eruptive diseases. They reach their height at the fifth day on the face and neck, and on the legs about the seventh day. Their decline is in the same order as appearance, disappearing about the tenth day, when the scarfskin peals off in the shape of scurf. TREATMENT. -- If the attack be a mild one, all the
treatment necessaxy consists in light diet, acid and demulcent drinks,
as flaxseed-tea decoction of slippery-elm, etc. Sponging with tepid water
is very grateful to the sufferer in all cases. If during the first stage
the eruption should be tardy in its coming, it should be hastened by a
warm bath, and sweating drinks made from saffron, mullein, pennyroyal,
summer savory, etc. If tardy on account of excessive fever, give tincture
of green hellebore, ipecac, lobelia, snake-root, etc. In enfeebled constitutions
stimulants axe necessary.
SCARLET FEVER (Scarlatina). Also a contagious disease. The eruption is in the shape of pimples of a scarlet hue, displayed in patches over the whole surface. The fever is usually more intense than in measles, and accompanied by sore throat, swollen face, and coated tongue. The greatest degree of redness is attained at the third or fourth day. The decline is the same as in measles. Scarlet fever is distinguished from other diseases by the swollen condition of the flesh, which spreads out the fingers peculiarly. The throat becomes ulcerated, and swallowing is attended with pain and difficulty. There is no cough, which also distinguishes it from measles. The following will show the difference between scarlet fever and measles: In Scarlet Fever. The eruption is bright scarlet.
In Measles. The eruption is dark-red color.
TREATMENT. -- This should be cooling in its nature,
cooling drinks, sponging with cold water, etc. In ordinary cases little
more is required, excepting a few drops of tincture of belladonna may be
given several times per day. When high fever exists, give the remedies
advised in measles. Hot foot-baths are advisable. As this is a prostrative
disease, beef-tea and the ordinary stimulants should be given from the
first. What is called malignant scarlet fever is only a severer form than
the above. Gargles of sage and Cayenne pepper are used to allay the throat
aftections. The abscesses in the region of-the ear, and consequent deafness,
can be obviated by subduing the inflammation of that part by the usual
methods.
NETTLE RASH This commences with fever, lasting two or three days; then itching pimples, diversified in shape, appear, which go off during the day and come again at night. Teething causes it sometimes, while at other times it is due to improper diet. TREATMENT. -- This is indicated by the cause.
If due to indigentible food, the stomach must be unloaded by an emetic
of blood-root or ipecacuanha. A lotion of vinegar and water is of
service. Tonics and simple diet will complete the cure.
ERYSIPELAS This disease commences with languor, aching or soreness of the limbs, chilliness, alternating with flushes of heat. The pulse is quick, skin hot, tongue foul, appetite gone, thirst, nausea sometimes; vomiting, headache, restlessness, sore throat, swelling and tenderness of the glands of the neck, arm-pits, or groin, according to the seat of the cutaneous inflammation. The eruption usually makes its appearance, about the third day of the fever, in the form of a small reddish spot, somewhat elevated, painful or tender to the touch. This occurs most frequently upon the face, especially on the side of the nose, cheek, or rim of the ear. In some instances the inflammation advances slowly, in others it spreads quickly over large portions of the body, accompanied by tumefaction, and a burning and stinging pain in all cases. About the third day of the inflammation small blisters, filled with yellow serum, appear, which break about three days afterward. On the fifth or sixth day they begin to dry, and on the seventh or eighth form crusts or scabs, which desquamate, and a new skin forms. In phlegmonous erysipelas the inflammation involves not only the skin, but the subcutaneous tissues also, and the symptoms are all severer. It often assumes a very malignant type, and is then a disease of a most fatal character. It is liable to attack wounds; and those who are nursing patients suffering with erysipelas should never wait upon a woman who has been but recently confined, as she will be very liable to contract puerperal peritonitis, a very fatal disease. TREATMENT. -- Give a lobelia emetic, a mild purge;
and a hot bath at the commencement. In the mild form cover the inflamed
patch with collodion, and renew every two or three hours. The emetic
and purge should be followed with quinine in two or three grain doses every
three hours. The inflamed surface should also be washed with a decoction
of the bark, or a solution of quinine. Bruised cranberries are a
good application. Cloths wrung out of a hot decoction of white-oak
bark and golden-seal should be applied to the inflamed part to prevent
spreading. In wounds apply lint saturated with compound tincture
of myrrh and capsicum. If the fever is violent, treat it as in all
other febrile cases. A nutritive diet should follow medical treatment
as soon as the disease has passed its active career.
ROSE RASH (Roseola) This is an eruptive disease of little importance. The febrile symptoms are slight, more or less attended with gastric derangement, which continues two or three days before the rash appears and subsides with it. The eruption generally commences upon the face, is of uniform redness, and causes itching or tingling. The rash continues from one to five days, and is followed by a slight scaling off of the skin. It is often the accompaniment of dentition and is not contagious. TREATMENT. -- Little more is necessary than a warm
bath and a few drops of veratrum. If the eruption is troublesome,
two or three drops of tincture of Belladonna should be added to a tumbler
of water, and a teaspoonful given occasionally.
ERYTHEMA The eruption of this disease is of superficial redness, generally in irregular patches, slightly elevated, and attended with heat, tingling, and sometimes slight pain. It may be local or owing to constitutional disturbance. It may be caused by friction of contiguous surfaces, as in the groin and arm-pits, in fat infants, particularly when not frequently washed. When owing to constitutional causes, it usually appears on the face, breast or limbs. It lasts from a few days to a week or longer. TREATMENT. -- If the cause can be ascertained, it
should be removed by the proper remedies. Anoint the affected part
with a little lime-water and sweet-oil, or bathe with a strong decoction
of golden-seal. Glycerine may also be applied, but if you can procure
the "Herbal Ointment" (see page 469) I advise its application, as it is
a specific for this and kindred affections.
GLANDERS This may be contracted from the horse, and is a very malignant disease. It is characterized by a purulent and sometimes bloody discharge from the nose, a peculiar pustular eruption, and by tumors in different parts of the body. Its initial stage is the same as in all eruptive fevers, attended with neuralgic pains in the limbs. In the course of four or five days the eruption makes its appearance in different parts of the body, usually most abundant upon the face and limbs. The discharge from the nose ensues in the course of a week or ten days, being at first yellowish, afterwards bloody, and very offensive. The body finally exhales a fetid odor, the mind wanders, delirium and coma follow, and by the end of the second week, or during the third, it generally proves fatal, if not arrested sooner in its course. It is fortunately very rare; and attendants upon a horse affected with glanders should be very careful that they do not come in contact with the virus. The affected horse should be shot, as the disease is very seldom cured. TREATMENT. -- Support the strength of the patient,
and stimulate the emunctories. This can be best achieved by a thorough
alcoholic vapor bath, followed by an active lobelia emetic and a brisk
cathartic. After this give quinine, three grains, and baptisia, two
grains, every two or three hours, for a day or two. The nostrils
should be syringed with warm water, to which a few drops of creosote has
been added, three or four times a day. The throat may be gargled
with the same preparation. Support the strength with chicken-broth,
rice-gruel, cream, punch, porter, ale, etc. If this course is not
effectual, repeat every three or four days.
DANDY FEVER (Dengue) This disease occasionally prevails as an epidemic in the southern seacost towns. There is pain, stiffness of the neck, back, and loins, and swelling of the muscles of the limbs and joints. Intolerance of light, restlessness, chilliness, fever, headache, a full and quick pulse, red eyes, a hot and dry skin, and an intense thirst prevail. The fever usually lasts from one to two days, when a gradual remission occurs, and the patient feels quite comfortable. After an interval of two or three days the fever returns, the pains are increased, the tongue is thickly coated, the stomach irritable, and the patient becomes dejected and fretful. Nausea is a prominent symptom, but seldom any vomiting occurs. About the sixth or seventh day an eruption, resembling scarlatina, appears, and gives relief to the distressing symptoms. It disappears after two or three days, the color of the skin gradually fading, with slight desquamation. The duration of the disease is about eight days. The causes are evidently miasmatic poison, in concert with epidemic influence. TREATMENT. -- Essentially the same as in scarlatina,
accompanied with such remedies as advised in rheumatism. Quinine,
in antiperiodic doses, should also be administered, and the anodynes should
be given if the pains are severe. Tonics may be required in some
cases; and in convalescence, frequent baths, a generous diet, and out-door
exercises should be prescribed.
PURPURA This affection is characterized by a greater or lesser number of livid spots on the skin, from extravasated blood. In simple cases the effusion is confined to the skin and cellular tissues, mostly occurring on the arms, legs, and breasts. The spots at first are small, and resemble flea-bites. The countenance is pale, and the patient complains of debility, loss of appetite, irregularity of the bowels, and periodic fever. If allowed to progress, it will assume a form known as purpura hemorrhagica, in which the spots are longer, and resemble whip-marks or violent bruises. They are a bright red at first, but become purple or livid. A great variety of symptoms are presented by each case, and the disease is a very singular one. TREATMENT. -- In the simple form a very liberal diet
of fresh vegetables, out-door exercise, and some simple tonic, are all
that is necessary. In the hemorrhagic character, quinine, in one
or two grain doses, should be given every three hours. Diet should
consist of green vegetables, salt meats, eggs, and the free use of lemonade.
A liniment of camphor, whiskey, and turpentine should be externally applied.
If internal hemorrahge occurs, give oil of erigeron, in five-drop doses,
every half hour; or matico, in from five to ten grain doses, may be administered
every twenty minutes until it ceases.
ANATOMY OF THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION Mouth. -- The mouth is separated from the nose by the hard and soft palate, and communicates. It is bounded in front by the lips, and its sides by the cheeks. The space between the lips and teeth is called the vestibule. The mouth is lined by a mucous membrane, which is covered by numerous glands, some being mucous and some salivary. The mouth contains a double row of teeth, thirty-two in the aggregate, performing the first process in digestion, the mastication of food. Tongue. -- The tongue is an oblong, flattened, muscular body, which varies in size and shape; it is the organ of taste, and also of importance in speech and mastication. Its posterior extremity or root is attached to a bone, called the hyoid, by yellow fibrous tissue. Its anterior extremity is called the tip; its intervening portion its body. The mucous covering of the tongue is very thick upon its upper surface, and very thin upon its under surface. Upon its upper surface are a number of projections, of various sizes and shapes, called papillae. The largest are eight or nine in number, called papillae maximae, and are situated at the posterior portion of the tongue, in two convergent lines. The smallest papillae are fine and pointed, and are found near the middle of the tongue, and are termed filiform. The tongue assists in the process of deglutition. Palate. -- The palate separates the back portion of the nose from the mouth, and is divided into two parts. The hard palate, of a bony base, covered by mucous membrane, which is continuous with that of the mouth; the soft palate is the membranous separation between the back portion of the mouth and nose. From the middle the uvula projects, about three quarters of an inch in length; from each side of the uvula there are two divergent creswcdentic folds of mucous membrane, which are called lateral half-arches; the space between which constitutes the fauces. Between the anterior and posterior arches of each side is the tonsil gland. The tonsils are about the size of an almond, and consist of a collection of large mucous follicles. Salivary Glands. -- The salivary glands are of light pink color, and their secretion is of great service in mastication and digestion. There are three in number -- the parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual. The parotid is the largest; it lies on the side of the face in front of the ear, and beneath the skin. The submaxillary lies in a depression on the internal face of the lower jaw-bone. The sublingual is the smallest of the three; it is situated under the tongue. Pharynx. -- The pharynx is a muscular and membranous sac, communicating with the mouth, nose, oesophagus, larynx, and the tube (Eustachian) leading to the ear. Its length is about five inches, although this varies by extension and contraction. Its uses are for deglutition, respiration, and modulation of the voice. Oesophagus. -- This is the canal that conveys the food from the pharynx to the stomach. Its length is about nine or ten inches, and its diameter is not uniform, gradually increasing (as it descends). Its upper portion is the narrowest part of the alimentary canal; and hence foreign bodies which are too large to pass through the alimentary canal are generally arrested in the neck. It never contains air. Deglutition is performed by the contraction of the longitudinal fibres of the oesophagus, which shorten the passage, and by contraction of its circular fibres successively from above downward. Stomach. -- The stomach is a conoidal sac, somewhat bent or curved, and situated below the breast-bone or in the epigastric region. The left extremity is much the larger, and terminates in a rounded sac; at the upper portions of this extremity is the cardiac orifice where the oesophagus is continued into the stomach, immediately below the diaphragm. The right extremity is continuous with the intestines, and its orifice is called the pyloric. The structure of the pylorus is much thicker than that of any other portion. The stomach is held in its position by the oesophagus and the duodenum, as well as by reflexions of the peritoneum. The upper and lower curvatures of the stomach are called the greater and lesser curvatures. Near the pyloric extremity of the stomach is a small dilatation called the antrum pylori. The dimensions of the stomach are variable, depending upon the mode of life. It has four coats; the peritoneal, muscular, cellular and mucous. In the stomach the food receives the admixture of the gastric juice, which is the solvent agent of digestion. The fluids taken into the stomach are for the most part absorbed from it; the solids, with the exception of the insoluble parts, are by the action of the gastric juice reduced to a substance called chyme, which in general is grayish, semi-fluid, homogeneous, with a slightly acid taste and smell. The chyme is then poured into the duodenum through the pyloric orifice for the subsequent action of the intestines. Intestines. -- The intestinal canal is from thirty to thirty-five feet in length, and is divided into large and small intestines. The small intestine is four-fifths of the length of the whole canal, reaching from the pylorus to the large intestine; it is cylindrical, and about one inch in diameter; there is a gradual diminution in calibre as it descends. Its coats are the same as those of the stomach. The mucous coat is very vascular, and its absorbents are very numerous. The glands are the crypts or follicles of Lieberkuhn, the glands of Peyer, the solitary glands, and Brunner's glands. The small intestine is divided into duodenum, jejunam, and ileum. The Duodenum commences at the pylorus, and is about twelve inches long. The common duct formed by the junction of the bile and gall ducts opens into it about four or five inches from the pylorus. The Jejunum (from jejunus, empty) constitutes the upper two-fifths of the small intestine, and the ileum the remaining three-fifths. The large intestine reaches from the ileum to the anus, and is one-fifth in length of the whole canal; it differs much from the small intestine, and has a sacculated appearance. It likewise has four coats. It is divided into caecum, colon, and rectum. The Caecum is a cul-de-sac or blind sac, and the commencement of the large intestine, and hence often called the caput coli. At the inferior portion is a worm-like process called the appendix vermiformis. On the side of the caecum is the ileo-caecal valve, an elliptical opening whereby the small intestine empties into the large. The Colon is the largest portion of the large intestine;
gradually diminishes in diameter until it terminates in the sigmoid or
S-like flexure on the left side. It ascends on the right side, and
forming an arch transversely, descends upon the left side. The Rectum
is the terminating portion of the large intestine, and reaches from the
sigmoid flexure to the anus. It is somewhat barrel-shaped, being
larger in the middle than at either end.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS STOMATITIS This is characterized by inflammation of the mouth. It may involve the whole membrane, or be confined to isolated portions. The first prominent symptom is a loss of taste, and a sensation similar to that produced by scalding liquids. The surface is red, very tender, and painful. The inflammation may extend to the fauces, nasal passages, and Eustachian tube. The stomach often becomes irritable, bowels loose, and the patient debilitated and emaciated. When caused by vitiated secretions, produced by the disturbed condition of the lynmphatics while suckling, it is known as "nursing sore-mouth," or technically, follicular stomatitis. It may then extend to the stomach and bowels, causing ulceration, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, dysentery, and great prostration of the nervous system; and if not arrested, the mucous membranes of the air passages are involved, producing cough, expectoration, tuberculous degeneration and death. The teeth may fall out, and the gums be absorbed. Aphthae or Thrush is another form of stomatitis. It is generally characterized by small ulcers scattered over the surface, or in patches of white exudation, which may become thick and absorbed, and leave a raw-looking surface, or a foul spot. Children are very liable to it, and it is generally caused by acidity of the stomach, or general derangement of that organ by improper diet or unhealthy milk. TREATMENT. -- This depends upon the cause, which,
if ascertained, should be removed. If due to carious teeth, they
should be removed, and if owing to dyspepsia, the proper remedies should
be given. The mouth should be frequently washed with a warm decoction
of golden seal. The system should be supported with tonics, a general
diet, and a liberal use of fresh succulent vegetables, as grapes, etc.
should be prescribed. Sage-tea gargles are very useful. The
mother should also pay attention to her diet, so as not to supply the babe
with improper milk. If due to acidity of the stomach, the necessary
absorbents should be administered.
GLOSSITIS This is inflammation of the substance of the tongue, involving its muscular structure. It usually commences with a throbbing pain in the tongue, followed soon after with redness and swelling. In the course of a few hours, the tongue enlarges so much as to fill the whole mouth, forces open the jaws, and protrudes from the mouth. Some fever usually accompanies it. Swallowing is usually almost impossible, speech gone, abscesses may form, and the tongue may even become mortified. TREATMENT. -- If due to a disordered state of the
stomach, an active lobelia emetic should be given, and followed with an
anti-bilious purge, like the Renovating Pill. If due to scalds or
burns, the mouth should be washed with mucilage of flaxseed and slippery
elm. If due to mercury, vapor baths should be taken, a free use of
the syrup of stillingia resorted to, and equal parts of charcoal and yeast
used as a gargle.
QUINSY (Tonsillitis) This consists of inflammation of the tonsils, which may in many cases extend to the adjacent tissues. It usually commences with a slight chill, followed by much febrile excitement, uneasy feeling in the throat, and difficulty of swallowing, which increases in severity very rapidly, until at last deglutition becomes almost impossible. There is a constant disposition to swallow, in order to free the fauces from a tenacious, colorless mucus which adheres to that part. The respiration is not much affected unless in bad cases. From the commencement there is fever, severe headache, and a rapid pulse. The termination is usually an abscess, which at length opens, and a discharge of very fetid pus ensues, which affords relief. The duration of the disease is usually about a week, and is scarcely ever fatal. TREATMENT. -- Administer a free lobelia emetic, and
anoint the throat thoroughly with the Herbal Ointment. In ordinary
forms this will be sufficient. If an abscess, however, forms, it
should be evacuated by an incision. In malarial districts, quinine
in anti-periodic doses may be necessary, and if the fever is severe, veratrum
should be given. The throat should be gargled with a decoction of
golden seal, and to prevent termination into induration and permanent enlargement,
alteratives should be given, especially in strumous habits.
PHARYNGITIS This is characterized either by acute, sub-acute, or chronic inflammation of the pharynx. There is slight pain upon pressure, or in the act of swallowing. It is seldom attended with fever, but in severe cases abscesses may form, causing great difficulty in swallowing and breathing. In the acute form the inflammation is usually limited to the mucous membrane, and simply constitutes an erythematic affection. The chronic form is known as "clergyman's sore throat," and is attended with a dry, hacking cough, hoarseness, and a sense of fatigue of the vocal organs after a slight exercise. TREATMENT. -- The treatment of simple pharyngitis
is but little more than merely to regulate the stomach and bowels, the
external application of cold packs, and a few days' rest. In the
chronic form an invigorating and tonic course of treatment should be pursued,
in connection with rest, baths, and pure air. To relieve the local
difficulty, one grain of stillingia may be mixed with a drachm of sugar,
divided into ten powders, of which one should be taken every two hours.
The inhalation of hot vapor from bitter herbs is to be recommended.
Blood-root in connection with constitutional treatment is highly beneficial.
Patients will find that my "Acacian Balsam" in the chronic form is a virtual
specific; the Herbal Ointment should also be outwardly applied. If
owing to a complicated constitutional disorder, or if it exists in association
with catarrh, it constitutes an affection requiring the most skilful treatment,
and those who may wish my advice in such cases may refer to page 390 for
general directions for consultation.
PAROTITIS (Mumps) Mumps is an inflammatory affection of the salivary glands, especially the parotids. It generally commences with slight fever, stiffness of the jaws, and a slight pain or swelling in one or both parotid glands. The parts are hot, painful, and very tender upon pressure. Mastication and swallowing become painful, which causes considerable nervous irritability. Metastasis to the breasts of the female and to testicles of the male is liable to occur, especially if the patient is subjected to undue exposure. Inflammation of the brain may occur in some cases. It reaches its height in about four days, disappearing entirely about the seventh. TREATMENT. -- Keep the patient quiet, and give a
mild purge. For external application a liniment of goose-fat and
camphor is very beneficial. If there be much fever, resort to the
usual anti-febrile treatment. If inflammation of the brain should
ensue, resort to active cathartics, and give small doses of macrotin and
quinine. The "Herbal Ointment" will be found a superior remedy, see
page 469.
OESOPHAGITIS This is an inflammation of the oesophagus, or that portion of the alimentary canal which conveys the food from the pharynx to the stomach. Heat and pain, increased by swallowing, at some point along the tube, are the earliest symptoms. Occasionally there is pain between the shoulders, and, perhaps, tenderness on pressure, with more or less difficulty in swallowing Hiccough, an eructation of glairy mucus, and vomiting, are sometimes present. There is also more or less constitutional disturbance. Ulcers and abscesses may form. It may become chronic, and stricture of the canal at any part of its passage may result, which may so effectually prevent deglutition as to cause death by starvation. TREATMENT. -- In the acute form, the stomach should
be cleansed by a lobelia emetic, and the bowels opened by a purge.
The surface should be sponged with hot water, and sufficient tincture of
veratrum given to maintain a gentle diaphoresis. In the chronic form
the alteratives are to be administered, and the bowels occasionally purged.
The patient should be confined mostly to a vegetable diet of fluid character.
Frequent sips from a decoction of golden seal and slippery elm should be
taken. Stricture of the oesophagus should only be treated by a competent
physician, as the means employed for its cure might do more harm in improper
hands than any possible good.
INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH Gastritis) This usually commences in the acute form with violent vomiting and a burning pain in the region of the stomach. Swallowing becomes difficult, thirst is intense, tongue is dry and smooth, headache often violent, delirium and prostration are present. If the stomach only is inflamed, there is constipation; but if the bowels also are affected, there is diarrhoea. The attendant fever is as common, and the disease may assume such a gravity that death inevitably ensues, especially in perforation of the stomach. Chronic gastritis is a common disorder. It is generally of a mild character, unless of long continuance, when it may occasion considerable organic disorder. Its approach is gradual, presenting a variety of symptoms, but may be known from dyspepsia in there being more pain at some particular point, and more frequent vomiting after taking food. TREATMENT. -- Give an emetic, and cleanse the stomach by means of large draughts of warm water. Counter-irritation should be resorted to over the stomach. The vomiting may be checked by opium, and the tincture of crawley may be given to control the fever. If produced by a corrosive poison, the necessary antidotes will, of course, be required. All solid foods should be withheld, and the drinks should be mucilaginous, as marshmallow, slippery elm, gum-water, etc. The treatment of chronic gastritis is not so easily
stated. It depends greatly upon associated conditions and complications.
Diet is an important element in the treatment. My "Restorative Assimilant"
internally, and "Herbal Ointment" externally, generally cure each case;
but some cases are of such a serious character that a cure can only be
effected by special symptomatic treatment. Those desiring to consult
me are referred to questions, page 390.
CANCER OF THE STOMACH The early symptoms of cancer of the stomach are usually similar to chronic gastritis. The appetite is impaired, and frequent nausea and vomiting supervene. The pain in the stomach is of a lancinating character. The gastric functions are impaired, and the mucous discharges become sour and purulent, finally bloody, and if subjected to microscopical examination, cancer cells are found. The complexion has a yellowish-white, waxen appearance, which distinguishes cancer from other diseases of the stomach. TREATMENT. -- The treatment consists chiefly in combating
the symptoms as they occur. Condurango should be given a fair trial
in all cases. If the disease has reached a certain stage, no remedy
will produce a radical impression; but I have the assurance that I have
cured many cases of well-defined cancer of the stomach, in more or less
advanced stages of the disease, by the employment of consistent and energetic
chemical treatment.
HEART-BURN (Gastralgia) Two forms of heart-burn are commonly observed: one, attended by acid eructations, causing irritation of the throat and fauces; and in the other, the ejections from the stomach are rancid and alkaline, and connected with a gnawing pain and distention of the stomach. It principally occurs during digestion, and may be of every grade of severity. It is caused by excess of acid, or an accumulation of gas, in the stomach. TREATMENT. -- This depends upon the cause.
If acid, administer pulverized charcoal, with a little magnesia, or, what
is just as good, compound spirits of lavender. If alkaline, give
lemon-juice as often as required.
GASTRALGIA, OR GASTRODYNIA This consists of a sense of pain, stricture, or contraction, occurring in paroxysms. The stomach feels as if rolled into a ball, or drawn towards the back. It assumes different degrees of violence, being often exceedingly painful. TREATMENT. -- It is instantly relieved by a dose
of some preparation of wild gum, in combination with a fourth of a grain
of gelsemium. External application of the "Herbal Ointment" acts
equally aas specifically.
SPASM OF THE STOMACH This consists of a sense of pain, stricture, or contraction, occurring in paroxysms. The stomach feels as if rolled into a ball, or drawn towards the back. It assumes different degrees of violence, being often exceedingly painful. TREATMENT. -- It is relieved by a dose of some preparation
of wild gum, in combination with a fourth of a grain of gelsemin.
External application of the "Herbal Ointment" acts equally as specifically.
WATER-BRASH (Pyrosis) This also occurs generally in paroxysms. The pain is intense, and of a burning character. An eructation of a thin, insipid, watery liquid occurs, and, when discharged, affords momentary relief. TREATMENT. -- Quinine and the general tonics will
remove this difficulty. Certain habits, as inebriety, anxiety of
mind, etc., are to be overcome, and a generous diet indulged in.
DYSPEPSIA, OR INDIGESTION This is one of the most common affections in the whole catalogue of diseases. Scarcely a human being lives that has not or will not be a victim to this harassing disease. In simple indigestion, the symptoms vary much in nature and severity. One may suffer severely, while another has merely slight depression of spirits. Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, constipation alternating with diarrhoea, furred tongue, foulness of breath, palpitation of the heart, pains in various parts, dull headache, hypochondriasis, etc., are present in all cases. The patient's appetite may at one time be wholly lost; at other times it is morbid and ravenous, which, if indulged in, will only add to his misery. There is seldom any healthy feeling of hunger, but, in place of this, the patient has a most miserable sensation of hollowness or sinking at the region of the stomach. Nausea and vomiting are the most distressing symptoms of dyspepsia; the former may occur soon after the food is swallowed, or it may be deferred for an hour or two. The matter ejected is most frequently sour, and mixed with bile, often having the flavor of rotten eggs, which is due to a gas known as sulphuretted hydrogen. This gas, in ascending, often brings the solid food into the throat and mouth, making the patient almost a ruminant animal. Suffering is experienced when the stomach is full or empty, though it differs in various cases. Sometimes not much uneasiness is felt until several hours after eating, when all its attendant horrors are manifested. This is due to fermentation of the food. Water-brash, gastralgia, spasm of the stomach, etc., are constant companions of the dyspeptic, and his days are most miserably spent, while his nights are not much better, because his sleep is not refreshing; the body is not reposed, and he is the frequent victim of horrible nightmares. A dyspeptic patient suffers from every variety of indisposition, and it is easy to learn from his dejected countenance and woe-begone look that he yearns for that comfortable human existence that only a healthy digestive apparatus affords to man. He is fretful and peevish, disssatisfied with others and with himself; has individually no comfort, and allows but little to those around him; everything that was formerly bright and cheerful now bears a gloomy aspect; his smiles are derisive, his opinions cynical, and everything that is bright, cheerful, and lovable has gone with the enjoyment of good health. The disease is in fact a malady that embraces in its symptoms and consequences nearly every physical and mental torture known to mankind. TREATMENT. -- When it arises from inertia of the
stomach, it may be removed by stomachics. If produced by bad habits,
it can only be corrected by strict adherence to the physiological laws
controlling the digestive functions. When it occurs from softening
of the mucous membranes and a deficiency of the gastric secretion, alnuin
is a good remedy; and chelonin acts well in chronic inflammation of the
organ. When dependent upon nervous debility, herbal phosphorus and
cyprepedin act well. Constipation should be relieved by leptandrin
and similar cathartics. Diet and hygiene form a very important part
in the treatment, and these should receive very careful attention.
Fresh air, baths, friction, out-door exercise, careful avoidance of overloading
the stomach, are indispensable adjuncts to all treatment. It is but
just to myself, and eminently due to my readers, to acquaint them with
my mode of treating dyspepsia, and which, I confidently assert, is attended
with as specific results as can be expected from any medicinal agents.
It is my sincere belief that failure is impossible if the remedies are
taken faithfully, for a reasonable length of time. I advise in all
cases and in all forms of the disease, my "Restorative Assimilant," "Renovating
Pills," and "Herbal Ointment." The Assimilant is taken internally,
in prescribed doses, three times a day; the pills are taken as occasion
requires, to keep bowels regular, and the Herbal Ointment is rubbed externally,
once or twice a day, over the region of the stomach and bowels. The
philosophy of this treatment is obvious; the Assimilant restores the tonicity
of the digestive organs, increases secretion of gastric juice, promotes
chymification, stimulates the the accessory organs of digestion, and, by
its assimilative properties, increases the functional action of the absorbents,
and restores the chemical process of digestion to its healthy state.
The pills increase the peristaltic motion of the bowels, augment biliary
discharges, stimulate the mesenteric glands, while, at the same time, they
give tonic power to the whole alimentary canal. The ointment, by
its discutient properties, removes all inflammation, localizes healthy
blood to the organs and tissues, and prevents centralizaiton of morbific
agents.
ANATOMY OF THE LIVER The liver is the largest glandular organ in the body; its office is to secrete bile. It is oblong and oval in shape, and occupies the position on the right side, under the lower ribs. It weighs from four to five pounds; it measures from ten to twelve inches transversely, and from six to seven antero-posteriorly; its greatest thickness is from four to five inches. On the upper surface it is convex, and on the lower concave. Its color is of a reddish-brown, with occasional spots of black. The under surface of the liver presents a deep fissure, called umbilical or longitudinal, reaching from the anterior to the posterior notch, containing the remains of the umbilical vein of foetal life. Sometimes this fissure is converted into a foramen, or opening, the right and left lobes being connected. At right angles to this fissure is another, called the transverse fissure, containing the portal vein, hepatic artery, and hepatic duct, bound together by the capsul of Glisson, a membrane of cellular tissue. The gall-bladder lies in a deep depression upon the under surface of the right lobe of the liver. The lobulus quadratus is that portion of the liver included between the depression occupied by the gall-bladder and the longitudinal and transverse fissures. At the posterior and inferior portion of the liver is a triangular lobe called the lobulus Spigelii. The elongated ridge running from the lobulus Spigelii outwardly is the lobulus caudatus. These lobules are, however, all contained in the two lobes of the liver. The right lobe is the largest and thickest, and the left terminates in a thin cutting edge. The structure of the liver may be seen by tearing the liver of any animal. This will show a granulated arrangement, and each of these granules is usually called an acinus. These acini consist of a terminal branch of the portal vein and hepatic artery, together with the incipient radicles of the hepatic duct and hepatic vein, and in the capillary network thus constituted are numerous cells, which secrete the bile. The liver is liable to a variety of disorders, and,
when affected, exerts a marked influence on the organs and tissues of the
body. The functions of the organ are so important that impairment
arising from any organic cause quickly disturbs the harmony and health
of the whole economy. Its office is to eliminate the superfluous
carbon from the blood. This carbon enters into chemical combination
with other substances, forming the compound known as bile, and which is
poured into the duodenum, or upper bowel, where it assists greatly in the
process of digestion.
DISEASES OF THE LIVER HEPATITIS Inflammation may be confined to its outside covering, or involve the entire substance of the liver. It usually makes its appearance with sympathetic fever, pain, a sense of tension on the right side, inability to lie on the left side, difficulty of breathing, a dry cough, vomiting, and a troublesome cough. As the morbid action increases, high fever with hot skin, thirst, and scanty urine is observed. The pain is acute and lancinating, and is apt to run up to the right collar-bone, and to the top of the shoulder. The pain is increased by coughing, breathing, and lying on the left side. A soreness is felt by pressing over the liver, and usually, when enlarged, is readily recognized by the touch. The pulse is full and hard, bowels costive, stools clay-colored, and the tongue is covered with a dark-brown, or even black coat, and there is a bitter taste in the mouth. TREATMENT. -- Evacuate the stomach and bowels and
apply hot packs, rubefacients, or even vesicants in some cases to the region
of the liver. The purges should be such that will thoroughly evacuate
the bowels with watery discharges, as jalap, elaterium, etc. Promote
perspiration by a spirit vapor bath, or by American hellebore, or other
diaphoretics. When the urine is red and scanty, an infusion of marshmallow,
pumpkin-seeds, or trailing arbutus should be given. Quinine, gelsemium,
and irisin may be neceessary in some cases.
CHRONIC HEPATITIS Chronic inflammation of the liver usually involves the entire organ, and may be the result of the acute form, although it exists independently of it. It is a disease very common in the South and West, and is evidently owing to malarial poison, in connection with heat and atmospheric vicissitudes. It is a very insidious disease, and the whole organ may assume a pathological condition before attracting any special attention. The most common symptoms are a disordered stomach, occasional vomiting, a sense of fulness and weight in the right side, irregular bowels, pains in one or both shoulders, unhealthy stools, yellowness of skin, eyes, and urine, a short dry cough, disturbed appetite, febrile exacerbations towards night, and general emaciation. The patient is generally despondent, his temper is irritable and peevish, and he is frequently the prey to the dread of some impending evil. The exercise of his mental faculties is often impossible in a literary or argumentative direction, and the loss of the cherished attribute of manhood is most frequently added to his misery. If the patient be a female, sexual congress becomes to her a revolting union, and her husband's approaches create in her only a feeling of disgust and scorn. TREATMENT. -- The diet should be regulated, outdoor exercise should be taken, baths liberally used, and chafing liniments applied over the liver; keep the bowels open with leptandrin, or decoction of the plant and give one-tenth of a grain of gelsemium with two grains of quinine every three or four hours, until about twenty doses have been taken. This may be followed by dandelion and blackroot in small doses four or five times a day. An alterative like irisin may also be given. I also most strongly advise my "Restorative Assimilant," "Herbal Ointment," and "Renovating Pills;" to be used about the same as ordered in dyspepsia. The pills, especially, exercise specific control over morbid conditions of the liver, and frequently cure the disease, unaided by other remedies. It is frequently the case that chronic inflammation
of the liver is so complicated that it will not respond to any ordinary
treatment. In such cases a careful analysis of the symptoms and general
condition of the patient must be made, and the treatment so modified and
varied as to suit all the conditions of the case. In these cases
it is difficult to designate the required treatment, as each individual
case is characterized by its own pathological phenomena, and requires essentially
particular treatment. My success in the treatment of these stubborn
cases has exceeded even my own anticipations in many instances, and I now
like to combat the "bilious" foe with my herbal weapons -- and success
usually crowns my efforts. Those who wish to consult me are referred
to page 390.
CIRRHOSIS The result of chronic inflammation of the areolar tissue of the entire organ is often induration or cirrhosis of the liver. The tissues become so firm, and ultimately so constricted, as to diminish the caliber of the portal vein, hepatic artery, and duct, resulting in the wasting away or atrophy of the lobular structure, and the hepatic cells become studded with fat. This condition sadly interferes with the circulation of the blood through the portal vein, producing inflammation of gastric and intestinal linings. It is the hob-nailed liver of some writers. The usual symptoms are constipation, a dry skin, high-colored urine, fickle appetite, and derangement of the nervous system. The spleen often becomes enlarged, while the liver diminishes in size, the pain becomes more intense, and frequently the kidneys are also involved. Digestion is feeble, chills, hectic fever, and night-sweats are often present, and frequently a dropsical condition of the lower limbs and abdomen is observed. TREATMENT. -- All alcoholic stimulants should be avoided, and the action of the liver aroused by prickly ash, leptandrin, dandelion, emetics, etc. The tonics should be given, and Indian hemp should be administered in sufficient quantities to maintain a gentle influence upon the bowels and kidneys. The alteratives, if indicated, should be exhibited, and continued as long as required. This disease is certainly an unfavorable one for
treatment in its advanced stages, but my treatment in well-defined cases
has been attended with the most favorable results, and I hope ere long
that the result of my investigations into the morbid character of the disease
in all its phases, that I have made for many years, will enable me to still
more rob the disease of its formidable nature.
GALL-STONES These concretions are generally oval or pear-shaped, and formed in the gall-bladder or hepatic ducts. They vary in size, from that of a small pea to a fowl's egg, and in chemical composition present cholesterine, coloring matter, and the salts of lime, magnesia, etc. They occur oftener in females than in males, from the fact that their inactive life is more conducive to their formation. They give rise to a dull, heavy pain in the region of the liver, and more or less febrile excitement. In their passage through the duct they cause the most excruciating pain, which is accordingly intensified in proportion to the size of the stone. Impaction of the cystic duct, with complete obstruction and inflammation, ulceration, and perforation of the duct and bladder may occur, giving rise to great difficulties. TREATMENT. -- To reduce the spasm, Dover's powder,
or other anodynes, should be given, and hot packs or fomentations should
be applied externally. A vapor bath and lobelia emetic often afford
great relief. Belladonna plasters should be applied over the region
of the liver, as they dilate the cystic duct, and alleviate the pains.
Thoroughwort is a good remedy, and should be freely taken. If the
stones can be found in the alvine discharges, their chemical character
should be definitely ascertained and the proper chemical treatment resorted
to in order to prevent their re-formation. Those who may desire my
services in this respect can forward to me the stones, and on receipt I
will carefully analyze them, and suggest the proper treatment.
JAUNDICE (Icterus) The most prominent symptoms are yellowness of the skin, eyes, and urine, owing to the deposit of the coloring matter of the bile in the blood. The appetite is impaired, the food is loathed, an uncomfortable feeling of a load at the pit of the stomach is felt. The stomach is sour, sometimes there is sickness and vomiting, a bitter taste in the mouth, a dull pain at the right side, sleepiness, and an uncomfortable feeling of lassitude at all times distresses the patient. The urine is heavily tinged with bile, and the stools clay colored. It is usually idiopathic, but may be a concomitant of other diseases. Torpidity of the liver is the chief cause, yet any functional disorder of the organs may cause it. TREATMENT. -- If caused by inactivity of the liver, the organ should be aroused by a emetic and active antibilious purges. I can certainly advise no better cathartic for this purpose than my Renovating Pill. The liver should be further stimulated to action by the application of an irritating plaster over the region of the liver. Tonics, like quinine, poplar, and liriodendron, may be necessary in some cases. The diet should consist of fresh vegetables, and as much out-door exercise should be taken as the patient can bear. The liver is the seat of many other diseases, but as they are more or less rare, of difficult detection, and treatment difficult, I deemed it prudent not to enter upon any consideration of them. The organ may hypertrophy or atrophy, its blood-vessels may become diseased, it may be affected by syphilitic taint, it may become fatty, it may degenerate into a waxy or albuminous mass; disease may change it into a pigment or nutmeg liver; it may be the seat of hydatids or parasites, tumors or cancer may assail it, and finally it may be the seat of tuberculous matter of a miliary character. The symptoms produced by these morbid conditions are so obscure, and many of them the common property of all, that none but a skilful physician is capable of recognizing the identity of the affection; and I advise all patients who are suffering from any liver disease that present phenomena, not recognizable in the simpler affections of the organ, to intrust his case to a competent physician. I have devoted nearly a lifetime to the study of
liver diseases, and I am ready to maintain that my success in their treatment
is greater than by any other system of medication. I am daily consulted
with reference to some chronic disease of the liver, both in person or
by letter and patients under treatment are scattered in all sections of
the country. Constant communication by
ANATOMY OF THE SPLEEN The organ occupying the right of the following cut, is the spleen. It is a soft vascular organ of a purplish color. It is not a true gland, as it has no duct. The shape of the spleen is irregular and variable, but it is generally the section of an ovoid, with a convex surface resting against the diaphragm, opposite the ninth, tenth, and eleventh ribs, and a convex surface directed towards the stomach. It varies in size more than any other organ in the body. It is generally five inches long and three wide, and weighs from five to seven ounces. The proper substance of the spleen is a soft, pulpy mass, of a reddish-brown color, resembling grumous blood. Its office in the economy is not well understood, but is evidently concerned in the blood-depurating process. It is numerously supplied with lymphatics. The long and flat gland lying between the spleen and duodenum, in the left of the cut, is the Pancreas, or sweet-bread. It is of a light-pink color, and is about seven inches long. Its right extremity, or head, is much the thickest part, and is often called the lesser pancreas. Its left extremity gradually diminishes in breadth until it touches the spleen. The superior edge has a groove for the passage of the splenic artry. Its structure is conglomerate. Its excretory duct is called the duct of Wirsungius. Its secretion is somewhat similar to saliva, hence
it is often called the abdominal salivary gland. Its secretion contains
a larger amount of solid matter than the saliva, and assists in the process
of digestion.
SPLENITIS The functions of the spleen have formerly been the cause of much controversy, nor are they better understood at the present day; but the organ is evidently concerned somewhat in the blood-making process, but that it performs a very important part is doubtful, as the whole organ has been removed without affecting the health in the least. In some countries, the practice of removing the spleen in pigs, for the purpose of facilitating the fattening practice, has been resorted to, which fact has suggested to some over-confident analogists the propriety of removing the spleen in the human subject as a remedy for debility. Splenitis prevails most in malarious districts, and is a frequent result of chills and fever. A feeling of weight, tightness, sometimes pain in the left side, which is increased by pressure, or an attempt to lie on the left side, are the earliest symptoms. The organ enlarges -- sometimes so much that it can readily be felt by the hand. It is known by the name of "ague-cake," and causes numbness and weakness of the legs, difficulty of breathing, palpitation of the heart, obstinate constipation, vomiting of food, piles, dry skin, and occasionally dropsical affections. TREATMENT. -- This does not differ much with the
treatment advised for acute and chronic inflammation of the liver.
Quinine, in combination with leptandrin and irisin, is indicated in all
cases. Counter-irritation should also be made over the splenic region,
and, when complicated with dropsy, the required directions should be administered.
My "Restorative
The spleen may also be affected with dropsy, or become
studded with tuberculous matter. In such events the treatment is
the same as for dropsy and tubercular depositions of any other internal
organ.
DISEASES OF THE PANCREAS The pancreas is rarely the seat of disease. The symptoms of its morbid conditions are usually obscure. It may be affected by inflammation, passive or acute. In typhoid, typhus, and puerperal fevers, it occasionally becomes involved in inflammation. The symptoms of disease of this gland are usually pain in the epigastrium, enlargement and tenderness, a sensation of heat and constriction, salivation, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, despondency, chills, alternated with flushes of heat, and debility, with great emaciation. The vomiting in some instances is very obstinate; the matters ejected are thin, ropy, and of a sour or saltish taste. Jaundice is often observed. TREATMENT. -- Control the disease by equalizing the
circulation with hot packs, veratrum, aconite, mild purges, etc.
In the chronic form, administer mandrake, blue flag, and poke-root, as
these remedies are known to increase the functions of this gland.
Lobelia and capsicum, in some cases of chronic congestion and inflammation,
act with decided benefit. In all diseases of this gland it would
be well, however, to intrust the treatment to a competent herbal physician.
DISEASES OF THE BOWELS The intestinal tube is very seldom affected throughout
its whole extent, but inflammation may involve any portion of it at one
time. If the duodenum is affected it is called Duodenitis,if the
caecum or blind gut is inflamed, it receives the name of Typhilitis, if
it involves the small intestine, it is called Enteritis. These diseases
are very rare, however, and their consideration as separate affections
is of not much importance, except to the nosologist. The treatment
is upon general principles and corresponds with that given in all inflammatory
affections of the intestinal mucous membrane. Dysentery is a typical
case of enteric inflammation, hence we will commence with the consideration
of it.
DYSENTERY (Colitis) This is also known as bloody flux, and consists of an inflammation of the membrane of the colon and rectum, and characterized by small mucous or bloody evacuations, griping, and straining. The disease comes on with loss of appetite, costiveness, lassitude, shivering, heat of skin and quick pulse. These are followed by griping pain in the bowels and a constant desire to go to stool. The passages are mostly small in quantity, and composed of mucus mixed with blood. These passages are attended with severe griping and straining, technically known as tormina and tenesmus. Nausea and vomiting sometimes attend the early stages. When the natural faeces pass off, they are usually formed in round compact balls, called scybala. Fever is commonly present, with a feeble, almost thread-like pulse. The discharges have but little odor at first, but become exceedingly offensive as the disease advances. The chronic form is characterized by frequent small evacuations consisting mostly of mucus, but sometimes mixed with pus, bile, faeces and blood. The symptoms are the same, but less intense than in the acute form. Emaciation, debility, dropsy, and consumption result, if not arrested. When the liver and stomach become disordered at the commencement, it is called bilious dysentery. Various forms of the disease are known as adynamic, intermittent and remittent, typhous, rheumatic and epidemic dysentery; but it is not necessary to classify the disease under these heads. TREATMENT. -- A free lobelia emetic may be given
at the outset, and the bowels evacuated by a purge; castor-oil with laudanum
is the best for this purpose. After the purge, take twenty grains
of quinine and one drachm of leptandrin, divide into six powders and take
one every hour until all are taken. The tenesmus should be relieved
by injecting into the rectum five or six ounces of starch water, containing
about twenty drops of laudanum, as often as is necessary. Ipecacuanha
is a superior remedy. Gelsemium may be given afterwards, and if required
the fever should be controlled by veratrum. The patient should lie
quietly in bed, and his diet should consist of grapes, baked apples, flour
porridge, bread, rice, coffee, beef-tea and ripe fruit. The astringents
are of course necessary, and for this purpose tannic and gallic acids kino,
rhatany, opium, capsicum, cranesbill, etc., can be given. Tonics
should be combined when the patient is weak, and if the debility is very
great the alcoholic stimulants should be administered. I can with
safety recommend my "Restorative Assimilant" as a sure cure for both acute
and chronic dysentery, as well as for all bowel complaints. The Herbal
Ointment should be rubbed externally on the whole abdomen to relieve the
inflammtion. In the chronic form, the astringents, with such other
remedies as may be indicated by the symptoms, are all that is necessary.
DIARRHOEA This common disorder is characterized by frequent and urgent demands to evacuate the bowels. It is usually preceded by a sense of indigestion, fulness of stomach, flatulency, and more or less colic pains. The pain generally subsides after an evacuation, and returns as an indication of another discharge. The discharges may be thick, consisting of ingesta, or they may be serous, or of a rice-water appearance. Sometimes they consist of distintegrated mucous membranes, blood, and bile. There is usually a disagreeable sinking sensation in the abdomen along with the discharge, with exhaustion, a cool skin, and a feeble irregular pulse. It may be attended with fever, indicating extensive irritation of the mucous coat. The urine is usually scanty. When the discharges are composed of serum, and highly colored with either yellow or green bile, it is called bilious diarrhoea; when composed principally of mucus, it is known as mucous diarrhoea, and when of a thin, watery character, the name of serous diarrhoea is given to it. The disease may become chronic. TREATMENT. -- If it occurs in children, a little paregoric, or essence of peppermint or spearmint, usually cures in a short time. Opium in combination with ipecac, as in the Dover's powder, is an excellent remedy. The astringents are all indicated. Starch injections, as advised in dysentery, should also be resorted to, and counter-irritation of the abdomen is also serviceable. In the chronic form the tonics should be combined with the astringents. I cannot recommend my "Restorative Assimilant" (see page 469) too strongly. It is certainly an admirable remedy for this complaint, relieving it most instantly. Chronic diarrhoea may often be so dependent upon
a vitiated condition of the system that it becomes quite difficult to cure.
In such cases the most careful treatment is necessary to overcome the disease.
During the war, and also afterwards, the author was consulted for this
affection by those who contracted it in the army in thousands of cases;
but under proper treatment all recovered.
CONSTIPATION By this is understood a collection of excrementitious matters in some part of the intestinal tube. It is marked by unfrequency of stool, and by the recurrence of fulness and tension in parts of the abdomen. It occurs in patients of a lax and weak habit of body, or it may arise from rigidity of the muscles. It may also be due to imperfect functional action of the stomach, liver, pancreas, etc., in which case the intellectual faculties are dull, the complexion is sallow, the skin dry, urine scanty, acidity of the stomach, and headache. Sometimes the accumulation of faecal matter is so great that the masses can be felt through the abdominal walls. It is frequently caused by an atonic condition of the muscular structure of the intestines, and in very many cases it results from neglect to attend to the calls of nature. These calls should be imperative, and whenever the desire arises they should not be disregarded, but obeyed as quickly as opportunity allows. I once knew a sea-captain who only evacuated his bowels when in port, and who remarked to me that when he "battened down the hatches of his vessel, he also battened down the hatches of his body, and no matter how long the voyages, no stools are made." The consequences were, that whenever he came to port he had a hard time to be relieved of his faecal accumulations. In many other cases no movement of the bowels was observed for ten or twelve weeks. Constipation is attended with various sympathetic affections, and finally deranges the blood, impairs the health, tone, and vigor of the whole system. It is frequently the cause of piles, strangury, dysmenorrhoea, amenorrhoea, leucorrhoea, apoplexy, epilepsy, dyspepsia, insanity, etc. TREATMENT. -- The cause of the difficulty should
be carefully studied, and the proper treatment resorted to. The diet
should be composed of laxative articles of food, as fresh fruits, unbolted
flour bread, etc. If dependent upon a lax state of the muscular fibres,
golden seal, in combination with mandrake and blackroot are the proper
remedies, and when due to vitiated sefcretions of the stomach, liver, etc.,
the American Columbo should be given. In atony of the bowels, nux
vomica should be carefully administered with the cathartics. Cathartics
and enemas are of course indicated for present relief in all cases, and
those should be selected which operate sufficiently, without causing irritation
of the mucous membranes. Kneading the bowels often overcomes habitual
constipation. There exists no better remedy than my "Renovating Pills,"
they cure every case of habitual constipation. The bowels may become
obstructed from other causes, Intussusception, or invagination of the bowels,
or when one part of the bowel is drawn into another portion, produces complete
closure of the canal. The bowels also bcome twisted. These
conditions may be known by the vomiting of stercoraceous or faecal matter,
and when this is observed, instant medical aid should be called for, as
the condition is one of great danger, and requires intelligent treatment.
INTESTINAL WORMS Every animal seems to be a nest for other animals, and man is no exception to the rule. There are five varieties of intestinal worms, all more or less familiar to every one of my readers. 1. Ascaris lumbricoides. -- This worm resembles the common earth worm, and is supposed to belong to the same species. It varies in size from four to eighteen inches in length; it also varies in color, having in some instances a whitish pink hue, and in others a dull, dirty-yellow color. It feeds on the chyme found in the intestines, upon absorption from which the growth of the human system depends. They are generally found in the smaller intestines. 2. Ascaris vermicularis. -- This worm is sometimes improperly called the thread-worm, for there is another variety more like a thread than this. It is commonly called the maw-worm, and is the smallest known. The male is exceedingly small, but the female is about half an inch long. It is very slender, and about the size of small sewing-thread. From the fact that it inhabits the rectum chiefly, it is often called the seat-worm. This is the animal so troublesome and annoying to children, but is occasionally also found in adults. The child infested with them runs about during the day apparently well, but when night comes it complains of itching in the rectum, which is sometimes excessively annoying. 3. Tricocephalus dispar. -- This is the long thread-worm, from one to two inches in length, but sometimes reaches a length of four inches. It is like a small thread, except at the posterior extremity, where it is enlarged. It is not so often found as the others. It is of light color. The male is smaller than the female, and differs little in shape. It is common to all parts of the intestinal canal. 4. Toenia solium or vulgaris. -- This is the common tape-worm. Of this family there is but one variety in the United States, though there is another peculiar to other parts of the world. It varies greatly in length and size. The ordinary length is from seven to fifteen feet, but it sometimes arrives at the enormous length of one hundred feet. It is of a flat, ribbon-like shape, about one-quarter of an inch in breadth in the largest places, and tapers to almost a mere thread at the canal extremity. Its color is whitish or yellowish; and it is made up of numerous segments or joints, which are most distinct and perfect at a distance from the head. These segments resemble a gourd-seed, and are four-sided. The head is smaller than most of the body, with a small point in the centre with openings. It is supposed that this animal can exist or reproduce itself if but a single joint exists, but this is doubtful unless the head exists. When the head is evacuated the remainder will decay and be also expelled. This animal is hermaphrodite, and impregnates itself. It inhabits the small intestines. Persons affected with this worm frequently pass joints, but it often remains in the body for a long time without its presence being thus revealed. 5. Tonia lata, or bothriocephalus latus. -- This is the broad tape-worm, and does not exist in this country unless imported. It is found in Central and Western Europe. It is much broader, and the joints are shorter than in the common long tape-worm. The joints are more perfect, well developed, and thrown off in connected rows, and by a cavity in the centre, and not in the border of the joints. It varies in length from one to twenty feet. Almost every variety of symptoms is found to result from the irritation that worms produce in the human system. The symptoms, however, occur mostly in children, and are generally produced by the long, round, or common worms. The abdomen is prominent, full or bloated; the appetite variable and capricious; sometimes deficient and sometimes voracious. The breath is usually offensive, the tongue has a white-coated appearance, and often the upper lip will be much swollen. The eye-lids also swell often, sometimes so much that the child can barely see; and occasionally swollen patches will present themselves in other parts of the body. Children troubled with worms are apt to pass restless nights, and frequently start in their sleep. Paleness around the mouth, extending up the sides of the nose, is another common symptom. Itching of the anus is the most common and only particular effect produced by the small worms. St. Vitus' dance and epilepsy often result from verminous irritation, but the latter is usually harmless when properly treated. A dry, choking cough is a symptom peculiar of worms. Itching of the nose is a common symptom, and the child is almost incessantly rubbing that member. The symptoms of tape-worm are somewhat peculiar, and deserve a brief notice. Persons of all ages are subject to them, but they are most common to middle age. The disturbance they occasion is that of great uneasiness and distress, which often, sooner or later, destroys the general health. Uneasiness in the head, sometimes pain, slight giddiness and ringing in the ears, are the symptoms most complained of. The twitching of the muscles, especially those at the mouth, and a pinched, contracted appearance of the nostrils, accompanied with itching, are peculiar symptoms of tape-worm. The appetite is variable, the eyelids swollen, the breath offensive, etc., and other symptoms common to other worms are present also in tape-worm. Nausea occurs at times, with ejections of frothy mucus. The patient grits his teeth in sleep; and the abdomen seems full, with contraction of the navel. After a night's sleep there is a sensation of an animal moving about in the bowels, accompanied by darting pains, which subside after eating. The patient becomes weak and nervous, and finally, worn out with excitement, gets hypochondriacal and even deranged. Of course, the most unequivocal symptom is a discharge of joints of the worm. TREATMENT. -- This varies with the symptoms of each case. If convulsions exist, the first step should be to subdue these by brisk friction and warm applications along the spine and abdomen. Anti-spasmodics in these cases should be given; also sweating drinks. If these symptoms are relieved, the compound powder of senna and jalap may be given with pink and wormwood in sufficient doses to produce free evacuations of the bowels. This is to be repeated for two or three days, and is usually successful. It is equally reliable in the treatment of the long thread-worm. The powder is composed of three drachms each of the above herbs decocted in a pint of water; dose, a tablespoonful. It produces sometimes alarming symptoms, but these, however, are harmless and of short duration. Pinkroot and wormwood are good remedies, however, given in any form. The melia azedarach, or the Pride of China, given in decoction, is a favorite remedy; so also is the burr of the red cedar, the efficacy depending upon the turpentine it contains. Santonine in doses of three or five grains is efficacious, and very serviceable because it is tasteless, and therefore readily administered. Blue vertain is a good remedy, and for this reason my "Restorative Assimilant" is so efficient for the expulsion of worms. Seat, or maw-worms are best expelled by injections of moderately strong salt and water, or soap-suds. Turpentine in emulsion also makes an efficient injection. For tape-worm various remedies are used. Kousso, pumpkin-seeds, and turpentine have each a good reputation. Male Fern, however, is the most specific remedy that can be used. It is certain to dislodge the distressing enemy. My "Male Fern Vermifuge" is without doubt the best vermifuge ever compounded and offered to the public. It instantly expels the minor worms, and the tape-worm is quickly dislodged by it. It is composed of such articles as make it applicable to every variety of worms, and it is veritably infallible in its effect. (See page 469.) I admonish all persons to avoid eating pork that is not well cooked, for it is an established and indisputable fact that tape-worm is caused by eating raw pork, provided that it is not in a healthy condition. That which is commonly known as "measly pork" contains the germs of tape-worm and should not be eaten unless thoroughly cooked. Tape-worm is most preva |