Letters on the cholera asphyxia, as it has appeared in the city of New York : addressed to John C. Warren, M.D., of Boston, and originally published in that city. Together with other letters, not before published / by Martyn Paine.

Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters on the cholera asphyxia, as it has appeared in the city of New York : addressed to John C. Warren, M.D., of Boston, and originally published in that city. Together with other letters, not before published / by Martyn Paine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    inflammation is not understood, and that redness is not necessary to its existence. Thius driven. from the most difficult entrenchment, the hyper- eemia of Andral is preferred by some, for the still greater ambiguity of the term, and its more generic import. But, yet another sign. The mucous tissue is softened,—it is disorganized,— and therefore is denoted the most active inflam- mation. When was it proved, I would inquire, that no other mode of action is capable of pro- ducing such a change ? Who ever, before, wit- nessed the Cholera Asphyxia? and may there not be something in that disease, differing even from inflammation, that may modify or derange the structure of organs I What action is that which precedes mortification of the lower ex- tremities in subjects of an advanced age, with- out any apparent exciting cause, or any sensible evidence of inflammation 1 The morbid action of Cholera sometimes tends to the disorganiza- tion of the whole body. We see it in the blood before life is extinct,—we recognise the wither- ing poison in the frequent flabbiness of the heart,—and we are sure, from the rapid decom- position of the body, in some cases, that there had been almost a conflict between the vital pro- perties and the laws of chemistry.—I will not il- lustrate these phenomena by the operation of the electric fluid,—for I believe that they arise not alone from the absolute extinction of life, but owe much of their production to the elements of disease. This argument, however, like the last, 8