Homoeopathic domestic medicine / by J. Laurie ; arranged as a pratical work for students ; containing a glossary of medical terms.

  • Laurie, Joseph, -1865.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Homoeopathic domestic medicine / by J. Laurie ; arranged as a pratical work for students ; containing a glossary of medical terms. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    irregular appetite, sometimes with desire for indigestible or unnatural food; constipation or diarrhoea; general febrile excitement, fretfulness and languor. GENERAL SYMPTOMS. Subsequently, the head is observed to become preternaturally enlarged, and the fore- head unusually prominent, The breast-bone projects; the ribs appear flattened; the belly is much distended; while the rest of the body, and the limbs in particular, are greatly emaciated, and the debility is extreme. As the disease advances, the muscles become more flaccid; the wrists and ankles become swollen; the legs, thighs, and arms distorted; and the spine partakes in the general deformity, by becoming shorter, and curved in various directions. ISSUE AND RESULTS. Sometimes the distortion and deformity of the ribs and spine increase to such a degree as to bring on a fatal result, by impeding the action of the lungs, and other important internal parts. When the disease is early attended to, and the more general exciting causes,— such as defective nursing, damp or wet, ill-ventilated dwell- ings, insufficient exercise out of doors, improper food, and uncleanliness—are capable of being removed—the chances of recovery are much increased, and the deformity is frequently materially, if not wholly, diminished as the patient grows up. Otherwise, if life be spared, it is liable to be rendered misera- ble by a state of almost continuous suffering. General Precautions and Management. AVhen there is a hereditary predisposition to this disease, too great attention cannot be paid to the first manifestations of ill-health. Great care should, at the same time, be taken to avoid undue pres- sure upon the chest and other parts. From the deficiency of earthy matter in the bones of a rickety child, they are wanting in the natural and requisite strength or firmness to support the weight of the frame. Consequently, when every precau- tion is not adopted, and the child is allowed, or rather compelled, by its heedless or culpable nurse or others, to use muscular exertion, deformity inevitably results. It will, therefore, be necessary to deal gently and cautiously with the