Spasmodic asthma : a thesis for the M.B. degree of the University of Cambridge / by W.E. Steavenson.

  • Steavenson, W. E. (William Edward), 1850-1891.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Spasmodic asthma : a thesis for the M.B. degree of the University of Cambridge / by W.E. Steavenson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    SPASMODIC ASTHMA. The subject of Asthma has lately been prominently brought forward by several authors, and was the subject chosen for the Lettsomian Lectures of the present year. Considering the rarity of the disease, it seems extraordinary that so many books, articles, and monographs should have been written upon the subject; but when the lives of the authors are inquired into it will be found that several of them suffered from the distressing disease themselves, and this must be my excuse also for writing upon a subject of so little utility; for even if the real cause and a certain cure for asthma were discovered, a very infinitesimal pro- portion of the human race would be benefited. It appears to me that another reason why spasmodic asthma is a favourite subject for the pen of medical men is because of its extraordinary vagaries. The condition of a patient may be such that he is one day apparently at death’s door, with not breath enough to give utterance to words explaining his ordinary wants, and the next day perhaps capable of running a mile or dancing at a ball. I am referring to cases of asthma pure and simple, not those cases of bronchitis and em- physema frequently accompanied by asthmatic seizures. The symptoms and inconvenience of bronchitis and spasmodic asthma are no doubt exactly the same, but i