The American eclectic practice of medicine (Volume 2).

  • Jones, I. G. (Ichabod Gibson), 1807-1857.
Date:
1853-54
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The American eclectic practice of medicine (Volume 2). 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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    departs; or perhaps local engorgement of some important organ occurs and destroys life before a complete contamina- tion takes place. The tongue in most cases throughout the complaint is free from fur, and the appetite is good, the patient often taking food with as much relish as in perfect health, but, owing to tender- ness of the gums and teeth, patients are deprived the pleasure of indulging in anything more than some simple and farina- ceous substances. The demand, however, is none the less, and at times is even painful, especially for those articles re- quired by the system to counteract the morbid action going on. But in some cases the stomach becomes involved, and nausea and vomiting produce severe and prostrating effects. The bowels are sometimes loose, often discharging dark, coagulated blood ; but more commonly they are costive, and occasionally obstinate constipation, with difficulty in evacuating, attends the case. The pulse is generally feeble, rarely excited, but most frequently slower than in health; while the skin is cooler than natural, with cold extremities. But if local inflamma- tory action occurs, we should expect to find a hot skin and excited pulse. The urine is diminished in quantity, and gene- rally red or high-colored, and occasionally mixed with blood. With all these symptoms of general disease it could scarcely be otherwise than that emaciation should rapidly take place. Few diseases present a more variable character than scurvy. Sometimes it breaks out quite suddenly, runs its course with great malignancy, and terminates fatally in a short period. But most generally it approaches insidiously, and pursues its course with a gradual increase in the accumulating and pro- gressive symptoms, until the circumstances of the case change or the system sinks under the weight of the morbid action. The difference in these respects is no doubt owing to natural vigor of constitution, or to the weak and exhausted powers of the system, or to thfc degree and extent of the cause that pro- duces the disease. It no doubt is more violent and severe when epidemic influences co-operate in its production, and it is said also to have manifested a greater malignancy at sea than on land, owing most likely to the greater difficulty of