An essay on the pathology and therapeutics of scarlet fever / by Caspar Morris.

  • Morris, Caspar, 1805-1884.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the pathology and therapeutics of scarlet fever / by Caspar Morris. 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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    tion, was scarcely to be called a disease, at the period at which Dr. Fothergill wrote had assumed this malignant form. Dr. Fothergill thus describes that epidemic: It comes on generally with such a giddiness of the head as commonly pre- cedes fainting, and a chilliness or shivering like that of an ague fit; this is soon followed by great heat; and these inter- changeably succeed each other during some hours, till at length the heat becomes constant and intense. The patient then complains of an acute pain in the head, of heat and soreness rather than pain in the throat, stiffness of the neck, commonly of great sickness, with vomiting or purging, or both. The face soon after looks red and swollen, the eyes inflamed and watery as in measles, with restlessness, anxiety, and faintness. The disease frequently seizes the patients in the fore part of the day. As night approaches, the heat and restlessness increase, and continue till towards morning, when, after a short and disturbed slumber, (the only repose they often have during several nights,) a sweat breaks out, which miti- gates the heat and restlessness, and gives the disease some- times the appearance of an intermittent. If the mouth and throat be examined soon after the first attack, the uvula and tonsils appear swollen; and these parts, together with the velum pendulum palati, the cheeks on either side near the fauces, and as much of them and of the pharynx behind as can be seen, appear of a florid red colour. The colour is commonly most observable on the posterior edge of the palate, in the angle above the tonsils, and on the tonsils themselves. Instead of this redness, a broad spot or patch of an irregular figure, and of a pale white colour, is sometimes to be seen surrounded with a florid red, which whiteness commonly ap- pears like that of the gums immediately after being pressed with the finger, or as if matter ready to be discharged was contained underneath. Generally, on the second day of the disease, the face,