A clinical materia medica : Being a course of lectures delivered at the Hahnemann medical college, of Philadelphia / by the late E. A. Farrington, M. D. Reported phonographically and edited with the assistance of the lecturer's manuscript,by Clarence Bartlett, M. D., and revised by S. Lilienthal, M. D. With a memorial sketch of the author, by Aug. Korndoerfer, M. D.

  • Farrington, E. A. (Ernest Albert), 1847-1885.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A clinical materia medica : Being a course of lectures delivered at the Hahnemann medical college, of Philadelphia / by the late E. A. Farrington, M. D. Reported phonographically and edited with the assistance of the lecturer's manuscript,by Clarence Bartlett, M. D., and revised by S. Lilienthal, M. D. With a memorial sketch of the author, by Aug. Korndoerfer, M. D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    body. This defect is one of osseous growth ; thus you find the fonta- nelles remaining open, particularly the anterior fontanelle. The abdo- men is large and has been compared to an inverted saucer or basin. The features are rather large, and the lips, particularly the upper, are swollen. Dentition is slow. The scalp sweats profusely, particularly during sleep. This is not usually a warm sweat, nor is it a cold sweat; but it is cool from natural evaporation. When the child awakes, you notice the pillow damp or wet for some little space around the head. The feet are often cold and clammy. (Do not, however, be deceived by this symptom, for there are some children who, by wearing too warm a stocking, will have sweaty feet.) Such patients suffer from partial sweating of still other parts of the body. That is in itself an almost certain symptom for Calcarea ostrearum. Thus it may affect the chest or knees when all other parts of the body may be perfectly dry. Now from this extreme picture, we may have the opposite con- dition, one of great emaciation. The skin hangs flabby and in folds. Despite this emaciation, the abdomen remains abnormally large. Such children are scrofulous, and it is genuine scrofula, for which Calcarea ostrearum is indicated. There is another form, which is tubercular in its character, and in this form we have Phosphorus indicated. We find the same swelling of the glands, the same indolent ulceration, and the same difficulty in learning to talk and walk, but the patient has a deli- cate, refined skin, and the features are sharp and rather handsome. The eyelashes are long and silky, and the hair dark and glossy. This is the kind of scrofula which will, if not neutralized, ultimately end in consumption of the lungs. As the Calcarea child grows older it is slow in teething. It may even have fever or convulsions attending the tardy eruption of the teeth. Scrofulous inflammation of the eyes is almost always present. There are pustules on the cornea, and these threaten to destroy that membrane. The parts about the ulcer are very vascular. The child dreads artificial light in particular, although it complains bitterly of the daylight hurting its eyes on awaking in the morning. The dis- charges from the eyes are apt to be bland. The cornea is left more or less opaque by the ulceration. Calcarea has often been used after the subsidence of the acute symptoms, to remove the corneal opacity and the chronic thickening of the eyelids. There is a remedy which is similar to Calcarea ostrearum, and that is Saccharum officinale. This drug has been proved on several persons, and has many confirmations. It is indicated in children who are large- 40