An inquiry how far consumption is curable : with observations on the treatment, and on the use of cod-liver oil and other remedies : with cases / by James Turnbull.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry how far consumption is curable : with observations on the treatment, and on the use of cod-liver oil and other remedies : with cases / by James Turnbull. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    nrPORTANCE OP INQUIRY. Besides this, consumption selects its victims, not like some diseases, from the extremes of life—from child- hood and old age—but chiefly from those who are in the pride of youth, or in the prime and vigour of life. The greatest number of individuals of both sexes, who sink under this disease, are between the ages of 25 and 35 ; and, next to this, between 15 and 25; the periods of life when, therefore, the greatest vigilance should be exercised in the prevention of the disease in those here- ditarily predisposed. The profession, as well as the public, have been so strongly impressed with the behef that the disease is necessarily fatal, that any one who would have main- tained the opposite opinion would, until very recently, have been looked upon only in the light of a boasting pretender. Notwithstanding this, pathological investi- gations have shown, in the clearest manner, that reco- very often does take place from this disease; and ever since the able investigations of Laennec proved that this may occur from the spontaneous ejfforts of nature; subsequent pathologists have been accumulating facts, proving more fully the correctness of his views and statements. Auscultation and percussion, by enabling us to separate those diseases from consumption which most nearly resemble it, and to trace the successive steps of recovery on living individuals, have completed what was required, in order to establish the point. I beUeve that although many medical men arc acquainted with these facts, the majority are not aware of the amount of strong evidence that exists in reference to