A treatise on the diseases of negroes, as they occur in the island of Jamaica : with observations on the country remedies / by James Thomson.

  • Thomson, James, active 1814-1820.
Date:
1820
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases of negroes, as they occur in the island of Jamaica : with observations on the country remedies / by James Thomson. 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.)

    37/186
    tended with h ratling noise, but there is no expectoration, and lit- tle cough : Fever is much less than in the former disease. The patient eagerly jgra^p/i the hand, and piteously prays for relief in an almost inarticulate whisper: The pulse is soft, and unequal in strength : The tongue shortly ge<-s a thick, dark, mucous.covering: No particular part is complained of. The checks are often cold, a.ul oUkt parts of a burning heat. The most marked symptoms are the sudden prostration of strength in the negro, anxiety, and despondency. These symptoms include the more usual mode of attack: They vary, however,, from.tlie nature of the subject and s. verity of the disease in elderly women. About the cessation of the menstrual period they come on gradually, and uniformly ter- minate in water in the chest. In many instances, from its prevalence at a particular period, it has been said to be epidemical, accompanied with a remarkable tend nicy to putrescence: This is doubtful. • Those who are deceived by the apparent symptoms of inflam- mation, and proceed at once to let blood freely, and give strong purges, have too often to witness a fatal termination. The Itmgs L come every hour more and more oppressed with fluid, till suf- focation puts, an end to the patient's sufferings: This lias led many to call the disease iri the W est-Indies Humoral Asthma. The subjects that suffer most are those of a weakly, bad habit of body. Women who have borne many children, and particularly those with whom menstruation is ceasing, dirt-caters, young chil- dren, and all at an advanced period of life, and who have at any time been subject to pulmonary complaints.* The dissections of bodies I have made of those negroes who have sunk under the disease have been numerous. I have uniformly Found effusion of a viscid matter into the ec\H and substance of the lungs and bronchia?, attended with parti*] inflammation of the mu- cous membrane; in some places, abscesses with bloody matter.—* D * In the MS. writings of Dr. Wright, formerly ail cminart Physician in this jslan.l, I find the following remarkable observation, which I have often seen veri- fied, though not to the extent he mentions:— I have very often seen in tlie West-Indies among negroes difficult, quick breathing, with bad expectoration; fever, and other frightful symptoms ofinflam- tnation of the brjast, take their principal rise from quantities of putrid bile and other sorJcs lodged in the primae via?, and often also from worms. An immense llispharge of one or the other will take place suddenly and give instant relief, lcav- foj thglJcrcifrr a ad his bribers quite in the back-ground.