The modern practice of physic : exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas, M.D., of Salisbury.

  • Thomas, Robert, 1753-1835.
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The modern practice of physic : exhibiting the characters, causes, symptoms, prognostics, morbid appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates / by Robert Thomas, M.D., of Salisbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    •^'Tti LOCAL DISEASES. 6tASS IT. Oi THE RING-WORM, OR IMPETIGO. X HIS IS a cutaneous disease, and arises most frequently from com- xn^ in contact with those already affected by it; but in sonae habits there seeixis a predisposition to it. It is a disorder more frequently met with in wavm climates than in cold ones ; is of a contasz^ious nature, by con- tact, and in inveterate cases is very difficult to ei'udicate. It shews itself in small red pimples, which break out in a circular form, and contain a thin acrid fluid. When the body is heated by ex- ercise, these itch intolerably, and upon being- scratched, discharge their contents, which, by falling on the neighbouring parts, spread the disease to a considerable degree. The original size of the circle foi-med by the pimples, is usually about that of a sixpenny piece; but in process of time it will become, by neglect, as large as the palm of the hand. In some cases, the disease is so universal that the habit becomes tainted ; the skin puts on a leprous appearance, is much disfigured with blotches, and the unhappy patient enjoys not a moment's ease from the intolerable itching and painful excoriations. Where the disease is not of an inveterate nature, it may easily be re- moved by washing the parts affected with some kind of astringent lo- tion ;* and where this fails, recourse may be had to the remedies advi- sed for the cure of the itch. The application of mushroom catsup to the pimples is reported to be a very efficacious remedy. A poultice of the flowers of the ring-worm bush, French guayava tree (cassia alata) is much employed in the West India islands. It seldom happens that an internal use of medicine is necessary. Where the disease is very inveterate, some gentle alterative, such as Plummer's pill, with a decoction of the woods, may probably be most proper. See Herpes. Many of the schools in the vicinity of London have of late, I under- stand, been much annoyed by the. appearance of this disease among their youth under a very inveterate formi,^ and chiefly occupying the hairy scalp. This peculiarity is owing, no doubt, to using the same comb for the infected and the healthy ; and in this way it may very readily be communicated. By an inattention to this circumstance, I was once a witness of the disorder being very generally propagated through a large school of boys. They were in fact inoculated with the teeth of the comb imbued with matter from the head of the boy who was first affected, and who was an Indian or Creole lately arrived fi'om the West Indies. The ring-worm generally appears on the head in a small circle of redness, which increases in diameter by degrees, and contracts a branny scurf, the hair separating at the roots from the slightest touch. After one circle has made its appearance, other similar circles may be ex- * 1^. Zinc. Vitriolat. gfs. CeruR. Acetat. gr. xv. Aq. Diftilht. gvj. M;