On asthma : its pathology and treatment / by Henry Hyde Salter.

  • Salter, Henry Hyde, 1823-1871.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On asthma : its pathology and treatment / by Henry Hyde Salter. 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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    ON ASTHMA. CHAPTER I, PRELIMINARY INQUIRY INTO THE TENABILITY OF THE THEORIES OF ASTHMA. Theory 1. That bronchial spasm is not necessarily present in asthma; Laennec's Asthma, with puerile breathing; Copland's Nervous asthma; Walshe's Hremic asthma. These dyspnoeas not true asthma.—2. Dr. Bree's theory of a specific irritating mucus.—3. That asthma is the dyspnoea of bronchitis; the Bronchite a rales vibrants of M. Beau.—4. The Humoral theory.—5. Dr. Todd's theory of a poisoning of certain portions of the nervous centres, or nerves of respiration, by a specific materies morbi,—6. That asthma is nothing but the dyspnoea of emphy- sema.—7. That the phenomena of asthma are due to spasm or paralysis of the re- spiratory muscles.—8. That asthma is paralysis of the bronchial tubes.—9. That there is no such thing as asthma, as a substantive disease. Spasmodic asthma—paroxysmal dyspnoea of a peculiar character, generally periodic, with intervals of healthy respiration between the attacks—although not a very common disease, cannot, in this country, be said to be by any means rare, and I believe that all who direct their attention to it will find it to be much commoner than is ima- gined. Cases of perfectly pure asthma, that is, without the slightest organic complication, are, however, rare, unless they have existed a very short time, and for this reason—that asthma, if it is at all severe and its attacks frequent, cannot long exist without inflicting permanent injury on the lungs, and even on the heart. If in asthma of long standing the lungs and heart remain healthy and uninjured, we may be sure either that the attacks are very mild, so as to pro- duce but little disturbance in the lung, or that they are very rare, so as to allow ample time for the recovery of the injury produced by one attack before the occurrence of another. But asthma is not the less asthma because it has produced certain organic changes which complicate it; and many cases are primarily and essentially asthma that ultimately become, and are called, emphysema and heart-disease. But not only is asthma not an uncommon disease, but it is one of the direst suffering; the horrors o f the asthmatic paroxysm far exceed any acute bodily pain ; the sense of impending suffocation, the agonizing struggle for the breath of life, are so terrible, that 2