An inquiry into the morbid effects of deficiency of food, chiefly with reference to their occurrence amongst the destitute poor : also practical observations on the treatment of such cases / by Richard Baron Howard.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the morbid effects of deficiency of food, chiefly with reference to their occurrence amongst the destitute poor : also practical observations on the treatment of such cases / by Richard Baron Howard. 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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    body is continually sustaining ; great langour and debility are the consequence—for the removal of which, stimulants are again had recourse to, and thus an alternately excited and depressed state of the system is kept up. By this mode of life too, the digestive organs become impaired ; and the function of digestion is so feebly and imperfectly performed, that even much less nutritive matter is extracted, from the indigestible and impoverished diet they use, than would be the case, if the stomach and its appendages were in a healthy and vigorous condi- tion. A disordered state of the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal is produced ; it becomes irritable and morbidly sensitive—the secretions are vitiated, profuse, or defective, and abdominal pains, diarrhoea, or constipation, is the consequence. Then again, though many are occupied in se- dentary employments, and pass the greater part of the day in heated, crowded, and ill-ventilated rooms; they take no regular exercise ; they never breathe the fresh and invigorating air of the country, but constantly day after day, inhale the same vitiated and loaded atmosphere. The vital function of respiration—that last and most important process of assimilation, which has for its object the sanguifica- tion of the chyle, and rendering it fit for the nourishment of the body, is thus very imperfectly performed. Yet an uncontaminated atmosphere for the lungs, is as essential to the maintenance of health, as a supply of wholesome food to the sto-