Domestic medicine : $b or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines. With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitionersBuchan, William
Science
Domestic medicine : $b or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines. With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners
Buchan, William
Medicine, Popular -- Early works to 1800
CAUSES.——An inflammation of the lungs is sometimes a primary disease,
and sometimes it is the consequence of other diseases, as a quinsey, a
pleurisy, &c. It proceeds from the same causes as the pleurisy, _viz._
an obstructed perspiration from cold, wet clothes, &c. or from an
increased circulation of the blood by violent exercise, the use of
spiceries, ardent spirits, and such like. The pleurisy and peripneumony
are often complicated; in which case the disease is called a
_pleuro-peripneumony_.
SYMPTOMS.——Most of the symptoms of a pleurisy likewise attend an
inflammation of the lungs; only in the latter the pulse is more soft,
and the pain less acute; but the difficulty of breathing, and oppression
of the breast, are generally greater.
REGIMEN.——As the regimen and medicine are in all respects the same in
the true peripneumony as in the pleurisy, we shall not here repeat them,
but refer the reader to the treatment of that disease. It may not
however be improper to add, that the aliment ought to be more slender
and thin in this than in any other inflammatory disease. The learned Dr.
Arbuthnot asserts, that even common whey is sufficient to support the
patient, and that decoctions of barley, and infusions of fennel roots in
warm water with milk, are the most proper both for drink and
nourishment. He likewise recommends the steam of warm water taken in by
the breath, which serves as a kind of internal fomentation, and helps to
attenuate the impacted humours. If the patient has loose stools, but is
not weakened by them, they are not to be stopped, but rather promoted by
the use of emollient clysters.
It has already been observed, that the _spurious_ or _bastard_
peripneumony is occasioned by a viscid pituitous matter obstructing the
vessels of the lungs. It commonly attacks the old, infirm, and
phlegmatic, in winter and wet seasons.
The patient at the beginning is cold and hot by turns, has a small quick
pulse, feels sense of weight upon his breast, breathes with difficulty,
and sometimes complains of a pain and giddiness of his head. His urine
is usually pale, and his colour very little changed.
The diet in this, as well as in the true peripneumony, must be very
slender, as weak broths, sharpened with the juice of orange or lemon,
and such like. His drink may be thin water-gruel sweetened with honey,
or a decoction of the roots of fennel, liquorice, and quick grass. An
ounce of each of these may be boiled in three English pints of water to
a quart, and sharpened with a little currant-jelly, or the like.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account