Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 3: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the AuthorRush, Benjamin
Science
Medical Inquiries and Observations, Vol. 3: The Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged by the Author
Rush, Benjamin
Medicine; Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
[18] Historia Anatomica Medica, vol ii. obs. 405, 418, 423, 510.
[19] Medical Histories and Reflections, p. 150.
I am the more inclined to believe the peculiarity in the pulse which has
been mentioned in the yellow fever, arose in part from a spasmodic
affection of the heart, from the frequency of an uncommon palpitation of
this muscle, which I discovered in this disease, more especially in old
people. The disposition, likewise, to syncope and sighing, which so often
occurred, can be explained upon no other principle than inflammation,
spasm, dilatation, or congestion in the heart. After the 10th of
September this undescribable or _sulky_ pulse (for by the latter epithet
I sometimes called it) became less observable, and, in proportion as the
weather became cool, it totally disappeared. It was gradually succeeded
by a pulse full, tense, quick, and as frequent as in pleurisy or
rheumatism. It differed, however, from a pleuritic or rheumatic pulse, in
imparting a very different sensation to the fingers. No two strokes
seemed to be exactly alike. Its action was of a hobbling nature. It was
at this time so familiar to me that I think I could have distinguished
the disease by it without seeing the patient. It was remarkable that this
pulse attended the yellow fever even when it appeared in the mild form
of an intermittent, and in those cases where the patients were able to
walk about or go abroad. It was nearly as _tense_ in the remissions and
intermissions of the fever as it was in the exacerbations. It was an
alarming symptom, and when the only remedy which was effectual to remove
it was neglected, such a change in the system was induced as frequently
brought on death in a few days.
This change of the pulse, from extreme lowness to fulness and activity,
appeared to be owing to the diminution of the heat of the weather, which,
by its stimulus, added to that of the remote cause, had induced those
symptoms of depression of the pulse which have been mentioned.
The pulse most frequently lessened in its fulness, and became gradually
weak, frequent, and imperceptible before death, but I met with several
cases in which it was full, active, and even tense in the last hours of
life.
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