The Dawn of Modern Medicine: An Account of the Revival of the Science and Art of Medicine Which Took Place in Western Europe During the Latter Half of the Eighteenth Century and the First Part of the Nineteenth — John Shaqi
The Dawn of Modern Medicine: An Account of the Revival of the Science and Art of Medicine Which Took Place in Western Europe During the Latter Half of the Eighteenth Century and the First Part of the NineteenthBuck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
History
The Dawn of Modern Medicine: An Account of the Revival of the Science and Art of Medicine Which Took Place in Western Europe During the Latter Half of the Eighteenth Century and the First Part of the Nineteenth
Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
Medicine -- Europe -- History; Medicine -- History -- 18th century; Medicine -- History -- 19th century; Physicians -- Europe -- Biography
The measures which Hufeland enumerates as being specially conducive to
longevity are those with which my readers—it may safely be assumed—are
already familiar. The list comprises both those things which a man or a
woman should carefully avoid, and those which often prove helpful in
prolonging the period of one’s life, and which may be summed up in that
old device: “Moderation in all things.”
On turning over the pages of the volume of Hufeland’s Journal in which
are contained the issues of the first half of the year 1833, I came
across the report of a very unusual case that was observed by a Dr.
Heymann in the village of Oldendorf. His report reads as follows:—
A very poor working-woman, who in addition to her poverty was
obliged to live in a house that was overrun with mice, retired
to her bed one night in company with her child who was about
three years old. One of the last things she did, after going to
bed, was to hand to the latter a crust of bread, in the hope
that the little one might thus, by quieting its hunger, fall
asleep more readily. Having done this the mother herself soon
fell asleep. But shortly afterward she was awakened by the
terrified cries of the child, who insisted that there was a
mouse in its throat. Having quickly obtained a light the mother
discovered that not only was the child retching violently, but
that it was bringing up visible quantities of blood from the
stomach. In the contortions caused by the pain the child
indicated the pit of the stomach as the source of all its agony.
The severe pain persisted for about two hours and then suddenly
ceased, but the retching and bringing up of blood continued at
intervals for some time longer. On the following morning the
child was given plenty of sweetened milk to drink. At the end of
forty-eight hours the remains of the mouse were found in the
stool. The creature’s body presented a collapsed appearance and
the skin lacked its covering of fur in several places.
For quite a long time subsequently the child remained in an
ailing condition, with symptoms of disordered digestion. Its
death, however, which occurred at a somewhat later period, was
apparently dependent upon an entirely different disease,—one
that had no connection whatever with the incident just
described.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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