MEDICINE. 



allow it to hang downwards. If the mouth of the 

 person so affected be examined, a blue or purplish 

 line will be found round the gums where they join 

 the teeth. The patient also has occasionally severe 

 colic or cramping pains in the stomach and bowels. 

 The treatment is to give in the first instance a 

 mixture containing sulphate of magnesia (Epsom 

 salts), along with sulphuric acid, by which a large 

 amount of the lead with which the system has 

 become impregnated will be eliminated, and after- 

 wards, for several weeks, the patient should take 

 5 grains of iodide of potassium three times daily. 

 During the cramp, the application of hot poultices 

 over the bowels will give relief. 



3. The nerves of the body may be pressed on by 

 tumours, or they may become inflamed, or be 

 irritated in the neighbourhood of an inflamed 

 part, so as to give rise to severe pain. This con- 

 stitutes neuralgia. The most common form is 

 called tic douloureux, in which there is severe pain 

 over the eyebrow, which may shoot over the cheek, 

 side of nose, and lower eyelid ; or is referable to 

 the lower jaw and side of the neck. It is usually 

 confined to one-half of the face. The cause is 

 often the presence of decaying stumps of teeth in 

 the gums, disorder of the digestive system, weak- 

 ness from over-anxiety, over-work, or imperfect 

 nutrition, or a rheumatic state of constitution. 

 The removal of the stumps will frequently cure 

 the disease. Tonics are often required ; the 

 one found most beneficial in this case is quinine, 

 in doses of two or three grains thrice daily. If the 

 attacks come on at or about the same hour daily, 

 a dose of four or five grains of quinine, taken half 

 an hour before the attack, will often ward it off. 

 During the pain, the application of hot fomenta- 

 tions, or of camphorated liniment having a pro- 

 portion of laudanum, may give relief. 



VI. FEVERS. 



These diseases form a large group of what are 

 called zymotic diseases (from zumoo, to ferment), 

 because they are supposed to be caused by the 

 introduction into the blood of a poison which acts 

 on that vital fluid in a manner resembling that of 

 a ferment. The nature of these fermentive poisons 

 has never been demonstrated, but their existence 

 and nature are assumed from the following con- 

 siderations : i. These diseases are capable of 

 being communicated from one human being to 

 another through the medium of the atmosphere, 

 either from the breath, from particles of matter 

 shed from the surface of the body, or from emana- 

 tions from the excrements. They are found to 

 vary in this respect ; scarlet fever, for example, 

 being much more contagious than typhoid fever. 

 2. After exposure to the influence of the disease, 

 there is a period of incubation, during which the 

 poison is supposed to affect the blood slowly, 

 rendering it unfit for the healthy nourishment of 

 the tissues, or communicating to it qualities which 

 may excite, or even poison the tissues. 3. The 

 period of incubation is succeeded by severe symp- 

 toms of constitutional disturbance, such as shiver- 

 ing, weakness, heat of skin, and quick pulse. 4- 

 These symptoms increase until there is a period 

 of crisis, at which there is frequently a change in 

 the symptoms. The patient, to use common lan- 

 guage, ' gets the turn.' This period is frequently 

 marked by a critical event, such as bleeding from 



the nose, profuse perspirations, a discharge from 

 the bowels, or a flow of dark-coloured urine, 

 which, after cooling, gives a copious deposit 5. 

 After crisis, the patient gradually recovers. Dur- 

 ing the progress of the disease, the patient is at 

 all times liable to be affected by more or less 

 serious complications, such as suppurations, in- 

 flammation of the lungs, &c. ; and these compli- 

 cations vary in character in each fever, and even 

 at different stages of the same case. 6. Recovery 

 from an attack of any of those diseases usually, 

 but not always, secures immunity from the action 

 of the poison though again exposed to its influ- 

 ence. The fevers common in Great Britain may 

 be thus divided : i. Continued fevers, including 

 (a) simple summer fever, (6) typhus, and (c) 

 typhoid, enteric, or gastric fever ; 2. Fevers hav- 

 ing an eruption on the skin namely, (a) chicken- 

 pox, (b) small-pox, (c) measles, and (d) scarlatina. 

 As it is manifestly impossible to give an account 

 of all of these in this paper, we will arrange the 

 more important facts in the form of a table (sec 

 next page), so that a comparison may be readily 

 made between the various kinds. 



Except in extremely mild cases, the treatment 

 of all fevers should be under the direction of a 

 doctor, because unlooked-for complications may 

 arise which may imperil the life of the patient 

 The treatment of fevers consists really in the 

 treatment of symptoms. We do not attempt to 

 annihilate the disease; it marches through its 

 course triumphantly, because we do not yet 

 know its real cause, and all we can do is to lessen 

 as far as possible the evil effects it produces. 

 The time may come, and, from a purely scientific 

 point of view, we have every reason to expect it 

 will come, when the active physiological proper- 

 ties of the substances causing those various 

 fevers will be known, and when we shall have 

 learned, by experiment and observation, to antag- 

 onise, and even to annihilate those actions, 

 present, the physician cannot do so. He has to 

 wait and watch, meeting new complications by 

 the resources of his art as they appear from day to 

 day, and supporting the strength of his patient by 

 nourishing food and wine, so as to maintain the 

 vital action of the body as much as possible. 

 When complications do arise, these are treated 

 according to the knowledge, experience, and skill 

 of the physician. 



VII. DISEASES OF THE BLOOD. 



These are numerous, and can only be briefly 

 referred to here. Scurvy is a disease due to a 

 deficiency of the salts of potash in the blood, 

 owing to the privation of fresh vegetables. The 

 treatment is a vegetable diet, with Time or lemon 

 juice. Gout is a disease produced by an excess 

 of uric acid in the blood. The fibrous structures 

 in the neighbourhood of joints are affected. It is 

 a disease usually of those who live on a highly 

 nutritious diet, who drink wines or beer, and who 

 lead indolent lives. The specific in almost all cases 

 is wine of colchicuin, in doses of 8 or 10 drops, in 

 water, every few hours. Rheumatism may be 

 acute or chronic. It is believed by some to be 

 caused by an excess of lactic acid in the blood. 

 What is termed rheumatic fever is a very serious 

 disease. There is high fever, a copious flow of 

 sour perspiration, and great pain in all the joints. 



