

IUAKRH(EA. 



DIASTASE. 



M 



through a thick coat of fur. The urine i RMnrally diminished in 

 quantity. The skin, t firnt hot, Inward* tl:.- t. rmination of the attack 

 is unusually cold Mid dully, and u peculiarly incapable of muting the 

 influence of a cold and damp atmosphere. 



The nature of the matter* contained in the evacuation* rariei 

 remarkably, and afford* important indication* of the Mat and state of 

 the discaa*. Several Tarietim of the di*e**e hare indeed been founded 

 on thoM appearanc**, and diarrhoea hai accordingly been divided int 

 fawulent, bilious, mucous, seroim. chyloun, lirnteric. *c., but th<- 

 of the disease afford more fixed and determinate characten for it* dU- 

 tnbution into speck*. Of theae there are commonly enumerated the 

 following : diarrhoea rrapulota, from food improper in quality or 

 quantity ; diarrtum Minta, from bile more abundant or more acrid than 

 natural, a* from the heat of summer and autumn, co-operating with 

 erron in dirt ; diairhtra roM, from increased vascular action of the 

 muoou* nirface of the alimentary canal, induced by whatever occasions 

 a preternatural afflux of blood to the mucous surface ; diarrhoea mitcnta, 

 from increased secretion of the mucous follicles, which may be induced 

 by almost any of the ordinary exciting causes of diarrhoea ; diarrhoea 

 Kentrrifi. the aliment passing in the evacuations almost unaltered, 

 occurring princi)ially in children about the first and between the first 

 and second dentition, and occasioned by the ordinary exciting causes of 

 diarrhoea. 



The duration of thin disease must of course be materially influenced 

 by the persistence of the cause that excites it. Its ordinary varieties 

 being generally dependent on tem[x>rary causes, are of short duration ; 

 but the increased secretion of bile by the liver, and of mucus by the 

 mucous follicles, and the irritation of the intestinal canal from denti- 

 tion, may be protracted to an indefinite period ; and the disease 

 dependent on the excited state of these organs may consequently 

 become chronic, continuing for months together to harass the patient 

 and enfeeble the constitution. In these cases, when a cure is appa- 

 rently effected, very slight causes are capable of bringing back the 

 disease; and during the period of convalescence the utmost caution is 

 always necessary to avoid errors in diet and any exposure to cold 

 or wet. 



The immediate danger from a very severe attack of diarrhoea, or from 

 its passing from the acute into the chronic state, U, that it should termi- 

 nate in acute inflammation of the bowels (enteritis) ; or chronic inflam- 

 mation and ulceration of the bowels (dysentery) ; or iutus-susception 

 (the passing of one convolution of the intestines into another), induced 

 by the increased peristaltic action of the bowels; or enlargement, 

 hardening, and obstruction of the mesenteric glands, and the conse- 

 quent wasting of the body (marasmus), one of the most common 

 forms of disease by which the existence of infants and children is cut 

 short. 



There are several diseases with which diarrhoea may be confounded, 

 from which it is important that it should be distinguished. From the 

 far more serious malady termed dysentery it is distinguished )>v tl.r 

 absence of fever, by the absence of blood in the evacuations, and by 

 the absence of the painful, distressing, and ineffectual desire to evacuate 

 the contents of the bowels which is called tenesmus. It is di tin. 

 guished from cholera by the absence of spasms of the muscles, so 

 constant and distressing in the latter disease, by the slighter degree or 

 the total absence of vomiting, and by the milder character and the 

 much less rapid progress of the entire disease. But the bilious and 

 even the pestilential cholera frequently commence with one or other <>f 

 the preceding forms of diarrhoea. Life often depends on the clearness 

 and promptitude with which the diagnosis is made between diarrhrcn 

 from irritation, constituting the crapulous and bilious forms of the 

 disease, and the diarrhoea from inflammation, which often appears 

 under the serous and mucous forms. The diagnosis is chiefly to be 

 drawn from the marked difference in the constitutional symptoms 

 when the diarrhoea is the consequence of an inflammatory state of the 

 internal surface of the intestine*. In this case there is always present 

 a greater or less degree of fever ; the skin is hot, or alternately hot 

 and chilly ; the pulse is more or less excited, and the strength prostrate. 

 The pain in the bowels is obscure and dull rather than griping, the 

 abdomen U tender on pressure, and it is in this case more especially 

 that the tongue is pretematurally red at the edges and the tip, mid 

 that its papiib.' are enlarged and red. 



Though diarrhoea is often a trifling disease, and even a remedial 

 means adopted by nature to prevent the occurrence of more serious 

 evils, yet the Serous and mueom forms of it, more especially when 

 they pass into a chronic state, are apt to terminate in dangerous und 

 fatal maladies, and their management requires great and persevering 

 care. Instances are by no means imfre.jticiit in which tin- ultimate 

 event proves fatal, in consequent of their neglect. .., ,,f tl,,. 

 treatment and the remedies being Injudicious. Indeed the tn- 



:rhn.i in .-.neral requires much discrimination, for u very trifling 

 if it i* easily converted I. y mismanagement into a highly dan- 

 gerous disease. The chief difficulty is to detect the exact nature of 

 the exciting cause, and the exact condition of the excited organ, which 

 alone can guide t<> the selection of one of two opposite plans <.i 



the administration of purgative or of opiate medicine*. If the 

 irritation arise from too Urge a quantity of stimulating food and drink, 

 abstinence alone is sufficient to effect a cure ; but if, notwithstanding 

 the abstinence fiom food, the disease continue, it is necessary to ascer- 



tain whether the irritation be kept up by the retention of irritating 

 matters, or whether the alimentary canal itself be in a pretematurally 

 irritable and excited state. If the former, purgative medicine of some 

 kind or other is indispensable, but the choice of the purgative is by no 

 means a matter of indifference. It should have the power of evacu- 

 ating the content* of the bowel* without irritating the mucous surface. 

 For this purpote castor-oil U one of the best medicines ; or, if a some- 

 what stronger purgative be required, infusion of senna with "i"n 

 It is often attended with the beet effect* to combine a few drops of 

 laudanum with the aprri.nl. When the irritating contents of tlia 

 stomach and intestines are removed, a mild and frequently repeated 

 sedative should be prescribed, one of the best of which consist* of two 

 drachms of almond oil with two drachms of mucilage of gum aral<i in 

 on ounce of rose or jK'pjienmnt water, with from five to ten 

 (according to the seventy of the case) of laudanum, or half a drachm or 

 more of the tincture of hyoscyamus. If the secretions are disordered, 

 five grains of blue pill or of hydrargyrum cum creta, with the same 

 quantity of the compound powder of ipecacuanha, taken every night, 

 or every other night, at bed-time, with a tea-spoonful of castor-oil, con- 

 taining a few drops of laudanum, the morning following, will soon 

 restore them to a healthy state. Of course the diet should consist 

 only of the mildest alimentary substances ; for as long as the alimentary 

 canal continues irritable, food and drink, even of the ordinary stimu- 

 lating properties, will keep up or re-excite the diarrhoea. 



The exciting cause of the biliary variety of diarrhoea is often inflam- 

 mation of the liver (hepatitis). When there are present any indications 

 of this, blood-letting, or local bleeding by cupping or leeches, must 

 precede all other remedies ; and the abstraction of blood must be re- 

 peated at short intervals until the inflammatory state of the liver is 

 removed ; then mild mercurials, with mild purgatives, are necessary. 

 This is by no means a variety of diarrhoea which can be cured by 

 opiates. The exhibition of any remedies of this class, which, when 

 judiciously managed, ore sometimes highly advantageous, require* 

 peculiar discrimination and skill In the serous and mucous diarrhoea, 

 when there is present no proper feculent matter, all this having been 

 previously discharged, it is absurd to give purgatives ; such medicines 

 can only still further irritate the over-excited organs. Leeches to 

 the abdomen, the warm bath, demulcents with opiates, the chalk mix- 

 ture, and the strictest regulation of the diet, ore necessary. 



The diarrhoea, so easily excited, so constantly present, in infanta 

 and young children, requires a peculiarly cautious management. 

 When it is connected with dentition it is pregnant with danger 

 to stop the discharge, or even to restrain it, unless it becomes 

 excessive, and then it should be moderated, not stopped ; and the 

 mildest means should be employed to accomplish this object, which 

 should never be attempted without at the same time paying the 

 strictest attention to the diet, air, and exercise of the child. Death is 

 often produced in infants at this critical period of the infant's life by 

 the exhibition of opiates to stop this discharge. The proper remedies 

 ore the choice of the blandest articles of food, the avoidance of over- 

 . two or three grains of hydrargyrum cum creta at night, and 

 the tepid bath. 



D1AHY, from the Latin Diarium, which again is from Diet, a day. 

 The original and proper meaning of the word Diarium among the 

 Romans was the daily allowance made to slaves for their sustenance, 

 as Menstruum was their monthly allowance. Diurnum was another 

 word for the same thing. [AcTA DirnxA.] In later times In. 

 either word came to be used for a note-book, or other register of daily 

 occurrences, which had formerly been called (after the Greek) an 

 ephemeris. It is only in the sense of a daily register that the \\..id 

 diary is used in English ; and, naturally enough, it is commonly under- 

 stood to imply specifically a register of occurrences in which the \\ riter 

 has had a personal share, or which have at least in some sort come 

 under his own observation by having happened in his own time. For 

 instance, although a history of the transactions of a former ap< 

 posed in a particular form, might be entitled annals, such a history, 

 however minute, would scarcely in any case receive the name of a 

 diary. A diary is etymologically the same thing with a day-book or 

 journal ; the latter word being a modernised form of diumum, as diary 

 in of the synonymous diarium of the same parentage. The French 

 language has only the form journal ; the Italian, like the Knglish, has 

 both forms, rfiario from cftarium, yiornaie from rfiurnum, both ulti- 

 mately from 



I'lASCHl'SMA, a term employed in ancient and in speculative 

 Music, but not in practical use among modern musicians. It is the 

 half of a minor M initone or diesis. [DlKSIS.I 



l>l ASTASK, u peculiar ferment formed during germination. It is 

 prepared by reducing freshly germinated barley into a pulp, with half 

 it of water, and then pressing out the liquor ftroiigly. To (lie 

 clear liquid just sufficient alcohol is to be added to destroy its viscidity, 

 and allow of its being filtered; by this an ozotised substance is pre- 

 cipitated, which must be considered a* vegetable albumen, since it 

 coagulates at 167* Fahr. Having separated this, alcohol is to be again 

 added as long at the liquid U-comea turbid; the precipitate is to be 

 purified by solution in water and precipitation by alcohol repeatedly ; 

 the precipitate is at last to bo dried in thin layers upon gloss at a 

 temperature between 104 and 122 Kahr. 



The properties of diastase are the following : It is solid, win 



