705 



HOOPING-COUGH. 



HOPS. 



708 



red or violet colour; the veins on these parts are distended almost to 

 bursting ; the eyes are prominent and bathed in tears ; occasionally the 

 patient becomes completely exhausted ; the fit of coughing is inter- 

 rupted for one or more minutes ; it then recurs with the same violence, 

 and the patient seems in imminent danger of suffocation, when the 

 paroxysm is terminated by one or two long and whooping inspirations, 

 and by the rejection of a limpid viscid fluid, which hangs in threads 

 from the mouth, and to facilitate the discharge of which the patient 

 inclines his body forwards. This fluid comes from the bronchi and 

 pharynx, and sometimes also from the stomach; it is often mixed 

 with portions of food which are rejected at the same time, and occa- 

 sionally with particles of blood. 



These paroxysms or fits o coughing continue for many minutes, and 

 when they are very severe blood frequently issues from the nose, 

 mouth, ears, or even from the eye-lids ; they recur at various and often 

 very short intervals, generally however more frequently and with 

 greater severity by night than by day, and they are excited by the 

 slightest causes, as by food or exercise, by any agitation or mental 

 emotion. When the affection exists in a state of simplicity it is 

 attended, even in this stage, with very little or no fever ; the appetite 

 continues as good as or better than in health, and the little patient, 

 whose play was interrupted by the approach of the fit, immediately 

 returns to it when the paroxysm is over ; and during the intervals of 

 these paroxysms often shows no other indications of disease than are 

 furnished by the puffiness of the face and the redness and tumidity of 

 the lips, which the interruption of the circulation during the violent 

 and long continued efforts of coughing has occasioned. 



In the intervals of the fits the chest sounds well on percussion, and 

 on auscultation the respiratory murmur is heard pure, or mixed only 

 with a little mucous rale on the posterior part of the chest, as hi com- 

 mon catarrh. During the paroxysm breathing is almost completely 

 suspended, and no respiratory murmur is audible except in the very 

 short intervals which exist between the expulsive efforts of coughing ; 

 the prolonged and noisy inspiration which constitutes the pathogno- 

 rnonic character of hooping-cough seems to be limited to the larynx 

 and trachea, and gives rise to no respiratory murmur audible on auscul- 

 tation of the chest. 



It is chiefly during this stage that hooping-cough becomes com- 

 plicated with other diseases affecting the head or chest, on which its 

 danger mainly depends. In children at the breast the most common 

 complication is cerebral congestion, giving rise to convulsions; in 

 persons more advanced in life the viscera of the chest become more 

 frequently implicated, and it is to inflammation of the lungs and pleura 

 that death, when it occurs, is generally attributable. 



After the affection baa presented the characters which we have 

 described for a period which varies from two or three weeks to many 

 months, the paroxysms become shorter and less frequent, and the 

 cough ceases to be characteristic, but still continues to terminate in 

 vomiting and in the discharge of sputa, which now resemble those of 

 catarrh. The paroxysms become more and more rare, in some cases 

 recur at regular intervals, and finally cease, but for some time after- 

 wards they are easily renewed by any unusual exposure to cold. 



The specific nature of the cough, and the insufficiency of the morbid 

 changes noticed on dissection to account for the phenomena of hooping- 

 cough, have led pathologists to seek for their interpretation in the 

 condition of the pneumogastric nerves, but hitherto without success. 

 M. Ureschet indeed has in two cases remarked in these a redness 

 externally, and a yellowness of their tissue, but no similar appearances 

 have been observed by other physicians. 



Hooping-cough prevails epidemically, and chiefly attacks children 

 from birth to the period of second dentition, but it occasionally occurs 

 in adult and even in old age. It rarely affects the same individual 

 more than once, although this sometimes happens. It occurs in every 

 variety of climate, and in all seasons, but is more general and more 

 severe in cold than in tropical climates, and is most prevalent in 

 seasons most favourable to catarrhal affections. It is of longer duration 

 when it comes on in autumn or winter than when it makes its appear- 

 ance in spring or summer; and like all other diseases that occur 

 epidemically, it is much more severe in some years than in others. 



Hooping-cough is one of those diseases that are communicable by 

 contagion. It spreads very rapidly among children of the same family, 

 and when it finds admission into a house very few of the young per- 

 sons who have not previously had it escape ; but they are protected 

 from the disease if secluded from those previously infected. Hooping- 

 cough is a very fatal disease, and the average annual mortality in 

 London from 1849 to 1859 was 2190. 



No method of treatment has hitherto been discovered by which the 

 progress of hooping-cough can be arrested. We may mitigate its 

 severity and somewhat diminish its duration, but it will run a certain 

 course, and this course, in spite of all our efforts, will often be long. 

 During the early stage of the disease the administration of emetics has 

 appeared to be beneficial ; in children they may be repeated every day, 

 or every other day, for one or two weeks. Tartar emetic, on account 

 of its solubility and the certainty af its operation, is the medicine best 

 adapted to this purpose. 



At a more advanced period of the disease great benefit is derived 

 from the employment of narcotic and sedative medicines. Of these 

 there is a great variety, each of which has had its advocates. We may 



ABT8 ASD SCI. JWV. VOL. IV. 



particularly mention opium, hydrocyanic acid, belladonna, and Indian 

 hemp ; but on accounj of the powerful influence of these drugs on the 

 system, the greatest caution should be observed in their administration 

 to children. In some cases the administration of alum is particularly 

 beneficial. 



When the paroxysms are regularly intermittent, we may prescribe 

 sulphate of quinine in the same doses, and almost with the same 

 certainty of success, as in ague. 



In protracted cases nothing is so efficacious in putting a stop to the 

 cough as change of air, which often succeeds after all other means have 

 been tried in vain. 



At the commencement of the disease, and as long as any febrile 

 'symptoms continue, the diet should be of the mildest description ; 

 afterwards a more tonic and nourishing regimen may be allowed, not 

 only with safety, but with advantage. 



Cerebral congestions and inflammations of the lungs and pleura;, 

 when they occur during the course of hooping-cough, must be treated 

 in the same manner as when existing under ordinary circumstances. 



HOPFNER'S BLUE. [COLOURING MATTERS.] 



HOPS (Humulus liipulus of Linnseus) are extensively cultivated for 

 the flowers or seed-vessels, which give flavour and permanence to beer, 

 by being boiled with the wort in^brewing. They impart a pleasant 

 bitter and aromatic flavour, and prevent the too rapid progress of 

 fermentation. Beer which is well hopped will keep long and become 

 very fine, without any of those artificial means of fining which make 

 the common brewers' beer so much inferior in quality to that which is 

 home-brewed. 



Hops were introduced into England from Flanders about the year 

 1524. The most extensive plantations are in Kent, Sussex, and Here- 

 fordshire ; but they are also cultivated in Worcestershire, Essex, 

 Wiltshire, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Surrey, and several other 

 counties. 



The hop is a slender climbing plant, which requires a very rich 

 mellow soil and careful cultivation. It is very tender, and the produce 

 is precarious, sometimes giving a great profit to the grower, and at 

 other times failing altogether. The greatest quantity of hops is raised 

 in Kent, but the finest quality in the neighbourhood of Farnbam in 

 Surrey. The soil of a hop-garden must be rich to a considerable depth, 

 or made so artificially. The subsoil must be dry and sound ; a porous 

 rocky subsoil, covered with two or three feet of good vegetable mould, 

 is the best for hops. The exposure should be towards the south, on 

 the slope of a hill, or in a well-sheltered valley. Old rich pastures 

 make the best hop-gardens. They should be dug two or more spits 

 deep, and the sods buried at the bottom, where they will gradually 

 decay and afford nourishment to the slender roots of the plants which 

 strike deep. A very large quantity of the richest rotten dung, at least 

 100 cubic yards per acre, should be well incorporated with the soil by 

 repeated ploughing*, till it is entirely decomposed and produces that 

 dark tint which is the sure sign of an abundance of humus. The 

 ground should be prepared by laying it up with the spade in high 

 ridges before winter, to expose it as much as possible to the mellowing 

 influence of the frost. A succession of greeu crops, such as rye cut 

 green or fed off with sheep, early turnips fed off in autumn, or spring 

 tares, are an excellent preparation, by cleaning the land. It is better 

 to be two or even three years in preparing the ground and getting it 

 perfectly clean, than to plant the hops in a foul or unprepared soil. 



The young plants are raised in beds, and may be raised from seed ; 

 but it is more usual to plant the young shoots which rise from the 

 bottom of the stems of old plants. They are laid down in the earth 

 till they strike, when they are cut off and planted in the nursery-bed. 

 Care must be taken to have only one sort of hops in a plantation, that 

 they may all ripen at the same time ; but where there are very ex- 

 tensive hop-grounds it may be advantageous to have an earlier and a 

 later sort in different divisions, so that they may be picked in succes- 

 sion. The varieties most esteemed are the Grape Hop, the White 

 Vine, and the Golden Hop. The ground having been prepared for 

 planting, it is divided by parallel lines, six or more feet apart, and 

 short sticks are inserted in the ground along these lines at six feet 

 distance from each other, so as to alternate in the rows, as is frequently 

 done with cabbage-plants in gardens. At each stick a hole is dug two 

 feet square and two feet deep, which is filled lightly with the earth 

 dug out, together with a compost prepared with dung, lime, and earth, 

 well mixed by repeated turning. Fresh dung should never be applied 

 to hops. Three plants are placed in the middle of this hole six inches 

 asunder, forming an equilateral triangle. A watering with liquid 

 manure greatly assists their taking root, and they soon begin to show 

 bines. A stick three or four feet long is then stuck in the middle of 

 the three plants, and the bines are tied to these with twine or the 

 shreds of Russia mats, till they lay hold and twine round them. 

 During their growth the ground is well hoed and forked up around 

 the roots, and some of the fine mould is thrown around the stems. In 

 favourable seasons a few hops may be picked from these young plants 

 in the autumn, but in general there is nothing the first year. Early 

 in November the ground is carefully dug with the spade, and the earth 

 being turned towards the plants, is left so all winter. 



In the second year, early in spring, tho hillocks around the plants 

 are opened, and the roots examined. The last year's shoots are cut off 

 within an inch of the main stem, and all the suckers quite close to it. 



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