JAUNDICE. 45 



is very various, and may fluctuate between a few days 

 and several years. 



The determination of the longer or shorter duration of 

 the disease depends principally upon its primary causes, 

 the persistency of which may vary, and which may of 

 themselves help to bring about a fatal termination, 

 speedily or slowly. 



In the Dublin Hospital Eeports, vol. v., page 103, there 

 are two cases recorded by Drs. Graves and Stokes ; in 

 one the Jaundice lasted eleven months, and in the other 

 two years, before nutrition became impaired. Budd met 

 with a case of Jaundice in a man which lasted four 

 years, with complete obstruction of bile, whose system 

 continued well nourished. Deway describes a case of 

 seven years' duration, and Van Swieten one of eleven 

 years in a female, who was cured by " solvent medicines." 



Mui'i-:s OF TERMINATION OF JAUNDICE. Jaundice 

 does not disappear completely until some time after the 

 removal of the causes which have occasioned the accumu- 

 lation of colouring matter in the blood. When the 

 cause of Jaundice consists in an obstruction to the pas- 

 sage of bile into the intestines, the recovery is announced 

 by a return of colour to the stools ; the colour becomes 

 darker by degrees when the disappearance of the ob- 

 struction is gradual, as in catarrh of the bile-ducts ; or 

 they become rapidly overcharged with bile, when, from 

 >ul I'-n removal of the obstruction, the pent-up 

 secretion of the gall-bladder at once finds its way into 

 intestinal canal, as in the case of "calcareous ob- 

 struction" (stones), or spasm. 



un 1 n-< [iiently Jaundice terminates in death, which, 

 may be brought about by divers causes : sometimes by 



