'/JOO PLEURISY. 



The medical treatment, if any is tried, will depend on two si 

 pie and unerring guides, the pulse and the membrane of tW 

 nose. If the first is quick and hard, and the second streaked with 

 red, bleeding should be resorted to, Small bleedings of one ox 

 two quarts, omitted when the pulse is quieted and the nostril is 

 pale, may be effected. Coiinter-irritanU will rarely do harm, 

 rhey should be applied in the form of blisters, extendnig over the 

 sides, and thus brought as near as possible to the afiected part. 

 Sedative 'medicines should be perseveringly administered : and 

 here, as in acute inflammation, the chief dependence will be 

 placed on digitalis. It should be given in small doses until a 

 slightly intermittent pulse is produced; and that state oi" the con- 

 stitution should be maintained by a continued exhibition of the 

 medicine. Nitre may be added as a diuretic, and j^ulvis anti- 

 nionialis as a diaphoretic. 



Any tonics here ? Yes, the tonic effect of mild and nutritious 

 food — green food of almost every kind, carrots particularly, 

 mashes, and now and then a malt mash. 



But anything like a cure in confirmed phthisis is out of the 

 question, and all the practitioner can do is to detect the dis- 

 ease in its earliest state, and alJay the irritation which causes oi 

 accompanies the growth of the tubercles. 



PLEURISY. 



The prevailing causes of pleurisy are the same as those which 

 produce pneumonia — exposure to wet and cold, sudden altera- 

 tions of temperature, partial exposure to cold, riding against a 

 keen wind, immersion as high as the chest in cold water, drink- 

 ing cold water, and extra work of the respiratory machine. To 

 these may be added, wounds penetrating into the thorax and la- 

 cerating the pleura, fracture of the ribs, or violent contusions on 

 the side, the inflammation produced by which is propagated 

 through the parietes of the chest. 



It is sometimes confined to one side, or to one of the pleura on 

 either side, or even to patches on that pleura, whether pulmonary 

 (of the lungs), or costal (of the ribs). 



The first symptom is rigor (chill) followed by increased heat 

 and partial sweats : to these succeed loss of appetite and spirits, 

 and a low and painful cough. The hispiration is a short, sudden 

 effort, and broken off^ before it is fully accomplished, indicating 

 the pain felt from the distention of the irritable, because inflamed, 

 membrane. This symptom is exceedingly characteristic. In the 

 human being it is well expressed by the term stitch, and an ex- 

 Qeedingly painful feeling it is. The expiration is retarded as 



