SYMPTOMS OF DISEASES. 17 



the actions of tlie brain, has been known to produce epilepsy; thus an injury 

 done to the skull, the growth of tumors in the internal parts of that cavity, 

 splinters of bone scaling off in consequence of disease, and various alterations 

 of structure which have been discovered after death in patients afflicted with 

 epilepsy, give us just grounds for reckoning mechanical irritation among the 

 causes of epilepsy. 



Beniarks — Persons subject to epileptic fits should be very careful to avoid 

 excitement. Remedy, pages 165, 212. 



ERYSIPELAS, ROSE, OR ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE.— An 

 inflammation of the skin, often spreading rapidly, and extending to the c«llnlar 

 tisstte below the skin. The disease comes on with shivering, thirst, and other 

 feverish symptoms, and soon affects some part of the skin with swelling, and 

 redness of an uncertain extent, on which blisters very commonly rise. It 

 attacks various parts of the body, and very frequently the face. At the begin- 

 ning of the disease, there is confusion of head, and some degree of delirium; 

 and there is not unfrequcntly considerable drowsiness. About the second or 

 third day, a slight redness appears, which gradually spreads till it has occupied 

 the whole of the face, and from the face it extends to the scalp, and down the 

 neck. The redness does not continue equally bright on all the parts affected, 

 but fades a little on those where it began. Tlie swelling is considerable, end 

 sometimes so great as to disfigure the countenance, and to shut up the eyes. 

 Blisters of various sizes, containing a thin yellowish liquor, rise on several 

 parts of the face. Where blistei-s do not rise, the skin scales off at the con- 

 clusion of the disease. The fever and inflammation usually continue from 

 eight to ten days. The severity and danger of the disease is to be judged from 

 its effects on the brain. If there is much delirium and drowsiness, it portends 

 great danger, especially when they appear early in the disease; but the absence 

 of these symptoms is to be accounted favorable. Remedy, pages 58, 175, 

 176, 183. 



FELON.— This is an abscess of the fingers, of which there are three 

 kinds, — the first situated upon the surface of the skin, the second under the 

 skin, the third within the sheath which contains the tendons of the fingers, and 

 sometimes involving the covering of the bone. 



The latter form of the disease is the most terrible, and begins with redness, 

 swelling, and a deep-seated and throbbing pain, which gradually becomes so. 

 excruciating as to banish all sleep, and nearly drive the patient to distraction. 

 Finally, matter forms and burrows in the deeper parts of the finger, and at, 

 length finds an opening which brings relief. Remedy, pages 130, 164. 



GALL-STONESc— Concretions which form in the gall-bladder, and by 

 their obstructing the passage leading from it to the intestines, prevent the bile 

 from getting into them; hence jaundice is frequently produced. These gall- 

 stones, when the obstruction is overcome, get down into the bowels, and are 

 discharged by stool; then the disease abates, provided there is no other cause 

 for it. The pain which gall-stones cause during their passage tlirough the gall- 

 duct into the bowels is very intense, and is felt in the region of the liver, some- 

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