314 PRACTICE OF PHYSIC. 



tarrh in ay readily produce an haemoptysis, or perhaps form tu- 

 bercles in the lungs ; and more certainly in persons who have 

 tubercles already formed in the lungs, an accidental catarrh may 

 occasion the inflammation of these tubercles, and in consequence 

 produce a Phthisis pulmonalis. 



MLVI. In elderly persons, a catarrh sometimes proves a 

 dangerous disease. Many persons, as they advance in life, and 

 especially after they have arrived at old age, have the natural 

 mucus of the lungs poured out in greater quantity, and conse- 

 quently requiring a frequent expectoration. If, therefore, a ca- 

 tarrh happen to such persons, and increase the afflux of fluids to 

 the lungs, with some degree of inflammation, it may produce 

 the Peripneumonia notha, which in such cases is very often fatal. 

 See CCCLXXVL CCCLXXXIL 



ML VII. The proximate cause of catarrh seems to be an in- 

 creased afflux of fluids to the mucous membrane of the nose, 

 fauces, and bronchiae, along with some degree of inflammation 

 affecting these parts. The latter circumstance is confirmed by 

 this, that, in the case of catarrh, the blood drawn from a vein 

 commonly exhibits the same inflammatory crust which appears 

 in the case of phlegmasiae. 



ML VI 1 1. The application of cold which occasions a catarrh, 

 probably operates by diminishing the perspiration usually made 

 by the skin, and which is therefore determined to the mucous 

 membrane^of the parts above mentioned. As a part of the 

 weight which the body daily loses by insensible evacuation, is 

 owing to an exhalation from the lungs, there is probably a con- 

 nexion between this exhalation and the cutaneous perspiration, 

 so that the one may be increased in proportion as the other is 

 diminished : and therefore we may understand how the diminu- 

 tion of cutaneous perspiration, in consequence of the applica- 

 tion of cold, may increase the afflux of fluids to the lungs, and 

 thereby produce a catarrh. 



ML IX. There are some observations made by Dr. James 

 Keil which may seem to render this matter doubtful ; but there 

 is a fallacy in his observations. The evident effects of cold in 

 producing coryza leave the matter in general without doubt ; 

 and there are several other circumstances which show a connex- 

 ion between the lungs and the surface of the body. 



