PNEUMONIA, AND PLEURISY. 797 



an early stage of their progress, the circulation 

 through the lungs and general system can be re- 

 stored by the inhalation of steam, the use of hot 

 drinks, the application of dry heat to the chest 

 and other parts of the body, all immediate danger 

 is removed, and the disease rendered mild or of 

 short duration. But if the congested state of the 

 capillaries be suffered to remain for some time, 

 the nutritive properties of the blood and its coagu- 

 lating power, are so far impaired, that the local 

 symptoms are followed by general fever, loss of 

 appetite, pain in the head, back, and limbs, pros- 

 tration of strength, delirium, coma, and subsultus 

 tendinum, as in typhoid pneumonia, and what 

 has been called bilious pleurisy. 



If the chest be small, the lungs imperfect, 

 and the general powers of the constitution en- 



generally below the natural standard, and sometimes, from 10 to 

 20, according to the observations of Dr. Bree ; attended with a 

 spasmodic condition of the respiratory muscles, fits of partial suf- 

 focation, a deranged condition of the blood, and of all the secre- 

 tions, followed by thirst, high coloured urine, and other symptoms 

 of fever, when the chemical function of the lungs is not too far 

 diminished to bring on reaction. But although exposure to cold 

 is the common predisposing and exciting cause of the disease, 

 like phthisis it is aggravated by the rarefied air of heated rooms, and 

 by hot sultry weather, which also diminish respiration, and often 

 produce syncope. We have also seen that hooping cough is nearly 

 three times more fatal during winter than summer, which shows, 

 that, like all diseases of the respiratory organs, it is brought on 

 chiefly by the influence of external cold, and should be treated by 

 regulating the temperature of the patient. 



