358 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



-jt _ 



tions may be dry and solid and hard, and are usually very offensive, and whiter in 

 colour than natural. When there is much irritation, diarrho3a may supervene, and 

 when the motions are liquid they are often frothy, from fermentation having taken, 

 place. 



Palpitation of the heart, irregularity of the pulse, and even fits of asthma may 

 arise from a disordered stomach. Even when the patient does not suffer from dis- 

 tinct asthmatic attacks, there is often a sensation of shortness of breath. The feeling 

 is of a load or oppression in the upper part of the chest, especially across the breast- 

 bone, impelling the patient to sigh or draw a deep breath in order to relieve the 

 sensation, which, however, speedily returns. It is not at all uncommon for sufferers 

 from indigestion to torment themselves with the belief that they have disease of the 

 heart. Dyspeptic patients are particularly liable to suffer from different forms of 

 skin disease, such as nettle-rash and acne, the latter appearing as red spots about the 

 nose and cheeks. The severer forms of indigestion, especially when there is much 

 sickness, are often attended with considerable debility and emaciation. In fact, the 

 loss of flesh will sometimes rival that met with in cancer or consumption. 



We must not conclude our account of the symptoms of dyspepsia without referring 

 however briefly to the mental condition which it engenders. We all know, 

 many of us from, personal experience, that indigestion interferes with intellectual 

 work, and impedes the expression of thought. The habitual dyspeptic often exhibits 

 great lethargy, which may become so great as to cause him to be incapable of even 

 the slightest mental exertion. After meals he usually experiences an invincible 

 desire to sleep, and exhibits an insurmountable repugnance to move. He often dis- 

 plays a marked degree of nervous irritability. He is low-spirited, and his low spirits 

 may vary from slight dejection and ill-humour to the most extreme melancholy. He 

 is frequently morose, and so irritable that he cannot bear to be thwarted in the 

 slightest degree, either by word or deed. He misconceives every act of friendship, 

 is suspicious of those who desire to serve him, and exaggerates slight ailments into 

 substantial grievances. In fact, the confirmed dyspeptic makes anything but a pretty 

 picture. The mental condition so often associated with dyspepsia did not escape the 

 acute observation of Sydney Smith. Referring in his characteristically humorous 

 way to the horrors of indigestion, he says : 



" The longer I live the more I am convinced that the apothecary is of more 

 importance than Seneca, and that half the unhappiness in the world proceeds from 

 little stoppages, from a duct choked up, from food pressing in the wrong place, 

 from a vexed duodenum, or an agitated pylorus. The deception as practised upon 

 human creatures is curious and entertaining. My friend sups late ; he eats some 

 strong soup, then a lobster, then some tart, and he dilutes these esculent varieties 

 with wine. The next day I call upon him. He is going to sell his house in London,, 

 and to retire into the country. He is alarmed for his eldest daughter's health. His 

 expenses are hourly increasing, and nothing but a timely retreat can save him from 

 ruin. All this is lobster ; and when over-excited nature has had time to manage 

 this testaceous incumbrance, the daughter recovers, the finances are in good order, 

 and every rural idea effectually excluded from the mind. In. the same manner old 

 friendships are destroyed by toasted cheese, and hard salted meat has led to suicide. 



