and in the degrees of temperature of the body, and a want of
muscular power to maintain a comfortable posture in bed,
accompanied with sighing and irregular breathing. It may be
stated broadly that it is not the number of the pulse that is so
important as its steadiness. A pulse of a hundred and fifty —
if it continue day after day at that number — affords a better
sign than a pulse that beats a hundred at one time, and a hun-
dred and twenty at another, and a hundred and something else
at another time. The same remark applies to the readings of
the clinical thermometer. If these are steady, the case will, in
all probability, do well without the use of alcohol.
For medicinal means, but little is required in the shape of
drugs. Some simple effervescing saline, or soda-water, which
will serve to allay thirst and fever, will suffice in mild cases.
Dilute hydrochloric acid, in small doses, is often of some ser-
vice. Diarrhoea may be checked by chalk mixture, to which,
if there be pain in the bowels, small doses of Dover's powder
may be added. If there be tenderness on pressure of the
abdomen, a mustard plaster may be applied, or a linseed poul-
tice should be kept on day and night. When convalescence
begins it may be assisted by the administration of quinine.
Typhoid fever has a specific duration, viz.: either twenty-
one or twenty-eight days; this, the ordinary duration, may, how-
ever, be interfered with by the complication of inflammation
of any internal organ, and convalesence may be prolonged
through many weeks by the occurrence of mischief in the in-
testines. The termination of the disease, if not in health, is
in exhaustion; or sometimes by inflammation in the cavity of
the abdomen, through the perforation of an ulcer in the intes-
tines. In this last case, pain of a most intense character sets
in suddenly, and is rapidly followed by collapse and death.
Typhoid fever is not, as supposed, a milder form of typhus;
it is distinctly difl^erent. Typhus is infectious; typhoid is not.
The prominent symptom of typhus fever is the disturbance it
causes in the brain. Diarrhoea is the prominent symptom of
typhoid.
The above distinctions are sufficient reasons with some
authorities for dispensing with the name " typhoid," as that,
from its similarity to " typhus," is liable to mislead, hence the
name " Enteric " as the more appropriate distinctive designa-
tion of this fever is frequently employed.
Typhus. — This is an infectious fever of a very grave char-
acter, known under various names as jail-fever, camp-fever,
etc. It begins like most other fevers with indefinite symptoms
of malaise, lasting an uncertain period. The incursion of the
fever is sometimes sudden, commencing with a shivering fit,
iU MEDICINAL.
headache, and feeling of extreme debility. As the feveir
becomes more pronounced, the pulse is rapid, the temperature
of the skin above loo degrees; thirst becomes urgent, the
tongue furred; vomiting sometimes occurs. Severe headache
and delirium occur early in the course of this fever. With the
advance of the disease, the tongue becomes coated with fur,
the eyes bloodshot, the skin hot and dry, the urine scanty, and
the skin assumes a dusky hue.
Page 274
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
and in the degrees of temperature of the body, and a want of muscular power to maintain a comfortable posture in bed, accompanied with sighing and irregular breathing. It may be stated broadly that it is not the number of the pulse that is so important as its steadiness. A pulse of a hundred and fifty — if it continue day after day at that number — affords a better sign than a pulse that beats a hundred at one time, and a hundred and twenty at another, and a hundred and something else at another time. The same remark applies to the readings of the clinical thermometer. If these are steady, the case will, in all probability, do well without the use of alcohol.
For medicinal means, but little is required in the shape of drugs. Some simple effervescing saline, or soda-water, which will serve to allay thirst and fever, will suffice in mild cases. Dilute hydrochloric acid, in small doses, is often of some service. Diarrhoea may be checked by chalk mixture, to which, if there be pain in the bowels, small doses of Dover's powder may be added. If there be tenderness on pressure of the abdomen, a mustard plaster may be applied, or a linseed poultice should be kept on day and night. When convalescence begins it may be assisted by the administration of quinine.
Typhoid fever has a specific duration, viz.: either twentyone or twenty-eight days; this, the ordinary duration, may, however, be interfered with by the complication of inflammation of any internal organ, and convalesence may be prolonged through many weeks by the occurrence of mischief in the intestines. The termination of the disease, if not in health, is in exhaustion; or sometimes by inflammation in the cavity of the abdomen, through the perforation of an ulcer in the intestines. In this last case, pain of a most intense character sets in suddenly, and is rapidly followed by collapse and death.
Typhoid fever is not, as supposed, a milder form of typhus; it is distinctly different. Typhus is infectious; typhoid is not. The prominent symptom of typhus fever is the disturbance it causes in the brain. Diarrhoea is the prominent symptom of typhoid.
The above distinctions are sufficient reasons with some authorities for dispensing with the name " typhoid," as that, from its similarity to " typhus," is liable to mislead, hence the name " Enteric " as the more appropriate distinctive designation of this fever is frequently employed.
Typhus. — This is an infectious fever of a very grave character, known under various names as jail-fever, camp-fever, etc. It begins like most other fevers with indefinite symptoms of malaise, lasting an uncertain period. The incursion of the fever is sometimes sudden, commencing with a shivering fit,
headache, and feeling of extreme debility. As the fever becomes more pronounced, the pulse is rapid, the temperature of the skin above loo degrees; thirst becomes urgent, the tongue furred; vomiting sometimes occurs. Severe headache and delirium occur early in the course of this fever. With the advance of the disease, the tongue becomes coated with fur, the eyes bloodshot, the skin hot and dry, the urine scanty, and the skin assumes a dusky hue.