The Project Gutenberg eBook ofConsumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary DiseasesThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Consumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary DiseasesAuthor: Henry CongreveRelease date: January 3, 2017 [eBook #53880]Language: EnglishCredits: Transcribed from the 1839 W. Tylee edition by David Price*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSUMPTION CURABLE: OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF PULMONARY DISEASES ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Consumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary DiseasesAuthor: Henry CongreveRelease date: January 3, 2017 [eBook #53880]Language: EnglishCredits: Transcribed from the 1839 W. Tylee edition by David Price
Title: Consumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases
Author: Henry Congreve
Author: Henry Congreve
Release date: January 3, 2017 [eBook #53880]
Language: English
Credits: Transcribed from the 1839 W. Tylee edition by David Price
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSUMPTION CURABLE: OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF PULMONARY DISEASES ***
Transcribed from the 1839 W. Tylee edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
NEW ERA IN MEDICAL SCIENCE.
CHARACTERIZED BYASTHMA,ANDOTHER DISORDERS OF THE CHEST,
PRECEDED BY, OR ATTENDED WITH
VIOLENT COUGH AND WHEEZING,
OR
EXTREME DIFFICULTY OF BREATHING;
AND THE
METHOD OF EFFECTUALLY ERADICATING EVERY SYMPTOM OFTHOSE COMPLAINTS,
AND
PULMONARY CONSUMPTION,
BY MEANS WHICH
NATURE HAS PROVIDED,
HITHERTO EMPLOYED ONLY BY THE AUTHOR.
Patronized by the Nobility and Medical Men of the highest distinction.
TWENTY-SEVENTH EDITION.
LONDON:PRINTED BY W. TYLEE, BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET.PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR (H. CONGREVE, SHEPHERD’S BUSH)BY HANNAY AND DIETRICHSEN, 63, OXFORD-STREET, LONDON;AND MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1839.
DEFINING THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS, AND DIRECTING TO THE MODE OF TREATMENT, AND MEANS OF CURE OF
INFLUENZA COLDS AND COUGHS, HOOPING COUGH, ASTHMA, AND PULMONARY CONSUMPTION, &c.
Itis a matter of notoriety how slightly regarded or little known are the medicinal properties concentrated in the plants which adorn the vegetable kingdom. Such negligence of the means of healing, by the remedies which are sent by the immediate hand of Providence, and rendered most abundant and common, and the substitution of others of a more doubtful, and often highly injurious, character, evinces a love of change, not simply to promote a greater benefit, but to render the art of healing more complicated and obscure.
It is probable that many disorders, for the relief of which medicines are sought for from the remotest parts of the globe, which act with harshness and violence, would be averted, were the same attention paid to the investigation of the properties, and the best mode of extracting the qualities, incorporated in the leaves, seeds, roots, and juices, together with the balsams, which in some cases exude from them, to be found in the soil of Nature’s platform on which we traverse.
There was a time, and not very remote, in the annals of the past, when disorders of the Chest and Lungs, so alarmingly prevalent in the present day, were scarcely known; when Consumptions were seldom heard of; when obstructions of the viscera were hardly ever seen, and when chronic diseases were but rarely witnessed. The reason is obvious: the simples which adorn the pages of our ancient authors on medical science, are no longer resorted to for relief by the student or practitioner, however valuable their properties have heretofore been manifested; and other compounds, emanating from the laboratory, have been preferred, and thus thesimplicityof the science has been gradually lost in its complications.
The design of the present treatise is to attempt the restoration of the good old ancient mode of cure, now obsolete; particularly as regards pulmonary complaints, which, in this our variable climate, are unhappily so abundant and fatal. All the information, needful to exhibit to the sufferer the dangers frequently arising from the neglect of what is called a common cold; and of the means whereby its course may be nipped in the very bud, and its more direful effects removed in its latent stages, and other matter of general importance is advanced; which, while it becomes a friendly beacon to warn him of danger, will at once point to a safe and salutary, and not less certain than salutary remedy.
All diseases of a pulmonary character should be treated by remedies possessing a combination of emollient, pectoral, and mildly expectorant qualities, capable of inciding and discharging the offending matter, which impedes the free action of the lungs, and highly aggravates the complaint. A remedy has for many years been employed in these cases, embodying the before-mentioned properties, which, when mixed in honey, is so pleasant that children take it with avidity. It is composed of the essences of herbs and asiatic gums, containing the purest balsamic and healing virtues. The sacrifices of human life, which annually transpire from pulmonary complaints, call loudly for a reform of medical practice. If the means of averting this calamity, or ameliorating the afflictions of the numerous class of sufferers, with which this country abounds, can be devised, it is, doubtless, the paramount duty of the individual who possesses them, to diffuse abroad the intelligence of his discovery, as extensively as possible, and more especially so when the ordinary means fail (as obviously they do) to yield the desired relief. These considerationshave appeared weighty; and stimulated by the hope, that this remedy will become the means, in the hand of Providence, of saving many thousands from a premature grave, the author is induced strenuously to recommend its use to the patient tortured with the worst symptoms of asthma, cough, difficulty of breathing, and pulmonary consumption, of which this pamphlet treats, in every characteristic form of the disease.
The antidote referred to (see page16) is a medicinal agent, which, from its efficacy in Asthmatic affections, as well as in the respiratory function in Pulmonary Consumption, has extended its just pretensions to universal notice. The embarrassed breathing, approaching to an anxious sense of suffocation, incidentally presenting in Pulmonary complaints, is relieved by its salutary influence. As its pervading and soothing power has been found to ameliorate and obviate the obstruction or impeded breath, in asthmatic and other disordered states of respiration, it has become a most valuable accession to the stock of remedies entitled to confident adoption.
This preparation, being a saturated infusion of plants and gums, &c., unknown to the medical profession, cannot be ascertained by any chemical analysis or examination. As the Proprietor has not developed the particulars relative to this discovery to any member of the profession, he is prepared to anticipate from the illiberal amongst their number a degree of censure; but he appeals from the tyranny of custom to the dictates of common equity and reason. If, in the course of medical research, any discovery is incidentally made, which offers to society the most important benefits, humanity appears to demand that it should be unreservedly communicated to the faculty, for the welfare of mankind: but, having devoted a considerable property and time in the conducting a series of experiments, totally unconnected with the customary routine of medical practice, in the completion of the discovery, the Author conceives that he is warranted to expect some remuneration by its sale, as a compensation for his labours. An invention is as much the property of its proprietor, as the estate he purchases or inherits. Society has a right to enjoy the advantage of his toil and skill—but, surely his labours have an equal claim on their patronage in return. The Public are sufficiently enlightened in the subject of medicine to be aware that the opposition which secret preparations have experienced from this quarter (though there are many exceptions to be made) arises entirely from interested motives, and they will decide accordingly.
Hoarsenessis not only a very distressing and painful complaint, but often extremely obstinate, and very difficult to cure by the customary means. A sense of roughness in the throat, with frequent attempts to clear it, is generally the first and most early symptom of the disease. It is attended with, or succeeded by irritation of the larynx, exciting a hard and dry cough, hoarseness of voice, with a sense of tightness across the chest, and sometimes with soreness and pain upon breathing deeply, or coughing. Lassitude, aching of the limbs, cold chills, and shiverings, are now apparent, with but little expectoration of the opaque matter that irritates the part; which, from neglect of the means of totally removing it, assumes other characters, and rapidly passes into inflammation of the lungs.
The larynx, or top of the windpipe, is the seat of this complaint; and to great tenderness or soreness of the surrounding part, with a thickened state of its natural moisture, may be ascribed the cause producing it. This is always perceptible to those who are hoarse, who, in endeavouring to speak out to render their voice audible, feel that part of the throat extremely painful and tender; and if, at any time, they expectorate, or discharge a portion of phlegm, it is very firm, thick, and tenacious, and often tinged with blood—but they are enabled to speak more freely afterwards, until a re-accumulation of the matter, which occasions the disease, ensues. TheBalsamis a natural and truly excellent remedy in such cases, for it possesses great power in softening and dissolving the tough phlegm; and it is, moreover, an excellent pectoral and balsamic, on which account, nothing can be more suited for curing the complaint, which fact repeated experience has confirmed.
The subjects of this disorder are always worse in the morning. The acrid humours which occasion it, collect, accumulate, and spread themselves over the affected parts during the night, undisturbed; and on rising from bed in the morning, the oppression induced is severely felt. On this account, also, those who are subjected to these oppressions from thick, glutinous phlegm, feel more uneasiness at this time, than perhaps any other part of the day.—The remedy should, therefore, never be omitted at night in such cases, and ought to be again repeated early in the morning.
Those who suffer from hoarseness, should refrain, as much as possible, from any attempt at loud talking, because those efforts invariably increase the malady. Although night and morning are the periodswhen the use of the Balsam is indicated, in such cases, it will do good taken at any time of the day, in small doses, as the occasion requires. If, therefore, the patient labouring under this harassing complaint have occasion to speak much, he should always guard against the consequences, by previously taking a dose, to sheathe the lungs, and the subjoining parts affected. He will then be enabled to articulate with greater ease and comfort to himself, more intelligibly to his auditory, and prevent that violent straining which inevitably aggravates and increases the disorder.
When any person afflicted with hoarseness is going into company where his conversational powers will be unavoidably called into action, it will be advisable to take a dose of the Balsam, incorporated with honey; and again renew it, should not the first relieve him—which relief he would in vain endeavour to obtain by violent efforts—such efforts, without the use of this remedy, would only add to the existing evil.
Speaking with ease and clearness, is agreeable to every one; but to some it is of the utmost importance. The clergyman, who officiates in his duties as a minister in the pulpit; the advocate, who pleads the cause of his client at the bar; the actor, who caters on the stage, for the amusement of the spectators; and those vocalists, who contribute to the delight of the assembly or the concert, are often distressed in the highest degree by hoarseness, which it is of consequence should be obviated by the use of a counteracting remedy. In these cases, this medicine will certainly afford permanent relief.
Although Catarrhs, or Colds, are the most common of all disorders, there are few which are less understood, or have called forth a greater diversity of opinion. Persons of a phlegmatic temperament, delicate constitution, and relaxed habit of body—and those with long necks and narrow chests, or who indulge in warm apartments and beds—who rise late, and take but little exercise in the open air—are most liable to the complaint.
In the spring and autumnal seasons, or in wet and changeable weather, its attacks are most general and severe. The coldness and moisture of the atmosphere, or in other states of the air, not perceptible to the senses, but which impede and check the insensible perspiration of the skin, or cutaneous surface, are the chief and prevailing exciting causes. When it arises from epidemic or infectious sources, as it sometimes does, the disorder is attended with symptoms of a febrile character, and is usually very severe in its effects; and in this case, it not only extends to the digestive mucus, producing great debility, but along the air passages, exciting cough, difficulty of breathing, and a host of melancholy feelings, to which the asthmatic are the constant subjects.
The uncertainty of our climate renders its inhabitants extremely liable to Colds; and one of the common effects arising from them is a Cough. A Cough is too frequently slighted, because it is common; but if the danger attendant on this apparently unimportant affection, were known, and the remedy applied in time, much mischief would be prevented. In young persons especially, Coughs are often the forerunners of Consumption; and in those who are far advanced in life, though not in the same degree liable to this dangerous consequence, the complaint will become habitual and confirmed, and of course most troublesome and distressing.
Colds are often brought on by taking hot liquors previous to going out of a warm room into the air in a cold evening; but generally they arise from an exposure of the body to the atmosphere, when it is heated above its usual temperature; or from a sudden transition from heat to cold. The natural perspiration is, in a great measure, retarded by the obstruction of the cutaneous pores; and the abundant humours, which should have passed off through the skin, lodge in the internal surface of the throat and lungs, where, by their quantity and acrimony, they create a constant tickling and wheezing, with a peculiar painful and distressing sensation; and the lungs, by endeavouring to dislodge the accumulated matter, become subject to a state of inflammation, with a harassing Cough, as the natural result.
In this case, those means must be used which will attenuate and subdue this acrimonious humour, lessen its quantity, and carry it off by the urinary passages; and this cannot be effected with advantage, but by ingredients of a balsamic quality, which, while they act with efficacy, will also mollify and sheathe the parts, and preserve them from the results which a chemical action of the corrosive matter would otherwise produce. Such then is the Balsam, herein recommended, which, for these purposes, can never be sufficiently extolled; and, in most cases, it acts as a preventative, as well as cure.
We would respectfully advise that on the first appearance of the Cough, recourse be immediately had to the remedy, of which one or two doses will generally cure. There are but few who do not suffer a Cough to be neglected, until it has gained a firm hold, and affects the whole frame, by febrile and other symptoms. If such be the case, no time must be lost in commencing with the remedy, and persevering in its use—as in these cases, it is a decided specific.
In Chronic Coughs, arising from a loaded state of the air vessels of the lungs with mucus, it proves pre-eminently beneficial, by increasing the power of the patient to expectorate the irritating matter; at the same time allaying irritability in the membrane lining the wind-pipe, &c.
A recent Cold may be cured by an extra full dose of the Balsam, taken at night. As in all Colds and Coughs, fever is an attendant symptom, the patient should refrain as much as possible from the use of meat, and especially strong spirituous liquors; and take gentle exercise in the open air, when the weather will admit; of course avoiding all draughts, which would renew and increase the Cold.
Disorders, which have been slowly induced, and established a firm hold in the constitution, will, of course, require a little time to pass off, even with the utmost care. No person, however, need suffer a Cough to fix upon him, if he will have timely recourse to this medicine; but if either by neglect or ignorance of the remedy, or other remedies, it has become habitual and confirmed, the use of this specific for a short period, twice or thrice a day, with an occasional dose of some gentle opening medicine, will complete the cure. This course must not be omitted by young persons especially, because, if the Cough in its early stages is neglected, Consumption will inevitably be produced. Had it no other excellent qualities to recommend its fame, it is, in this respect, entitled to a high estimate, as we shall hereafter demonstrate. How often do we notice medical men at a pause, not knowing what to do with obstinate and rebellious Coughs, which are proof against all their medicines; whereas there is no case of this kind in which the Balsam does not effect permanent advantage. Certainly, the sooner it is taken, the more speedily will the benefit be manifested; but there is no period when (with due regard to temperance and exercise, and perseverance with the remedy) it will not effect a permanent and radical cure.
The immediate cause of Hooping Cough is a viscid and glutinous matter or phlegm lodged upon the bronchiæ, trachea, and fauces, which adheres so firmly as to be expectorated or discharged with the greatest possible difficulty.
This Cough is known by the peculiarhoopwhich is descriptive of the disease. Children are most commonly the subjects of this complaint, and especially those who are teething; but it sometimes attacks those advanced in life. It comes on with a slight difficulty of breathing, thirst, rapid pulse, hoarseness, Cough, and all the symptoms of common Cold. This disorder, if not nipped in the bud, gradually increases; and about the second or third week, assumes its peculiar characteristic symptoms. The expiratory motions, peculiar to coughing, are made with more rapidity and violence than usual; and after several of these convulsive efforts, a sudden and full inspiration succeeds, and from the air rushing with unusual violence through theglottis, the Hooping Cough is occasioned.
In this peculiar calamitous and highly dangerous Cough, the object to be attained is a free expectoration, to dissolve and remove the phlegm, and to abate the fever. Emetics, which are often unwisely ordered, agitate the system, and aggravate the symptoms; blisters only irritate, without accomplishing the desired intention; and, in fact, the patient is too frequently abandoned to the chances of change of air, and strength of constitution, to sustain the shock. It will be a source of consolation to every anxious mother, that this valuable compound which operates so beneficially in Coughs, is also equally excellent in Hooping Cough; indeed, its balsamic, pectoral, expectorant, and emollient properties, render it peculiarly adapted to eradicate the worst stages of the complaint, for the reasons before advanced. It may be given in the quantity of a tea-spoonful, three or four times a day, in honey, or on lump sugar, as the urgency of the case demands. The contents of a 2s. 9d. bottle, seldom or ever fail to develope its specific qualities in such cases.
This disorder sometimes terminates in apoplexy and suffocation. In some, it lays the foundation for asthma and pulmonary complaints. It will, therefore, be manifest, that a remedy, which will remove the offending cause, should never be omitted.
Many individuals, especially those far advanced in life, are much subjected to acollection of tough phlegm, which adheres to the bronchial tube, or inner surface of the windpipe, in the morning, and renders their breathing most difficult and painful; occasioning hoarseness, and producing violent fits of coughing, until the matter is discharged. This affection is not, strictly speaking, a disease; and although it is most troublesome and disagreeable, as well as painful to its subject, and to others, there are but few persons who consult the physician for its removal.
This complaint should not, however, be neglected, for, by inattention to its early symptoms, it will be much increased, and often terminate in Asthma; and some have fallen a sacrifice to its consequences, by the rupture of a blood vessel, occasioned by violent straining. If it were asked of medical men, what medicine would cure this infirmity, and be a safe preventative to its return, the question would be with difficulty answered. No remedy could afford effectual relief, otherwise compounded than the Balsam before alluded to. The patient should have recourse to it on retiring to rest at night, and early in the morning, or on rising from bed; one or two tea-spoonsful in a little honey, or on lump sugar, will constitute the regular dose. Relief will be experienced from it the first day, and progressively increase, until the recovery is complete. It will, nevertheless, be advisable to take minute supplies occasionally, for a short period afterwards, to prevent a tendency to relapse: and if at any subsequent period, after the removal of the cold, the complaint again appear, the same course must be again adopted, and duly persevered in, until it is totally removed.
There are two distinct kinds of Asthma—one of which is denominated nervous or convulsive—the latter is not the disorder so prevalent in this country as the former. The true Asthma is a laborious breathing, wheezing, sense of suffocation, attended by anxiety, cough, and mucus expectoration. It is very frequent; and no disease is more distressing to the patient.
Asthma is a disease which usually attacks elderly people; and those who are subject to it, have frequent returns—for all the methods in common use are calculated only to promote relief in the present fit, not to produce a lasting cure. If the medical adviser be called in in the extremity of a fit, he bleeds his patient freely; and that practice is become too general, because it often affords immediate relief in the paroxysms, but the fits again return, and often with greater violence than before; and frequent renewals of this practice soon undermine and destroy the constitution.
The phenomena of Asthma arises from increased excitement of the branches of the eighth pair of nerves, distributed over the larynx, and the internal membrane of the wind-pipe, and bronchiæ, brought on by a certain condition of the atmosphere, probably with respect to electric matter: for, opposite states of the air, with regard to its temperature, density, or humidity, do not disorder asthmatic subjects, so much as easterly or north-easterly winds. In consequence of the excitement of the nerves of the larynx, &c., the respiratory muscles, particularly those which perform the functions of expiration, become affected by spasms, whereby the free admission of the irritating air into the lungs is promoted. This is manifest by the excessive paroxysms, very similar to that which ensues on an attack of Asthma, which immediately follows an artificial irritation, the membrane of the larynx. The suffocating sensation produced by a morsel of food lodging in the membrane in the act of swallowing (usually attributed by unprofessional persons to “the food going the wrong way,”) is of this nature. The muscles concerned in expiration immediately contract, to prevent the admission of an obnoxious article into the wind-pipe; and this state of muscles will continue many minutes: and, in asthmatics, whose nerves of the parts are morbidly irritable, it has continued many hours.
It would be incompatible with the design of this pamphlet, and perhaps superfluous to enter minutely into a description of what Asthma is—especially as no disease shows itself more distinctly. The individual, occasionally attacked by wheezing, difficulty of breathing, and tightness of the chest, need not be assured that he is asthmatical; but it will be a source of consolation to inform him, that his case is really curable, by this valuable medicine, as experience in the worst cases has amply confirmed. As the use of the Balsam is persevered in, the paroxysms abate, the attendant cough becomes freer, and is accompanied by gentle expectoration; and, in proportion to the increase of the cough and expectoration, the distressing symptoms decrease—a more free passage of air being now admitted to and from the lungs.
Some individuals are continually asthmatic, and others are subject to it only occasionally, when it comes on in fits: this remedy will be found intrinsically valuableto such, because it will loosen the tough phlegm, which oppresses the lungs and produces shortness of breath, and cause its removal by expectoration.
Those who have a confirmed Asthma, should form the Balsam into a syrup, by mixing with it about an equal quantity of fine honey, (having previously dissolved it by heat, and removed the wax and impurities which arise to its surface,) and, when thus incorporated, taking a dessert spoonful, or two tea-spoonsful, night and morning; and, in some cases, once or twice throughout the day. The paroxysms will speedily terminate, after short perseverance in the use of these means; and, by bringing on a free expectoration, every asthmatic sensation will speedily disappear. When taken in the day-time, it effectually keeps off the evening exacerbation or paroxysm. In cases of winter or irritable cough, arising from an increased excitement of the bronchial nerves, and a certain state of the atmosphere, it is also a most valuable remedy. The Elixir more speedily and permanently allays morbid irritation, or increased excitement of the nerves of the larynx, wind-pipe, and lungs, than any other known remedy.
The only difference between a winter Cough and Asthma is, that the seat of the former is in the membrane lining the bronchial tube, while the latter is in the membrane of the larynx, and upper part of the wind-pipe.
For those who have an Asthma, the attacks of which are periodical, and the fits regular, this Balsam will be highly useful. The fits of this species of the disease come on about every ten days; they are more violent, and last longer in summer than in winter; and the symptoms are highly aggravated by intemperance and irregularity. These fits are certainly rendered much more tolerable, and are slighter when expectoration comes on. The Balsam should therefore be regularly taken in such doses as to produce this: and the approach of the fits should be carefully watched, that the remedy may be taken in sufficient doses prior to the commencement. If the patient feel a tightness about the pit of the stomach shortly after dinner, it is a certain indication that an attack will shortly ensue; in which case, one or two tea spoonsful of the Balsam should be immediately taken, mixed in a similar quantity of honey, or, in absence of honey, lump sugar: he should remain quite still, in an erect posture; and in about half an hour afterwards renew the dose. When the stomach is swelled, and the patient is flatulent, it is an infallible sign that the fit is gaining strength, and a tightness of the chest and lungs will follow. About once in two hours half a spoonful, or more, of the Balsam must be taken for three times more; when the patient should be put to bed, and lie with his head high. The fit often comes on with violence about two o’clock in the morning: the invalid retires to rest fatigued, and inclined to sleep; and, after exhibiting sensations of uneasy restlessness, he falls asleep, and is harassed by uneasy and embarrassed dreams; startings in his sleep, and other nervous symptoms often attend, and indicate the tendency to a fit: he awakes in restless anxiety, and is obliged to toss about, and change his posture, or sit up in bed, in expectation of relief; but, owing to the increase of the spasms, his breathing becomes increasingly impeded, and he pants for breath with unspeakable anxiety. He should then get up, and drink freely of the infusion recommended in Consumption (page10); and take a dose of the Balsam incorporated with honey, which will promote the expectoration, and generally carry off the fit. The heat of the bed, and the posture of lying, both increase the complaint.
As aperients, judiciously combined with bitters, tonics, stimulants, or antispasmodics, with a view of promoting the abdominal secretions, without depressing the vital energies, and of deriving from the lungs any accumulation of morbid matter which cannot be expectorated; such a combinationwithCamphor, as contained in “Dr. Flemming’s Quinine and Camphor Pills” (prepared by the Author in boxes at 4s.6d.each, containing a Treatise on Indigestion, Diet, and Regimen, &c.) is peculiarly serviceable in this disorder,taken in conjunction with the Balsam, in sufficient doses to remove the accumulation of bile in the biliary organs, and of thesordesretained in the mucus surface of the bowels; and it should be observed that purgatives are always better borne when combined with Camphor, and are then most proper in all stages of the disease. When expectoration is rendered difficult, and the cough suffocating, from the tenacity and consistency of the matter, as is not unfrequently the case, the Balsam, in conjunction with the “Camphor Pills” alluded to, will be found an invaluable remedy. The virtues of Camphor in this disease have been singularly overlooked by the writers on this subject,as an adjunctto other balsamics, pectorals, and expectorants; but administered in this form, it is doubtless the most valuable remedy we possess in this, as well as in several other diseases, and particularly of those consequent on debilityor disorder in the digestive organs, which require a tonic, and a stimulating remedy. When the bowels require evacuation, strong purgatives must on no account be resorted to: because such measures tend very considerably to check and diminish expectoration; but gentle aperients of a cooling nature should not be neglected, when a tendency to constipation points out the need of a remedy to relieve the system, and nothing can be better adapted for that purpose than the foregoing combination.
By recourse to these means, the lengthened fits of Asthma will be prevented; and if the disease be established in the constitution, a due perseverance with the remedy will effectually eradicate every symptom.
With regard to the course of life of the asthmatic—great care should be observed to choose a proper air; experience will soon point out what air is best, and no certain rule can be definitely given. Where the patient breathes most easy he ought to reside. He should lie with his head high, and not be too much encumbered with bedclothes; must avoid a stooping or a leaning posture; when he writes, use a high desk; and read sitting upright; and should always accustom himself to moderate and gentle exercise. These cautions are important, for, by their observance, with a moderate diet, early rising, and light supper—an increase of the disorder will be prevented; and the use of the Balsam will subdue what is already established in the constitution.
The patientsbeverageshould also receive particular attention. Barley-water and lemonade, but especially the infusion before referred to, may be freely taken. Change of air will generally prove beneficial; and flannel worn next the skin be of service. Constipation of the bowels must be avoided; and whenever that disposition is manifest, immediate recourse should be had to such an aperient remedy as above described.
Pulmonary Consumption is accompanied with general emaciation, debility, pain in the side or chest, difficulty of breathing on taking the slightest exercise, and a Cough, which usually proves most troublesome towards morning. In its advanced stage, a viscid expectoration, with hectic fever and diarrhœa, ensues. The predisposing causes of this complaint are too numerous herein to detail, but the disease generally commences by a cold, taken in the winter season, which brings on at first a common cough, that from neglect settles on the lungs. The lungs become gradually and increasingly obstructed, inflamed, and ulcerated; a slow fever attends the latter stages of the disorder, when the case imports the existence of considerable danger. Those of a delicate structure and weakly habits, between the ages of 16 and 25, are most liable to this disease.
It has appeared from the calculations of an eminent Physician, that the annual mortality from diseased lungs throughout Great Britain, amounts to one hundred and forty thousand, and that from this class of disorders more than one third expire from Pulmonary Consumption. When we consider the size and peculiar construction of the lungs, their perpetual motion, the chemical process going on in them, and their exposure to the action of contaminated air, or sudden changes in its temperature, it can be no matter of surprise that Pulmonary Complaints are so frequent; and the lungs, not possessing the same natural powers of removing diseased structure, or of mutation as other parts of the body, we may account for their fatal termination from the want of application of proper auxiliaries, as counteractives. Various and contradictory are the opinions of medical men, as to the hectic fever, which is symptomatic of the disorder, being a primary disease, and some absurd notions have been advanced in support of their statements. The recapitulation of these opinions will not, however, interest the afflicted, or casual reader. One proof of the discrepance of their statements on the origin of this disease, must, however, be advanced: Dr. Young considers that, “the want of proper nourishment is the most frequent cause of Consumption.” If so, it may be inquired, how does it happen that the disease most frequently occurs in the families of the opulent? Dr. Lambe, a man of equal experience, fearlessly asserts, “that an excessive use of animal food is among the most prominent and prevalent procuring causes of the disease,” and consequently recommends a vegetable diet. Surely, it may be observed, these contradictory opinions are not likely to increase the confidence of the public in the healing art.
It has been said, and is generally believed, that Consumptions are incurable. This fact cannot be established. Moreover, the doctrine involves the most fearful consequences; for cases, which in themselves are hopeful, are rendered hopeless from the neglect of proper means, from the groundless apprehensions that no medicines can succeed, and death inevitably ensues. The patient afflicted with cough, expectoration,shortness of breath, and other pectoral symptoms, is calmly consigned to the slow ravages of hectic fever and Consumption. After a few weeks or months of suffering, he dies: this is regarded only as a matter of course. An inspection takes place—the lungs are found studded with tubercles, and an ulcer of more or less extent in some part of them. The pathologist immediately asks, in significant triumph, what possible good could medicines have done in such a case? by what mode of treatment could an organ so diseased have been restored? But another case occurs, the invalid complains precisely of the same symptoms: he has cough, expectoration, wheezing in the chest, and difficulty in breathing—he gradually falls away in flesh, and the hectic fever increases. Palliatives are resorted to, as in the former case, not to cure, which is considered impossible, but simply to alleviate his suffering—he also dies. On inspection, the lungs are found generally sound; no tubercles are discovered; but there is found to be an ulcerated spot of more or less extent in the bronchial membrane. We are forthwith informed, that an ulcerated or thickened condition of the bronchial membrane, with purulent secretion, is a fatal disorder, even although the lungs are otherwise perfectly sound: that in fact, in this case, as there was no difference in the symptoms from the former, and none in the result, so there could have been none made in the method of treatment—that remedies were alike unavailing in both.
Without under-estimating the importance of morbid anatomy, we must observe, that when it is carried to the unwarrantable length of introducing such paralysing and disheartening scepticism into medical science, it is productive of extensive and serious practical evils that counterbalance the benefits which would otherwise result from it. Hundreds, nay, thousands of cases of death are day by day occurring, exactly as above described. Indeed, it is a well-established fact, that in this country alone, the annual number of deaths by pulmonary consumption greatly exceeds 50,000.
When it is considered, further, that in every individual case of the above solemn catalogue of deaths in disease, medical skill has been resorted to, and found unavailing; the practitioner is reluctantly constrained to pronounce every similar case as equally hopeless, and beyond the power of remedies to cure. This is manifestly a fallacious mode of reasoning, leading to an erroneous conclusion.
Before we concede to the morbid anatomist, that an ulcerated or diseased lung is necessarily incurable, we demand, by what direct method can that assertion be proved, that tubercles, once existing in the lungs, cannot possibly be absorbed during life, and the healthy texture again restored? This point cannot be incontrovertibly demonstrated: who then can limit the powers of the living texture in self-restoration? The conclusion, that ulceration of the lungs is incapable of restoration, is founded only upon indirect induction, and amounts, in fact, to nothing but conjecture. There is but one way of disproving the inference that Pulmonary Consumption is incurable, and that is by an appeal to facts. If it can be established that in cases, where, from the attendant symptoms the same reasons have existed for inferring disorders of the lungs to exist, as in the case of those who die; yet that these invalids have, under a judicious mode of treatment, gradually lost these serious symptoms, and have at length recovered—an argument is made out, not only in favour of the possibility of cure in this disease, but positively that it is curable in most of its stages, by adopting those remedies which assist nature in throwing off the diseased matter, healing the injured surface by the application of balsamics and restoratives, possessing the power of new creating, in the lieu of diseased surface, living and healthy structure—so long, we again repeat, as a solitary case of cure has been effected (and there are many) under the most unpromising circumstances, philosophy and humanity alike oppose the practice of abandoning to its fate any case in which there is at least a hope of cure.
Those who allege that Pulmonary Consumption is incurable, from the results obtained by inspections after dissolution, can substantiate no claim to depreciate the efficacy of remedial agents, until they supply us with unequivocal symptoms, whereby we may determine between cases which are and which are not curable. It is mere trifling to assert that all medical means in the cure of the diseased were unavailing, and that the disorder was incurable. This is sufficiently apparent to need that information. But, what we require is, a certain criterion during the life of the patient, to form our judgment between the curable cases, and those which are pronounced incurable; which we must possess before we can admit the necessity of despair in a solitary case. No morbid anatomist has hitherto supplied us with that indispensable information: and the most we can extort from them on the subject is, that in the event of the death of the subject who exhibited certain symptoms of consumption, the disease was necessarily incurable: and the cause assigned is—ulceration in the lungs! But, in the caseof recovery of a patient who has experienced similar symptoms, we are informed that there could have been no affection of the vital organs: but, no proof is offered by way of demonstration.
The cases which do terminate fatally are, doubtless, very numerous; and, therefore, the natural conviction deduced from that circumstance is, that wherever diseased lungs make their appearance, all hope of recovery is extinct, and the patient has no alternative but to prepare himself for his exit. Yet, none can deny that recoveries have been effected under the most fearful circumstances, even when solid masses of tubercle have been ejected, or spat up, by which the character of the disease has been most decisive. By reckoning some diseases incurable, and others as past the period of cure, physicians only enact a law of negligence to exempt their own ignorance from discredit and infamy in the eyes of posterity.
It is deplorable that physicians, who have shocked the constitutions of their patients with opium and mercury, never have discovered the mode of effecting a cure. They admit that the fatal issue of this disease they may retard, but cannot avert; and as to their remedies, they have no established mode of treatment; and with respect to their opinions on the origin of the disease, means of arresting it, or palliatives, but few of their number agree; and in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, they are compelled to abandon the patient to his fate.
It is well known, that those who move in the higher circle of life are frequently the subjects of this obstinate and fatal disorder. Each family has its medical attendant actively engaged when any serious symptom of this disease appears. Patient after patient sinks into an untimely grave, under their united efforts; and the disease is generally pronounced by them of a fatal character. If then, in such extremities, remedial means are discovered which will not only mitigate, but in almost every instance cure the complaint under which the subject labours, such means are entitled to the highest commendation.
As this disorder, like several others, does and will sometimes terminate fatally, in spite of our every effort and means to control it, it is wise to adopt precautionary measures to prevent its approach. The delicate, and those who are susceptible of colds, should avoid exposures to draughts as much as possible, and the change from heated apartments to cold atmospheric air. On the first appearance of cough, they should have immediate recourse to the Balsam before recommended, to deterge the lungs from the obstructing matter—which matter impedes a free respiration, irritates and occasions cough, and ultimately produces the disease. When the disease has further advanced, the Balsam may be regularly taken in the dose of a tea-spoonful, three or four times in the day, mixed with honey (dissolved by heat, and separated from the wax to which it is often combined). The patient must avoid all indigestible meat, and take nutritious broths, jellies, &c., and refrain from spirituous liquors, as he would from a poison. He ought to take gentle and moderate exercise in the early part of the day, when the weather will permit. Whenever a disposition to constipation arises, it should be obviated by the occasional use of mild laxatives, and a salutary relaxation must on no account be checked.
In addition to the Balsam, and what will be preferable to jellies, is a beverage made of an infusion of marshmallow root, which may be freely taken throughout the day for common drink, (made warm when drank;) but no means, however excellent as auxiliaries, will supersede the necessity for the regular use of the Balsam, which imparts to the lungs a healing quality, after it has deterged them from the mucus which clogs their cells and air-pipes.
It was the opinion of the learnedHippocrates, the Father of Physic, that in lingering diseases, a slender and insufficient diet was a dangerous course to pursue; and that a more generous treatment was uniformly necessary in such cases. The strength of the patient should never be reduced, but on the contrary, whatever will yield nourishment to the debilitated system (always avoiding overloading the stomach) may be taken, with a course of the medicinal remedial means herein referred to. Those patients, particularly, who inherit an hereditary predisposition to this complaint, in whom there is a great tendency to debility, should observe an invigorating mode of living; always giving a decided preference to those articles of diet, which they have uniformly found best to agree with their stomach;[10]and that the organs of digestion may not be impaired by the performance of double duty, due attention should always be paid to the proper mastication of the requisite supplies of food, that its dissolvent principle—the saliva, may be incorporated with it, during that important act.
That diet, which most imparts vital power to the blood, and through it to the entire system, must always be preferred in pulmonary cases. By invigorating, we do not mean stimulating food—the object being to strengthen and build up; not to stimulate, and occasion an ultimate reaction, with debility—but permanently to create power. A vegetable diet yields nourishing properties to some, but, in a majority of instances, it is inadequate for the purposes of producing the required nutrition: on the contrary, animal diet partaken with a due regard to the circumstances of the case, always adapting the quantity and quality to the power of digestion, and peculiarities of constitution, so as to prevent fever and disorder, increases the power of the digestive functions, enriches the vital fluid—the blood, and gives tone and vigour to the system.
Frequent changes of air and scene will be found extremely beneficial, both in a physical and mental point of view. The sea air is, of all others, the purest—and on that account, better calculated generally, for the purposes of breathing, in weakly persons. In all air there is more or less of that principle which is essential to life; but the air which passes over an extensive tract of water is not only refrigerated or cooled, but purified; and consequently, the bad effects of the sultry heats of the summer season are counteracted. A temporary sojournment at the sea-side, for the purpose of inhaling the saline particles, with which the sea breezes are impregnated, with occasional excursions on the ocean, or short voyages by sea, will be attended with much advantage, as a means for stimulating the lungs to deeper and more frequent inspiration, and tending to enlarge the cavity of the chest, a matter of great importance. These means will be found highly serviceable, and an excellent auxiliary to the use of the Balsam herein recommended, as possessing a true tonic power, which will brace and invigorate the surface of the body, and exert a beneficial influence on the viscera, especially those connected with the digestive functions. It must, however, be observed, that there are some consumptive patients, with whom sea air never agrees—when country air, especially in the rural agricultural districts, must be substituted.
Exercise is generally beneficial when the degree is proportionate to the strength of the patient, without producing fatigue, and in a pure atmosphere, remote from large cities or towns, in situations not exposed to winds, especially the north-east. The exercise should be in the open air on horseback, the greater part of the day, in fine weather—if the strength will permit; and a nourishing diet of new milk, farinaceous preparations, animal soups, and solid animal food twice a day. The bowels to be gently relieved every second or third day, and the cough mixture—the Balsam, to be continued as before directed.
The Author’s apology for the mention of his remedy in this publication, is, that as it has for the last ten years proved pre-eminently successful, though confined within a limited compass, it becomes his duty to the public more extensively to declare it. The novelty of the doctrine, that Consumption is curable, may gain him many opponents, who would, without this public announcement, have slumbered; but he is determined at all events to persevere, well knowing that his discovery will endure the test of experience and trial, and in the issue must, like other now-approved, but once-rejected articles of the Pharmacopœia, be universally adopted.[11]
In justice to the liberally minded among the profession, it must be observed that, although most practitioners deny the possibility of Consumption being curable, there are a few of their number possessing eminent talent, who have deeply studied the subject, and strenuously contend for the affirmative of the question, corroborated by the evidence of their own experience. While an opposite opinion on the subject is maintained by professional men, equally distinguished for their knowledge of the science, and their utility in their professional pursuits—there can be no doubt but that an enlightened public will decide in favour of the doctrine herein advanced, that Pulmonary Consumption is curable.