Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

Fraaice. M E D I C I N E.
Febres. the world. Many other varieties of tliefe fevers men-
■ y " J tioned by different authors are to be accounted merely
fymptomatic.
26'
Sect. II. CONTINUED FEVERS.
Contimne, Sauv. clafs ii. ord. 1. Vog. clafs i. ord. 2.
Sag. 666. Boerh. 727.
Continentes, Lin. clafs ii. ord. 1. Stahl. Caf. mag.
35. Caf. min. 87. Lunch. 58. Sennert. de febr.
L. ii. cap. 2. et 10.
Genus IV. SYNOCHA.
Synocha, Sauv. gen. 80. Lin. 12. Lunch. ^8.
Synocha, five febris acuta fanguinea, Hoffin. II. 105.
Synochus, Vog. 16.
Continua non putris, Boerh. 720.
Ephemera, Suuv. g. 79. Boerh. 728. Lunch. 57.
Diaria, Lin. l 1.
Febris inflammatoria auftorum.
Defcription. The mod: fimple kind of fynocha is
the ephemera or diary fever. It begins without any
fenfation of cold or fnivering, unlefs there be fome in¬
ternal inflammation, or the fmallpox or meafles hap¬
pen to be prefent. A continual heat without any in-
termiflion confiitutes the eflence of this difeafe. The
heat, however, is more tolerable than in the fynocha
properly fo called. In fome, the pains of the head are
pungent and throbbing, anfwering to the pulfations
of the arteries ; but in others they are dull and heavy.
The face is red and bloated ; and there is a remarkable
laflitude of the limbs, with a ftrong, full, and frequent
pulfe. The urine is red, and depofits a fediment almoffc
of the colour of orange-peel •, and in the very firft day
of the difeafe, figns of concoftion (according to the
Hippocratic phrafe) appear. The fever commonly
goes off -with a gentle fweat 5 but fometimes, though
more rarely, with a hemerrhagy by the nofe. Its
fhorteft period is 24 hours : but if it goes beyond the
fourth day, it is then a fynocha properly fo called.
The fimple fynocha, according to Vogel, begins
with cold and {hivering, fucceeded by vehement heat,
rednefs, and drynefs of the Ikin. The face, efpecial-
ly, is very red, and the thirft intenfe. The head is
either pained or heavy. The patient either doth not
ileep at all, ot is difturbed with dreams. A moift
iweat then breaks out all over the Ikin. The pulfe is
full, quick, and frequent; the judgment is fometimes
a little difturbed ; young people are apt to be terri¬
fied with imaginations; and they for the moft part
incline to fleep 5 the refpiration is difficult, and the
belly coftive ; at the fame time that a tenfive kind of
laflitude is perceived over the whole body. A com¬
plete crifis takes place either on the fourth or at the
fartheft on the eleventh day. The charadleriftic marks
of the fimple fynocha, therefore, are, A rednefs of
the face, moifture of the Ikin, a ftrong and frequent
pulfc.
Caufes of and perfons fuhjeEl to, this difeafe. As we
have already remarked of intermittents, fo muft we alfo
now remark of continued fevers, that it is impoflible to
difeover thofe minute caufes which occafion .the differ¬
ence of tvoe betwixt one inflammatory fever and an¬
other, though moft authors pretend to enumerate thefe
5
with great certainty. Thus Juncker tells us, that the Synocha.
caufe of the fimple ephemera is plethora, together with
any immoderate agitation and commotion of the fluids
while in that ftate. Vogel reckons among the caufes
of his febris diaria, paflions of the mind, pain, wTant,
expofure to the fun, &c. ; a repulfion or abforption
of certain humours; wounds, fraftures, luxations, &c. ;
fo that in general we may reckon every tiling tending
to increafe the action of the arterial fyftem to be in
certain circumftances a caufe of inflammatory fever.—
Hence we find thofe are moft fubjedt to the fynocha
whofe conftitution is either naturally robuft, or who
are expofed to thofe caufes which tend to produce an
increafed aftion of the arterial fyftem ; fuch as hard
labour, high living, &c.
Prognqfis. The moft fimple kind of fynocha, that
is, the ephemera or diary fever, is commonly cured
without the afliftance of medicine, and therefore the
prognofis is for the moft part favourable : yet, if it be
improperly treated by heating medicines, it may eafily
be converted into the other kind ; or, if there be a pu¬
trid difpofition of the fluids, into a fever of a very
dangerous nature. The fame thing is to be underftood
even of the moft violent kind; for fimple inflamma¬
tory fevers are not dangerous unlefs complicated with
an aftedlion of fome particular part, as the pleura, fto-
mach, &c.
Cure. Dr Cullen objects to the plan of thofe -who
are for leaving the cure of continued fevers to the
operations of nature ; becaufe thefe operations are nei¬
ther certain in themfelves, nor are they fo well under-
ftood as to enable us to regulate them properly ; and
it is likewife poflible to fuperfede them by art. The
plan therefore on which he proceeds is, to form his
indications of cure upon the means of obviating the
tendency to death in fevers ; and thefe he reduces to
three. 1. To moderate the violence of re-a£lion.—
2. To remove or obviate the caufes of debility ; and,
3. To obviate or correct the tendency of the fluids to
putrefa&ion.
The frrf indication may be anfwered, 1. By all
thofe means which diminilh the adtion of the heart and ’
arteries. 2. By thofe which take off the fpafm of the
extreme veffels, which, according to his theory, is the
chief caufe of violent re-adtion.
I. The adtion of the heart and arteries may be dimi-
niftied, 1. By avoiding or moderating thofe irritations
which, in one degree or other, are almoft conftantly
applied to the body. 2. By the ufe of certain feda-
tive powers. 3. By diminiftiing the tenfion or tone of
the arterial fyftem.
[ i.] The irritations above mentioned are the im-
preflions made upon our fenfes, the exercife of the body
and mind, and the taking in of aliments. The avoid¬
ing of theie as much as poflible, or the moderating
their force, makes what is properly called the antiphlo-
giftic regimen, proper to be employed in almof every
continued fever. This regimen is to be diredted in the
following manner.
I. Imprefiions on the external fenfes, as ftimulant
to the fyftem, and a chief fupport of its adlivity,
ftiould be avoided as much as poflible; efpecially fuch
as are of a ftronger kind, and which give pain and
uneafinefs. No impreflion is to be more carefully
guarded againft than that of external heat y and at the
fame