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

Praaice. MEDICINE.
Haemor- vances, ufually become of a milky white colour, and be found to do this more effectually than the ufe of
rbagiae- tnore or lefs tranfparent. Of thofe who are carried off focks and a flannel under-waiftcoat. The ufe of flan-
L by this difeafe, Dr Simmons afl'erts, the greater num- nel has been condemned by feveral medical writers as
ber will be found never to have had a carious tooth, increafing the infenlible perfpiration ) but in the nre-
'Ihis circumfiance, however, does not feem to us to fent cafe, to fay nothing of feme others in which it
hold fo generally as Dr Simmons is difpofed to ima- may be ufeful, it will in general be found to have the
gine ■: and inltances not unfrequently occur of patients belt effeCts. It will prevent a too great determina-
dying of phthifis, although they have had many teeth tion to the lungs, and fliould not be left off till the
fubjeCted to caries $ and fome of thefe beginning even approach of fummer. In fome few inltances in which
at an early period of life. flannel was found to have a dilagreeable effeCt, a piece
Perfons of the above defcription often remain for of dimity worn over the breaft next the fkin, will pre-
a long time without feeling any other inconvenience vent the return of colds and coughs in perfons of a de-
than fome oppreflion at the brealt in moiit ■weather, licate habit, who had before been liable to them on the
or in hot apartments. Their breathing is ealily hur- flighted; occafions. Shirts made of cotton cloth are
ried, fometinaes by the flighteft motion j and they be- much more efteCtual than linen in preferving an equable
•come languid, paler, and thinner. All this time, temperature of the furface, and guarding againfl: the
however, they feel no heat or painful fenfation in the a&ion of external cold; while at the fame time they
breaft. As the evil increafes, the patient begins to are much more pleafant to moft people than even the
be attacked with a flight, frequent, and dry eough, fineft flannel. In thefe cafes, circumlxances that are
which is moft troublefome in the night time. But feemingly of the moft trifling nature become of im-
this, by proper care, is often relieved; and the patient portance.
remains in this ftate for a conftderable time, and even Sometimes the cough is occafioned by an immediate
for many years, if he be fen Able of his danger, and inflammation of fome part of the lungs, from fome
careful to guard againft it by a fuitable manner of liv- of the ufual caufes of inflammation; and when this
ing. More commonly, however, we find the cough happens, no time is to be loft in removing it. To do
increafing, and fometimes accompanied with more or this will perhaps require more than one bleeding, to-
lefs catarrh. This is ufually aferibed to cold ; and gether with a ftrid attention to a cooling plan of diet,
but too generally negleftcd, till the difeafe becomes diluting drinks, the inhalation of warm fteams, and if
alarming by its obftinacy- and its effefts. This may convenient, the ufe of the warm bath ; but above all,
be confidered as the beginnings or firft period, of the the fpeedy application of a large bliller as near as may
difeafe. During this ftage, the cough is fometimes be to the fuppofed feat of the inflammation. The
dry from the firft : and fometimes when it begins in cough, in this cafe, will often remain after the original
the form of a catarrh, is attended with more or lefs complaint is abated. A prudent ufe of opiates at
expeftoration of mucus. bedtime, either by themfelvesor combined with gummy
When the cough begins in the form of a catarrh, and mucilaginous medicines, will then generally be ufe-
and appears to be occafioned by an increafed fecretion ful as a fedative and antifpafmodic.
•of a thin faltifti mucus irritating the membrane of the In this, as well as in the catarrhal cough juft now
trachea, all judicious praflitioners agree in recom- mentioned, many practitioners are too eager to admi-
mending an attention to regimen, the free ufe of dilut- nifter cinchona, with the viewr, as they term it, of bra-
ing. liquors, bland emulfions, fmall dofes of nitre, the cing up the patient: but this never fails to increafe the
taking away a few ounces of blood if there be much cough, and of courfe to do great and very irreparable
inflammation, the inhaling the fteams of w-arm water mifehief.
by means of the machine contrived for that purpofe, And here it will not be foreign to our fubject to
and the occafional ufe of fuch a dofe of elixir parego- obferve, that a fymptomatic cough, which has its rife
ricum as will be fufficient to allay the irritation of the not from catarrh, or from an immediate inflammation of
bronchi*, and to promote a gentle moifture on the the lungs, but from their fympathy with the ftomach,
Ikin. Tbefc methods will generally be found to be has fometimes laid the foundation of phthifis, from its
efficacious, efpecially if the patient’s chamber be of a having been miftaken, and of courfe improperly treat-
moderate temperature, and he carefully avoid expofure ed. It feems to be owing to a redundancy or vitiated
to a cold, damp, or raw air, till the complaint be re- ftate of the bile, or to fome affeftion of the ftomach,
moved. In cafes in which the cough has been obfti- which it is perhaps not eafy to define. It is fomelimes
nate, and the inflammatory fymptoms confiderable, a concomitant of other bilious fymptoms ; and when
Dr Simmons has often experienced .the great advan- this happens to be the cafe, it cannot eafily be miftaken;
tages of the warm bath, the heat of which did not but we fometimes find it occurring fmgly, and in gene-
exeeed 92°. When this is had recourfe to, the patient ral attacking perfons of a fedentary life. Dr Stoll of
ftiould remain in it only a very few minutes, and go Vienna, who has noticed this cough, has very properly
foon afterwards to bed; but not with a view to force given it the name of tujjis Jlomachica. This complaint
a fweat by an increafed weight of bedclothes, as is too is fo far from being relieved by bleeding, that it con-
often injudicioufly praftifed. ftantly grows worfe after it, efpecially if the evacuation
Patients of a confumptive habit, who have had an be in any confiderable quantity. The oily remedies fel-
attack of this kind at the beginning of winter, are dom fail to exafperate this cough, which at firft is dry,
particularly liable to a return of the complaint during frequent, and often extremely violent, but which fel-
the continuance of the cold feafon, on the flighteft oc- dom fails to give way to one or two gentle pukes, and
cafion and with greater violence. A relapfe is there- the occafional ufe of mild cathartics. The cough, as in.
fore to be carefully guarded againft ; and nothing will other cafes, often continues from habit after the caul*
Vol. XIII. Part I. Y y that
Phthisis.