Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1823-08-16
MEDICAL.
FOR THE SPECTATOR.

FUH The H.
Ma. WARREN,
Ii the following account Of the MIX
Sick, or Sick Stomach, find admission in
10 your columns, it may alleviate the SUI
ferings Of the subjects of this dreadful
malady.
This disease has within few years
made its appearance in several parts OF
the western country, knocking the re-
searches and battling the skill Of the
ablest physicians; and many worthy cha
racters have fallen victims to its merci-
less rage. Sections of the states Of Ohio,
Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missou-
ri, have been visited with it; and on &C
count OF its novelty, and virulcnce, it has
excited much interest among all classes
OF people, as we'll as physicians Any
thing, therefore, tending either to disco
yer its cause, or to effect its cure, cannot
fail Of grateful reception.
The cause. Almost all observations
concerning its cause seem (to me at
leasD to. be mostly conjectural. As a
proof, hear the different opinions Of ply
sicians, and Of intelligent men: some
suppose it to be caused by the inhalation
ofputrid atmosphere; others by drinking
water charged with mineral poison; a
third will blend the foregoing supposed
causes; a fourth, with better evidence
founded on experiment, believe ii to be
caused by eating milk, butter, or beef;
and, hence suppose j, to be vegetable
Rltf uhoth Ia
from vegetables, or from one of the fore
going causes, is still hypothetical; and
is subject, think, worthy the observa-
ton OF medical gentlemen. The bota-
mist and the chemist will here find EN-.
ploy, which, if it fail of the great object,
will not be labor in vain.
In your inquiries it might be useful to
compare the face Of those sections where
the disease occurs-see in what respects
they agree, and in what they differ, as it
respects their local situation, their wa.
tiers, and especially their minerals and
vegetables. Observations Of this kind
will be most likely to lead to its discove-
ry, which is des rabIe object; as, by
il we shall be enabled to use prcventives
before the attack, or remedies after it
with better success.
In the symptoms there is considerable
difference in different persons, owing
probably both to difference in constta-
ton, and difference Of degree in the
cause. But the following are constant
attendants in all cases:
ifthe attack be gradual, as it general
ly is, the patient feels FIRST general de-
bility, weakness in the limbs whenever
they exercise; irregular appetite, which
is best pleased with acids. If the attack
be sudden, these symptoms are scarcely
noticed, and the disease comes immedi.
ately to the second stage. The person
is seized with qnamishness at the sto-
mach, similar to that suffered by most
women in the beginning Of CESSATION, and
] remember with regret, q mistake Of
this kind by aphysician, and his lady,
who was his patient, in which they sup
posed the disease to be breeding, treated
it accordingly--the consequence was,
the woman died. Vomiting succeeds
in which the patient discharges viscid
fluid, extremely bitter, mixed with bile
This vomiting continues with intermis
sions until the disease be checked.
At the commencement Of the SECOND
Stage, tho fever commences, which j.
Intermittent, highest in the day time
mostly inward, as the face will be very
much flushed, the patient complain o
burning heat in the stomach, while th,
skin and the extremities are cold. Some
times before, but nearly always at tn.
second stage, obstinate costiyeness take,
place, which seems to me to BE- the caus,
Of death ultimately, whenever the patton
dies. Though rarely, the patient Is
sometimes, lax ; and this form Of It ha
been mistaken for cholers morbus.
me esre. Observe hrsb THO state 0