Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-08-24

stoned series of pues,ons, by letter and other
wise, which has led me To throw the substance OF
them on paper and transmit the result to YOU, CO.
lumns, for the qualification of some, not of the
profession, and, hope without displcasny those
who arc; being entirely aware how easy a thing il
is for one retired from the field of action to crit
CHE and find fault with those who still engaged
lighting for life
First for the puzzling name of the cpidcmic.-
One of a learned and reverend profession writes
FL have searched dictionaries and turned over the
leaves Of medical books, to find out the meaning
Of the words Choera MorbuS, in vain" | do not
wcnder at it. a mere Latin and Greek scholar
would comstruc it-raging madmess-bi,ter irasci-
bilty, from the literal meaning of choier and NOR
bus--a disease of any sort, whereas it means sim
ply Il violent and rapid bilious choiic, so called
from being accompanied by an inordnate flow of
v:iatcd, corrupted bilc and from pioieRt effort
81 R"ture, combinedko get rid of the poison, up
wards and downwards; and this morbid cause, and
this corf OF nature together, constitute the ter
rible disease, that now covers land in gloom.
Under the single name of Choicra Morbms, are
commonly ranked two diStcmpcrs, if not three,
differing in their cause symptoms, and proper
mode OF treatment. a. Tho humid cholera, or
bilious cholc, accompanied with irghtful dis
charges; and, ~ the dry cholera, called in com
mon parlance, the dry belly ache, in which there
are no discharges at all; for the bowels are filled
with wind, and the intesincs CONSTRUCTED as if
scwcd up, so violent is the spasm;-and there is a
CD called the line passion, in which the pcris,al-
lie motion of the intcStines is so entirely inverted
as to occasion stercoraceous vomiting. Yet the
inexperienced Practitioner called to either of These
cases. would be apt at first to call it Choleru Nor
bus. The student of Locke may call to mind his
admirable chapter "0f the abuse of tpords." We
therefore avoid useless nosological distinctions.
One general observation may be made applica-
bic to violent ritations of any part of the alincn
tary canal, they always occasion agonzing pains
and produce violent spasms. Another is, that all
the disorders under the name of cholera are relcv-
cd, or they kill in very short time. We may add
third, viz that the alimentary canal, including
the stomach, or what is expressed by the single
word CECILIA, are the organs that are first completed
in incipien man. and the last that die; hence it is
that whatever destroys the poristulic motion of the
bowels, kills the patient i'll u few hours nay, mi
nutes.
But the question put to me by the greatest mum,
Der of people is ths-Is this Asiotic or Sposmodic
Cholera ne,o disease, Il Iondcscrpt among medi-
cal writers! by no means. Ii is mentioned by
Hippocraies, and most of the Greciun Physicians,
who have favored mankind with their observations
But mono oil the ancients, neither Htppocratcs nor
ms famous commentator, Galen, have treated il
with such precision as 1retas and Cnlius Aurc
han"s, among the ancients; and .Sydenham and lis
Sof, amcrg the maderns.
Sydenham who has been called the British Hin
pocratcs, speaks of it thus-Tho Cholera Morbus
was more cpidemcul in 1869 than ever knew il
before. 1t was accompanied with violent vomit-
ings, and difficult executions downwards. There
WAS d vehement PAIN and inflammation OF the bow
els-a heartburn; thirst, with heat and anxiety
nausea, and n small unequal pulse, sometimes cold
sweat and spasams crurum ct br0chinrum CON
frdctMd of the legs and arms, and such like svmp
toms, which Brighten the by-slandcrs, and Kill The
patient an TwENTY-FoUR HOURS. IAngusfa pigiufi
Q"aiuor hOrarum Spatio ggrum interimatl What
differs this from the SpaSmOdic cholera of the pre-
sent moment' Why call it the Asiatic cholera,
when tho very disorder appeared epidemical in
England i'll in the year l669?*
-lp li,r,I al, Il
Nero, speaks ofthis disorder, as being of instant
aneous and speedy danger BESIDE GOODNESS of the
limbs, and black ish color of the countenance he
notes the spasms of the calves of the legs, and of
the arms, and adds that it generally kills the M
tent before the second day.
Aret@us says, that the Cholera Morbus is a re-
iiux of matter FROM the whole body upon the stom
ach and intestncs, with commissions, and spasms of
the muscles Of the legs and arms, the fingers arc
bent and nails lived, and the hands and feet have
death.like GOODNESS, and the patient dies.
Here we sec the strong lines of the disease, as
they were marked out, two thousand years ago by
two admirable Physicians who dcservcdly rank
ed among the Princes of the Art. Two hundred
years ago, the Cholera Morbus was treated of by
Sydenham, in England; and about the same time by
his countryman, the very learned and admirable
anatomist and physician, DR.. Thomas Willis, I'M
der the name of dysenteria incrucnf0 unblOody dr.
SeRtery. In word, the disease has boon noticed
from time to tme from the earliest records of me-
dicine.
Another subject which men, not of the pro-
1ession' appear greatly puzzled, is. Tire predsPosi
ton 10 the diseases and the choorc CONSTITUTION Of
the atmosphere: the one denotpg the susceptibility
TO the disorder, and the other the agency. And
here we find again that good sense has not fair
play, when oppressed by words We shall endoa-
yor In orr next number, to explain these technical
itIes' by the most simple illustrations in our power,
so as to divcst the subject if possible, of omnous
mystery, that people may not think that they are
visited by an unhoard ofdisease, generated in Asia,
or AFRICA, with which our physicians are unac-
quainted, both to its nature and it's treatment.
b, w.
*Mr. ]. Q. Adams, who sees every thing with
precision before he speaks, moved in Congress to
drop as improper, the epthot Asiatic as connected
with the Cholera; but his motion was rejected by
an assembly in which he is
condemned to drudge
Without an equal, and without Judge.
Cambridge, August ID, 1892
ANaRH for ,SWEe.
WILL sell, at a reasonable price. my Tract of