Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-10-06
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DR.. THOS. H. GREENHOUGH,
PHYSICIAN FOR CONsUMPTIvE DISEASES.

DR.. G.. has spent five years in the special study
and Investigation Of this BRANCH offlAais profession.
The treatment he pur8ues is by the Inhalation
of acorno medicinal gGpors, (as advised by Sir
Charles Scudamore,) based on recent discoveries
in the Physiology of Respiration and Nutrition,
and will bear the closest philosophical exami-
nation.
Consumption is a local disease, generated and
fed by the blood in a certain chemical condition,
and can only be removed by. local chemical
means, capable ofaltering that condition, through
the medium of the diseased organ. To accom-
plish this purpose, as we cannot apply solids or
fluids to a cavity designed only for the reeep
ton Of air, we reduce them to a volatile coHdi-
ton, and from an appropriate instrument inhale
or breathe the vapor.
By the inhalation of vapors, we can produce
all the beneficial effects, capable of being pro
duced by medicines, much more speedily and eff
f~iciently than from the administration of crude
medicines through the stomach. The practice of
giving medicines 10y the stomach in the treat
l nent of this disease is Objectionable: first, be-
3 cause they do not come in direct contact with
, the organ affected secondly, because their most
r powerful actions is expended on organs in q
: healthy state, or only diaordered by sympathy,
: thereby deranging digestion and destroying the
nutrition of the body and finally, because
many agents of great value can only be admins.
tered in the gaseous state.
Though Consumption must ever remain a We
ry common disease, while physical treatment is
neglected in youth Especially in those inheritine
= a predisposition toit), and will often prove fatal
o under the most iudicious management, yet We
: do not believe, necessarily, more frequently thar
Inflammation of the Lungs, or Continued Fever
The following case has been selected from oul
minute book, not as an isolated instance of cure
l. but as one of decided character, demonstrating
the possibility OF recovery even in hopeless cases
, a gentleman, engaged in mercantile pursuits
aged 81, having a narrow chest, and subject 70
u many wears to irritation of the lungs and cough
was attacked with bronchitis in March, 1850
is lie was bled and subjected to active treatment
y and after an illness of three weeks, recovered s.
far as 10 he able to superintend his affairs. From
- this time he began to lose flesh, the cough con
t tinued, and the expectoration. previously slight
10 and whitish in color, became in May of a green
ish yellow, very much increased in quantity
: but IN September he had Become so ema :
as to be unable to walk without support. WA
II confined to his room, and almost TO his bed
: The pulse varied from 100 to l25 in The minute
! Hectic fever and night sweats supervened. TIL
/ powers OF digestion were so weak that he coul,
to take nothing beyond chicken broth, or ielly pre-
. pared with wine, barely sufficient to sustain lifa
!, This case was under the care of the highest med
Teal authority on affections of the chest, in Lon
u don. by whom the disease was pronounced Con
sumption in the third stage, hopelss of all amend
ment. On the 10th Of September he was PLACED
under treatment by inhalation. After a fort
)" night he manifested signs of amendment. Il
November he was able to walk a distance of
= quarter ola mile without assistance. On tn,
:" 23d he was compelled to lay aside the treatment
IN consequence Of lmost incessant cough. anC
a sense of suffocq:ion occurring at each inspira
1r ton. These symptoms were relieved on tn,
fourth day by a sudden discharge Of nearly hal
! a teaeup full of p%urulent matter, evidently arts.
y ing from the opening of an abcess or vomica
from this time he steadily improved. He resum
ed his treatment on the lst of December. and or
new years day. walked nearly a mile, calling
on several of his friends, and exchanging the
! socialities of the season. From the time the
! treatment was modified, so that instead of using
u inhalatIons three or four times a dav, as he had
done, he used them only once. In the FOLLOWING
March he travelled 240 miles, making his pur.
chases IN Birmingham and Leeds in person, and
. we nave every reason to believe, still continues
In the enjoyment of health.
d 70 DR.. GREENuoUGH expects to visit Raj
4 eIgh In a few weeks, on as soon as practicable.