Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-04-30
Theory of Medicated Inhalation.
DR.. RAMSAY
ON
GaIlOping Consumption.

The following is submitted by the firm
l have said that the common form of con-
sumption is called Chronic, because Of its
slew progress and / now propose to
speak OF another form Of this disease,
which, from the fearful rapidity of its
progress, is properly known as "Gallop-
ing Consumption" 1t is no unusual thing
for a person, apparently in good health, to
catch cold and die in from six to ten
weeks from this form of consumption. 1t
almost always begins with a cold, which
sets in with great violence, and is felt
from the first to be within the chest. From
the beginning, there is usually some cough,
fever and night sweats, difficulty of
breathing and a great sense of oppression
on the chest. At the end of a week, X
pectoration commences, but the matter
resembles much more that Of 8 recent
cold, than that of consumption.
There are a few symptoms By which
this disease can be distinguished from q
low form of Inflammation Of the lungs.
Indeed its symptoms are SO unlike those
OF the common consumption, that its ma
ture is generally denied until after death,
when, upon examination, the whole ex-
ternal surface of the air tubes, the air
cells, and even the substance of the lungs
are found thickly studded with tuberclet.
This disease is most common in young
persons, between the ages of 10 and IS,
of full habit, clear complexion, and ruddy
cheeks, though it sometimes occurs much
later in life.
There is another form of consumption,
also rapid in its progress, which occurs in
young persons, of delicate constitution,
who have habituslly cold hands and feet.
These have commonly an inherited pre-
disposition. Their circulation is feeble,
and they become weak, fatigued, and cut
of breath, on every slight exertion. In
such cases the destroyer steals silently
upon his victim-the patient scarcely feels
ill-there is but little cough, no pain, no
splitting of blood, often no expectoration.
Having always been short-breathed, and
liable TO colds, when cough does occur, IT
is attributed to a little fresh cold. Grad
ually the c~ountenance becomes pale, the
lips lose their color, and the eyes sunken,
with a dark or blush line under them.
Under these circumstances, without any
increase of cough or expectoration, dlar-
rhGa occurs, and the patient dies without
a struggle, perhaps sitting up IN a char,
or in a fainting fit, from which the friends
strive in vain to revive him.
Perhaps none are so liable to this form
of consumption as those having small
Eunqs. These, to preserve the health, re-
quire to live much in the open air, and to
be well protected against taking cold.
When shut up in sehool-rooms, and pre-
vented from taking active outdoor exer-
else, the system becomes e%nervated, the
blood impure, and everything favorable,
to the development of pulmonary disease.
All that is required to set it up Is the oc-
currence of a slight congestion from taking
cold.
At no period of life is it so common as
at the age of puberty. l have known
whole families cut of, one member after
another, as they reached this age; and
many physicians have regarded such cases
as proof Of inheritance, but they are clear
" a proof only of inheriting small lungs,
| and not of inherited disease. At the age
of puberty, a great increase takes place
in the development of the body and
in the quantity of blood in tho system.
When the lungs are small, no CORES
ponding increase, in the volume of air re-
spired is possible, and, as a consequence,
that balnuce between the blood and the
air, on which the health of the lungs de-
ponds, is lost and cannot be restored.
Hence we find the carbon in excess speed
lily deposited, and the disease developed,
without the previous occurrence of any
local irritation, while the low vitality Of
the system favors its rapid progress to a
fatal issue.
Acute inflammation of the lungs, occur
ring in persons of a scrofulous habit of
body, is very frequently, a p~redisposing
cause of hasty consumption. Gonzales
cence, isiin such cases, imperfect, and the
lungs are consequently, left SO impaired in
function, that they become an early prey
70 tubercular disease
NoTE.-Dr. RAMSAY, who has for some
time past been associated with Drs. R. &
]. HUNTER, of New York, has now
opened a permanent Office in this city, at
No. "a Monument Square, where he can
be consulted either personally or by letter
upon affections Of the Throat and Lungs.
Send for the work published by this firm,
upon Diseases of the Pulmonary Organs.
Price per post, 81 cents.
The above letter is taken from the World,
published by the Firm.
Terms reasonable. but invariably cash.