The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-09-05
SYMPTOMS OF CATARRR.
By DOCTOR FOSTER,
now PRAcrIcrNa,Ar rnr
PHILLIPS HOUSE. DAYTON.

u Is apt IN It's progress TO become instru- |
mental In causing the loss or impairment |
of smell, taste, hearing, and sight, and In |
creating serious constitutional derange- |
meuts not unfrequently terminating in
At the commencement of the malady, the |
symptoms are those of an ordinary cold. A |
feeling of irritation, senstiveness, heat or
pain Is experienced In the nose, the edges |
otwhich are red and swollen, and which is |
stopped up sometimes ON one side, some |
times on the other and occasionally on
both, rendering respiration through iteither
difficult or impossible. This condition |
Is accompanied by frequent desire to
sneeze aud discharge of at first clear, |
acrid water, afterwards of protuse thick,
yellowish and extremely offensive matter. |
This secretion becomes purulent and in |
creased in Quantity as the complaint pro- !
crosses, assumes an exceedingly ietid odor
and forms one of the most characteristic |
features of the disease, and a source of the
greatest annoyance and danger, 1t escapes
not only by the nose, but passes into the
throat producing by its lodgment local
irritation, and requires frequent eXpectOra-
ton, hawking, or scraping for its removal.
As its passage into the throat Is very much
facilitated by horizontal position of the
body, sleep is frequently disturbed by a
many are obliged TO lie in a semi-recum-
bent position to obtain necessary repOse.
Owing to the Inflammation and heat in the
head, the watery portion of the discharge
often evaporates, and the rest, assuming a
condition of solidity, Is deposited upon the
membrane of the nose and upper part of
the throat in the shape of crusts or hard
ened Jumps. The accumulation of these in
crustations produces feeling of disoom-
fort, and narrows the nasal passages so rs
to embarrass respiration, therefore. fire.
quent efforts are required to remove them,
either by forcibly blowing the nose or by
persistent hawking, practice as disagree
able tO the one affected rs 1t is to those
around him. That side'Of the incrustation
which adhered to the mucous membrane.
will, after its removal, sometimes be found
bloody, a fact which explains the force re-
quired for its dislodgment. During sleep
these incrilstations accumulate more rap
idly, and the feeling Is therefore most un-
comfortable in the morning. Sometimes
all efforts to clear the throat are futile un-
til after breakfast, or after some stimulant
has been swallowed. liberation of the
mucous membrane of the nose takes place
frequently, sometimes attacking the bone,
when small particles of this substance will
occasionally be found mixed with the dis
charge.
The breath assuming an excessively fetid
and sickening odor, and becomes OCCASION
ally so offensive as to render the patient an
object of disgust to himself as well as to
others.
The accumulation of the discharge, to-
gether with the thickened condition of the
mucous membrane, renders respiration
through the nasal passages very difficult,
and oftentimes impossible, necessitating
respiration principally through the mouth
"a method very deleterious TO the general
health, but more particularly so to the
lungs which become weak and irritable.
The voice loses its musical quality, and as
sumes discordant, harsh, and nasal char
acter; the sense of smell becomes much
impaired or entirely lost, and the same eff
feet, though less frequent, is produced on
taste. Occasionally, while blowing the nose,
a cracking or bubbling sound Is heard in
the ears and hearing becomes quite thick
or stopped up, but returns suddenly, with
something like swapping sound. This
phenomenon may be repeated several times,
until hearing does not return, but remains
permanently injured. In other cases hear
ing is lost so gradually that a considerable
degree of deafness may exist before the
person Is really aware of the fact. Either
condition is often accompanied with noises
In the head of every conceivable descTip-
tion, materially increasing the distress of
the sufferer.
Theeyes are apt to become weak, irritable.
and disposed to water on exposure TO cold
and wind, or after the slightest exertion.
A pain, more or less acute, or a distressing
feeling of pressure is experienced over the
eyes, and sometimes ON the top or back of
the head and also pain in the face, closely
lAl Inn l.
often mistaken. The distress ia the head
weakens the memory and produces irrita-
bility and mor0seness of disposition. The
stomach generally suffers more or less, and
becomes weak and irritable; the appetite
Is capricious and nearly always bad in the
morning. In severe cases the system
becomes feeble and prostrated This is
manifested by disposition to drOwsiness
and sleep, aversion to either physical or
mental eXertion, and feeling of fatigue
and weakness.
Not unfrequently catarrh proves fatal,
either by debilitating the system and wear
ing out the patient, or by travelling down
ward and producing throat affections.
bronchitis, and, finally, CONSUMPTION. IL
may be safely asserted that, after heredita-
ry predisposition, catarrh Is the most
frequent and important cause of this fatal
complaint.
The symptoms of catarrh vary consider
ably in different individuals, the degree of
their severity depending upon constitution
al idiosy and various external in
iuences. With some the complaint con-
tinues for a number of years in mild form, |
and without causing any of the injurious
results above described, while with others
all the worst effects are produced in short
space of time, and eases apparently most
harmless may, through imprudent expo
sure, additional cold, or uniavorable |
changes of the weather, suddenly exhibit |
all the violence and malignlty which char
acterize the seYeTest ones.
With some persons this disease becomes |
periodical, attacking them regularly at GER /
tain seasons each year, as In the early part
Of spring when the roses are in bloom. and |
hence its name "rose eatarTh y or ia mid
summer during haying time, when it is |
known as "bay-catarfh." Some claim to |
be able to predict the exact day and even |
hour of the attack. They usually consider |
themselves entirely relieved OF the difficult |
ty during the Intervals but we have rea-
son 10 suppose that symptoms of the COM |
plant are constantly present in some mild |
form or other which are reused into activ- |
ftV nv the odor uppuliar IN aartasn -