The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-07-28
REMARKS ON THE aBuLLETINs. I

Some readers OF the bulletins from
the White House are finding technical
terms somewhat new to them, and also
the details of medical processes relating
to symptoms with which they are but
imperfeclly acquainted. This is evil
denced by their conversation in front of
the bulletin boards, and by occasional
notes of inquiry. "What is tympanitis? ?"
"What is peritOnitis?" "How do the
doctors find out his temperature ?" and
so on. 1t will serve Il popular purpose
to explain some of these matters. The
midnight bulletin between Sunday,
July Sd, and the morning of July 4th,
said ''Some tympanitis is recognized"
This caused great uneasiness to the doc
tors.
The meaning of it was that the abdo-
men of the patient was swelling up like
drum, the swelling being due 10 an
accumulation of air or gases in the in
tesLinal tube or else in Che peritoneum;
and this is considered very unfayOrable
sign in injuries like those of the Prcsi-
dent. The tympanitis happily did not
last long enough, and was not sufficient
ly great to cause extreme danger. The
word comes from tympan, drum; and
the swelling from initiation is variously
called "tympany," "wind-dropsy" and
"drum-belly."
HefiIOllliS, w lc2iI-
ed also, is an Inflammation of the peri
| toneum, a membrane that envelopes the
| intestines and other abdominal organs,
and generally the interior of the abco
men, This membrane takes its name
| from two Greek words which express its
meaning-around and To stretch; peri
toneum, therefore, meaning in this in
stance membrane that stretches around
or about the intestines. Inflammation
of that membrane, or "peritonitis,' al
| ways marks a dangerous paase of dis
ease or injury from wounds.
The temperature of a sick or wounded
person indicates the presence or alb
| sence of the inflammatory condition,
4 and, in cases like this, is watched with
great solicitude. The temperature is
aseertained by placing the bulb of a
small thermometer, especially adapted
to the purpose, in the mouth of the pa
tient, or sometimes under the armpit.
The average natural heat of the human
| body in a good condition of health is
| ninety-eight and half f98.5l degrees OF
Fahrenheil's scale. 1t is usually marked
on our thermometer as "bloood heat' al
the 9Sth degree. In very infiamed con
ditions. the temperature of patients has
been observed to rise as high as 10S de
grees in children and to 1O7 in adults.
Anything above 104 or los is regarded
as very serious by physicians. The
Presidents temperature has risen sever
al times to 1919, or nearly three and d
half degrees above the normal or natur.
al. In Asiatic cholera, the temperature
sometimes sinks as low as ~, when
even the breath of the patient feels cold
The fluctuations of the pulse are no
ted carefully in the daily bulletins. In
good health, and when the body is quiet
the natural beats of the pulseo an adult
male are about sixty TO seventy a min
ute. There are considerable differences
however, even in healthy persons, nc
cording TO the comparative quiet or ac-
tivity of the body, and whether stand
ing, sitting or lying down. There are
differences, too, at different periods ol
the day, the greatest frequency of the
| pulse beats occurring about the middle
of the day, and the least about midnight
All other things being equal, the pulse
is quicker in the morning than in the
evening. In conditions of profound
coma (morbid slcep) or lethergy thu
pulse beats have dropped as low as Il
in q minute. and they have mounted NJ
as high as 200 in children afflicted witt
water on the BRAIN Since his injury
the Presidents pulse has fuctaated be
tween ninety-four beats minute 10 ont
hundred and twenty-six. This last ii
about twice as frequent as the pulls,
; beats in q state of health and in quiet
recumbent position
Frequency OF respiration" is like
: wise a feature of the bulletins Sine
: he was wounded his respiration ha
! ranged from nineteen to twenty-fou
b1eathings a minute. In health, ans
when free from any exciting cause tn
number of breathings per minute
|, from fourteen to eighteen: but in condi
tons of disease it sometimes falls as loy
as seYRn breashs a minute, and rises a
; high as q hundred
} OF course, many people undersian,
T all about what IS printed in the fOregs
ing remarks, but there are some who d
not, and others who did know and hay
c forgotten. It will do no harm to any q
2 them, even those best informed, 70 &
, over the matter again Philadelphia
Ledger