The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-09-22
Medical Technical Terms.

There are some people uncharitable
enough to think that medical practice
would be much less productive to its
professors if they would break down the
barrier of Greek and Latin nomencla-
tHre, which is the principal element in
its mystery. Whether such is or IS not,
the fact there can be no doubt that med
zeal knowledge is becoming more gem
eral, and that the employment of classic
technical names IS in process of gradual
abandonment. This fact may be amply
proved BY glance at reports of Boards
of Health. and even by medical jour
mails. which have chosen to adopt popu-
lar, not TO say vulgar, nomenclature in
technical reports. There is enough of
technical naming left, however, to make
n riddle of their tables and dispositions
10 one not familiar with the parent Ian
euage This is the case even when the
effort is TO popularize knowledge and in
formation Take, for instance, the pc
riolical reports of the Board of Health
of this city. one Of whose functions is
supposed to be the collation. of inforEna-
ton on health matters for the instruction
of citizens Their sources of informa-
ton are chiefly practicing physicians,
and if they adopted the peculiar orthog-
raphy of some of the practitioners, as
seen in their reports, they could hardly
be less understood. What mother would
recognize under the term ''aphthe"
those disagrecable little curd-like sores
on her baby'S mouth. which she always
heard call '.thrush.'' Ii might comfort
the aged darley, who finds himself
powerful weak, to know that he IS
really afflicted with '.asthenia.'' The
..msery in the chest of old-time suffer
ers is known to experts as angina pee
toris.'' When muscles waste away
without traceable disease they are said
to be ''atrophiedn The, to spectators,
painful aTiiction, EST. Vitus dance is
''chorean in medical parlance. Rest
disturbing. soul-harrowing carbuncles
would hardly be recognized under the
name anthrax.
Many OF the technical names are made
by adding the suilix ''itis'' TO the classic
names of the organ affected. Thus in
formation of the brain substance be-
comes '.cerebritis'' of the stomach and
bowels is castro entcritis,' of the
bowels alone ..enteritis. - The common
and recognizable affection, dropsy, is
"acites, - with changes in name accord
ing to the location. Thus. dropsy of the
brain is ''hydro-cephalus of the chest
''hydro-thorax,' of the ear ''hydrotitis,
of the flesh .'anasarca," or of the joints
s'hydrosteon." Heart disease generally
is described rs sscarditis.n Blood vom-
ting is ..hacmatemesis. The s.yaller
ianders,n which were more common
when the prairies of Illinois were first
broken, and is by no means uncommon
new, would hardly be recognized as
s.meloena choIea,' s.icterus," and SIC
terus veri dis according to the type
and virulence of the complaint Leu
cocythemia'' is a very long name to de-
scribe the milky condition of blood Incl
dent to insufficient nutrition. "Maras-
mus is another way of saying ''lean-
ness although it means something
more, lean condition that comes OF
lack of power to aSsimilate nourlshment.
..Gdenia'' is the word doctors use to
describe general dropsical condition.
Scrofula was once technical term, but
has become common through long use.
Not so '.choreas, which means the same
thing. The latter, by the way, is the
Greek for swine. that animal be-
inc credited by the ancients with
incubating and spreading the dis
ease s'Scleroderma'' is fine, mouth
filling word, meaning .'scally" applied
to the skin. 1t probably would not help
the seamstress 10 bear her backache to
know she suffered with ''myeletis, - nor
cure her headache TO hear il called
..cephalagia' .'Synoirtis,,' is inflam-
NATION of the joints; .'tetanus' lock-jaw;
..trismus nascentium,' sort of lock-
Jaw which affiicts very young babies.
..Tabes dersalis'' is better known under
its old-fashioned name. 1.-THE ripples.
Many of the technical words, however,
are of real assistance to practitioners,
because they indicate diseases, condi-
lions. or parts of the human anatomy
that would require several English words
10 describe. Thus '.peritonisn is inflam-
nation of a membrane that envelopes all
tbe inferior viscera. "Menengitis'' an in
Illumination of the covering membrane of
the brain and spinal marrow.
A good deal is to be said in favor of
technical nomenclature in pharmacy. 1t
is not desirable to have the prescriptions
of physicians compounded by people
whose knowledge of English is limited,
and of other tongues zero The classic
words and phrases become safeguard,
inasmuch as instruction in the art of
medicine making must be preceded by a
course of instruction in letters qualifying
the pupil to read. and comprehend the
technical terms. Besides, it is not al
WAYS desirable to have a patient know
what medicine he is using 1t is en-
phatically true of medical science that "a
little learning is dangerous thing"
Chicago NeDS-