Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-07-03
CoNsUMPTIoN


usually with debility. weakness. languor
dyspepsia, or catarrh. The most common
and most fatal form In that IN which tuber
Giles are deposited In the substance OF this
lungs. These are small cheesy kernels, tina
usually lie dormant for many months. ever
for years. showing their presence only b
shortening the breath aud weakening the
frame, aud inducing ianguor and inability
TO walk fast, or far, or work hard.
The young wife, settling into decline
leans more heavily on the husbands arm
once she walked lightly WITH him step fol
step: now she leans. and complains that he
She gets better for u W nile in brighter wealth
err, and then withou evident cause sink,
lower than before; and thus rises and sinks
perhaps, many times before the tubercles
ripen and rot the tissues around them, when
she coughs. at first and perhaps for q long
time. dry, hacking coug h then 1t becomes
moist and softer, and she raises matter either
yellow or saltish. and perhaps offensive &c
the taste. or 1t may be frothy or glairy. like
the white OF an egg. II is usually looked
common cold, the patient not deigning tt
call in even the family physician. But even
II he Is called he Is apt to make light of II
and advise some simple thing, The patient
does not get rid Of 1t; thinks II bad cold
that hangs on worse than any she ever had
before; coughs worse evenings and morn
ings, and fears she has caught more cold
The following are the more com
mon signs OF this form OF consumption
First. lassitude. or langnor. or shortness OF
breath, with disposition to gasp or Sigh OF
catch for breath. At this stage 1t Ia easily
cured. II the patient tries the sperometer
he finds that he cannot breathe an average
amount, perhaps by forty or hfty inches
not that the tubercles fill so much space, but
that they weaken the power Of imitation and
expulsion Of air. Young girls. at this stage,
are prone to lean on the parasol In walking,
rs II for cane TO support. and are disposed
70 loll and sit at ease, for any exertion puts
them out Of breath" They like to recline
on the sofa, or lounge in a rocking chair.
They relinquish many OF their previous aud
more active pleasures. and voluntarily with
draw from the dance, or skating, or amuse-
ments requiring lively or vigorous move
ment, aud prefer 10 look on. rarely dreaming
that the time Is fast approaching when they
shall even look ON no more. and the dance
and the skates will go on Just as mefrily
perhaps without them. II the lungs be
carefully examined with the proper instru-
the hammer, and give no sound at all
through the stethoscope over some one spot.
more commonly over the middle lobe Of the
right lung; or instead of absence OF the
healthy sound, 1t Is changed into a creaking
called crepitation-but very faint.
This sound cannot be detected through the
garments, nor through any of them, nor can
the dizziness be detected through them with
tub nhmmtf- lneft IL no fe6Drt ID tue pfHC
tice OF medicine more absurd and pernicious
than that OF pretendingt to examine the lungs
with the fingers of one hand drumming on
those Of the other over the chest; and what
makes 1t still more worthless is the
would utterly obscure a much louder sound
than the one for which the practitioner IL
supposed to be listening Such examine
lions beguile the patients, until the disease
Is so deep as to pass all hopes OF recovery.
n inns npdi lin rxr
duties Of life are carried on as usual only
with an increasing disposition to rest aud
sit dow while at work, till the patient Is
often considered more lazy than sick"
II application be made TO a physician in
common located practice, he declares nfter
one of those shiftless, faulty examinations
with his fingers. that the lungs are all right:
only a little irritation OF the tubes. oh.
comforted, and tries, perhaps. some cough.
drops or expectorant to loosen the cough,
aud begins TO raise the "phlegm" much
more easily; but after while complains of
some nausea after eating. and hollowness
when hungry--the early symptoms Of dys-
pepsia, brought on BY the depressing cough
drops, or tr0ches, or expectorants. which
are all made of some drug, which taken in
larger doses produce sickness at the stomach
as squills, ipecac. lobelia, etc. These ex-
pectorants hasten on the disease at a much
accelerated rate; and complicate it with
others thu, make 1t much more difficult to
cure. + .even at this stage. by iudicious
system II inhalation, proper diet, habits
tonics and change OF air, il is easily brought
under control. We cannot too deeply con
denim and deplore the free use Of troches,
cough drops, and expectoranfs OF all kinds,
They hurry many to the gave. and in 9th
ers induce dyspepsia, rose catarrh or fever.
hay asthma and other troubles indicative OF
a perverted tone of the mucous membrane.
In the succeeding stages OF the disease the
symptoms of the prect ding ones are greatly
aggravated, and to these are commonly add
ed some or all of the following: In the
woman the monthly discharges cease or be-
come scanty: the mind becomes, so to say,
cerri< sous, the hopes being at one moment
depressed and moody, and there is mark
ed disposition TO shed tears over touching
scenes and stories. and to laugh heai lily at
the slightest absurdities or witticsIns; the
emotions become very sensitive and tender,
and this is most observable at night. when
Q cold, clammy sweat awakens the patient
from unquiet sleep, and gives reins to the
wilde It fsncles. fine lips are often observed
to be purple or black and dry; flush fire.
quently appears on the cheek; the white OF
the eye becomes Of mother-of pearl APP
pearauce; the cough Seepens aud extends
from morning til night, snd from night till
morning. even sometimes continuing
through sleep that brings lil.le refreshmeut:
the spit or Jputa is salt and yellow and of
bad taste, ind increases in quantity from
time to time, when the patti sut is said to
catch cold; the voice becomes husky or hol-
low, or unduly sonorous; tie periods OF ex-
breath, and less and less frequently, the
walk OF few rods being suf ficient to induce
fatigue the chest becomes tender, even to
a slight percussioa, End 1t Is now generally
or wasting fever. or perhaps the bold word
Consumption is used. and by or before this
time the careless examiner--the physician
who says consumption caunot be cured
recognizes the foe with which he
has so long been dealing. and advises
codliver oil, or the super-phosphates, or
whisky and cream, or the last fashionable
folly In the treatment of this dread disease,
and perhaps change of air to the south.
and probably sanctions plaster to the
these parts with croton oil or tartarized an
timony. oh, 1t Is pitiful to see such help
lessness at such a time, the last precious
days in which there may be ground for
hopel This soon passes; the patient lies
later and later from day to day, till finally
the whole day is spent in bed and now the
cough is so harrassing and the discharge so
copious that the nurse holds up the patient S
cup or bowl the appetite becomes very
capricious, the stomach feeble; probably
the tubercles ripen and slough In the bow
els. giving rise to persistent and exhsusting
sense OF want OF breath that is sometimes
called being tired and weary and is sttribu-
ted to the cough. Even at this late stage the
patient will sometimes sit up III bed and
write words of love and hope TO some dis
tant friend, and make promises ofvis!.s and
talk OF worldly affairs: II woman, will
speak Of what she is TO wear when she gets
well, aud how she will dress her hair, ETC.,
and the next minute may be found in tears.
as she suspects she may never recover. But
why follow this declining life into the deep
darkness to which Ii so swiftly and surely
tends? All ground for hope Is long since
gone. 1t took years, perhaps, to do the
work, but Il is done. The reason consump-
ton Is so seldom cured Is that il Is not rec