Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-07-01

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She gets better forawnile In brighter wealth
err and then withou evident cause sinks
lower than before; aud thus rises aud sinks.
perhaps, many times before the tubereles
ripen aud rot the tissues around them, when
she coughs, at FIRST and perhaps for a long
| time. a dry, hacking cough; then II becomes
moist and softer, aud she raises matter either
sl tSs or sSssh and I'd sFSssps Offensive
the white OF an egg. 1t is usually looked
| upon as OF no great account, but treated as a
common cold, the patient not dcigning 10
Gail IN even the family physician. Bnt even
II he is called be is apt TO make light OF II,
and advise some simple thing. The patient
/ waits and hopes, but Is annoyed to hud she
does not get rid OF II: thinks il a 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,
but cannot account for IL. II is not cold
at al, but the ripenlng and slaughing of the
| tubercles. These tubercles are little cheesy,
| Just as painless, but slowly and gradually,
In most cases, though more rapidly In 9TH
| ers, they fill, and chill, and rot the lung sub
oozes out until Il disturbs the breathing,
WHEN the breath Is drawn harder and ex-
PEELED more Violently, carrying the matter
with 1t. This we call cough. Where the
substance Is eaten out It leaves a cavity. at
first small one then two or three OF these
small ones are eaten wide. till they all be-
come one large one. ~
In some cases the cough carries the patient
of swiftly, in others IL hangs on for years.
In some tue tubercles are conghed up Whole,
or even In clusters, and In others they are
filled with limy or chalky deposit. that
tastes gritty, and may be crumbled between
the teeth. but may be preserved instead.
Sometimes they slough out the walls OF the
atteries or veins OF the lungs, and the pa
ttent Is said to burst blood vessel. and dies
in a few minutes. sometimes these tuber-
Giles fill the lungs up solid. and kill by ex-
Guiding the air, and the patient perishes
without ever coughing at all but this is
very rare. The following are the more c m
mon signs OF this form OF consumption:
First. lassitude, or languor, or shortness OF
br, ath, with disposition to gasp or sigh or
catch for breath Al this stage II Is easily
cured. Il the patient tries the sperometer
he finds that he cannot breathe an average
amount, perhaps by forty or hity inches
not that the tubercles fill so much space,bu
that they weaken the power OF initiation aud
expulsion OF air. Young girls, at this stage,
are prone 10 lean on the parasol In walking,
70 loll aud 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 and
more active pleasures. and voluntarily with
draw from the dance, or skating. or amuse-
ments requiring lively or vigorous move
ment, aud prefer TO look on, aiely 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 mefrlly
perhaps without them. II the LUNGS be
carefully examined with the proper instru-
ments al this stage they sound dull under
the hammer, and give no sound at all
through the kaleidoscope over some one spot,
more commonly over the middle lobe of the
right lung; or instead OF absence OF the
healthy sound. il is changed into creaking
called crepitation--but very faint
This sound cannot be detected through the
garments, nor through any of them, nor can
the dullness be detected through them with
the hammer. There is no resort In the prac-
tice OF medicine more absurd and pernicious
than that OF pretending 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 Is
supposed to be listening. such examina-
lions beguile the patients, until the disease
is so deep as to pass all hopes OF recovery
Later in this stage the splrometer shows the
breathing capacity diminished one-fourth
to one hall, and 1t Is only fair 10 infer from
this that the disease has been In progress
tion OF the patient. Still 1t is easily cured
by proper treatment. Negieoting this. the
second stage which may be said TO be
known by dry hacking cough In the
morning and sometimes in the evening,
but not troublesome at midday; 1t Is worse
In winter than summer. In damp weather
than dry, and Is provoked by laughing or
undue use OF the voice; the skin becomes
hot, the palms OF the hands peel IN small
scales, the feet become cold during the day.
but sometimes at night get so warm a. 70 be
uncomfortable in bed. snd are put from I'M
der the clothing to cool; the breath Is short
err and the aversion to exertion greater than
before. This gradually and slowly increas-
es, and the patient shows disposition to
put the hand to the chest often, and in
sleep will be observed to lie with the hand
over the part OF the lung that is mos. af-
faQfad Sill this lima the ordinary
duties OF life are carried on as usual only
with an increasing disposition to rest and
sit dow while at work. TIL the patient is
often considered more lazy than sick"
II application he made 10 a physician In
common located practice. he declares after
one of those shiftless, faulty examinations
with his fingers, that the lungs are all right;
only little irritation of the tubes. Oh,
comforted. and tries. perhaps. some cough
drops or expectorant to loosen the cough,
and begins to raise the .phlegm" much
more easily; but after a 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 troches, or expectorants, which
are all made Of some drug, which taken in
as squills. ipecac. lobelia, etc. These ex-
peetorants hasten on the disease at a much
accelerated rate; and complicate Il with
others that make IL much more difficult to
system OF inhalation, proper diet. habits.
t0nics and change OF air, 1t is easily brought
under control. We cannot too deeply con-
denim and deplore the free use OF troches,
cough drops, aud expectorants OF all kinds
They hurry many TO the grave, and In 9TH
ers induce dyspepsia, rose catarrh or fever.
hay asthma and other troubles indicativeof
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
I'D some or all Of the following: In the
woman the monthly discharges cease or be-
come scanty; the mind becomes, SO TO say,
capricious, the hopes being at one moment
uaduly elated, and perhsps the next more
depressed and moody, and there is mark
ed disposition to shed tears over touching
scenes aud stories, and to laugh heai tily at
the slightest absurdities or wiiticlsms; the
emotions become very sensitive and tender.
and this Is most observable at night. when
a cold, clammy sweat awakens the patient
from unquiet sleep, and gives reins 10 the
wilde t fancies The 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 a mother-of pearl ap-
pearance; the cough deepens and extends
from morning till night, and from night till
morning, even sometimes continuing
through sleep that brings little refreshmeut:
the spit or sputa is salt aud yellow and OF
bad taste, and increases in quantity from
time to time, when the patient is said to
catch cold; the voice becomes husky or hol'
low, or unduly sonorous; the periods OF ex-
ercise grow shorter with the shortening
breath, and less and less frequently, the
walk OF few rods being sufficient to induce
fatigue; the chest becomes tender. even TO
slight percussion, and il Is now generally
conceded that the patient Is In decline,
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
codliver oil. or the uper-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
chest or between the shoulders, or covers
these parts with croton oil or tartarized an
timony. Oh II il pitlful t. see such help
lessness al such q time, the last precious
days In which there may be ground ior
hope 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 IL so barrassing and the discharge so
eopious that the nurse holds up the patients
head that the sputa may be thrown into
cup or BOWL the appetite becomes. very
capricious, the stomach feeble; probably
the tubercles ripen and slough in the bow
though mild diarrhea. There is constant
sense OF want OF breath that is sometimes
called being tired and weary and Is attribu-
ted to the cough. Even at this late stage the
patient Will sometimes sit up In bed and
write words OF love and hope 10 some dis.
tant friend aud make promises Of Twists and
talk OF worldly affairs; If woman, will
speak OF what she Is to wear when she gets
we'll, and hoS 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 Il so swiftly and surely
tends9 All ground for hope is long since
gone. II took years, perhaps to do the
work, but Il is done. The reason consump'
tIon Is so seldom cured is that ii Is not rec
ognized till its work is SO far advanced.
Physicians close their eyes to II till too late
to mastertt, or having accidentally cured II,
get credit for what they have done
INHALATION.