Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-07-16

DOeh uot peElut ptuplt EcutEdtly
with a cough or soreness OF the lungs, but
usually with debility. weakness, languor.
| dyspepsia, or catarrh. The most common
and most fatal form Is that I'm which tuber-
| Giles are deposited In the substance OF the
lungs. These are small cheesy kernels, that
| usually lie dormant for many months, even
| for years, showing their presence only BY
shortening the breath and weakening the
| 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 for
step; now she leans. and complains that he
walks so fast, aud puts her all out OF breath
| She gets better forawnile in brighter wealth
err, and then withou evident cause sinks
lower than before; and thus rises aud sinks,
perhaps, many times before the tubercles
| ripen and / OF the tissues around them, when
| she coughs. at first aud perhaps for long
time dFy. hacking cough then 4 becomes ZONES
the taste, or It may be frothy or glairy, like
the white of an egg. It is usually looked
common cold, the patient not deigning to
| call In even the family physician. But even
| II he Is called he Is apt 10 make light OF 1t,
and advice some simple thing. The patient
| does not get rid OF It; thinks Ii bad cold,
that hangs on worse than any she ever had
before; coughs worse evenings and morn
,ngs, and fears aso she has 9a caught more cold.
The following are the more com
mon signs Of this form Of consumption:
First, lassitude. or languor, or shortness OF
catch for breath. At this stage it is easily
cured. II the patient tries the sperometer
he finds that he cannot breathe an average
amount, perhaps by forty or ffty inches
not that the tubercles I'LL 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,
as II for a cane to support. and are disposed
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 10 look on, rarely dreaming
that the time Is fast approaching when they
and the skates will go on jus! as merrily
perhaps without them. II the lungs be
carefully examined with the proper instru-
ments at this stage they sound dull under
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 int breaking
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-
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 Il still more worthless is the
would utterly obscure much louder sound
than the one for which the practitioner is
supposed to be listening. Such examine
Is 40 deep as to pass all hopes Of recovery.
Still, up to this time the ordinary
duties Of life are carried on as usual only
with an increasing disposition to rest and
often considered more lazy than sick"
II application be made TO physician in
common located practice, he declares after
with his fingers. that the lungs are all right;
only q little irritation OF the tubes. oh.
this fatal biindnessl rhe patient returns
comforted. and tries, perhaps. some cough
drops or expectorant to loosen the cough,
and begins 70 raise the "phlegm" much
more easily but after while complains Of
some nausea after eating, and hollowness
when hungry-the early symptoms of dys
drops, or troches. or expectorants. which
are all made OF come drug, which taken in
larger doses produce sickness at the stomach
as squills, ipecac, lobeiia, etc. These et-
pectorants hasten on the disease at a much
accelerated rate; and complicate Il with
others that make 1t much more difficult 10
cure. But even ct this stage, b., judicious
sonics and change Of sir 'H Il Is easily brought
| under control. We cannot too deeply con
denim and deplore the free use Of troches,
| cough drops, and expectorants Of all kinds,
| ers induce dyspepsia, rose catarrh or fever.
| hay asthma and other troubles fndicativeo OF
| perverted tone Of the mucous membrane.
Inthe succeeding stages OF the disease The
| aggravated, and to these are commonly add
| cd some or all Of the following: In the
woman the monthly discharges cease or be-
come scanty: TIN mind becomes. so to say,
capricious. the hopes being at one moment
! unduly elared, and perhaps the next more
| depressed and moody, and there is mark
ed disposition to shed tears over touching
scenes and stories, and to laugh heartily at
the slightest absurdities or wftticisms; the
emotions become very sensitive and tender,
and this Is most observable at night, when
q cold, clammy sweat awakens the patient
widest fancies. fhe lips are often observed
to be purple or black and dry; hush fire.
| quently appears on the cheek; the white of
the eye becomes Of a mother-of-pearl ap-
| from morning till night. and from night till
morning, even sometimes continuing
| through sleep that brings little refreshmenti
the spit or sputa is salt and yellow and OF
| bad taste, and increases In quantity from
| time to time, when the patient Is said TO
| catch cold the voice becomes huskyor hol-
| low, or unduly sonorous; the periods OF ex-
breath. and less and less frequently. the
| walk OF a few rods being SUFFICIENT to induce
| fatigue; the chest becomes tender, even to
q slight percussion, and 1t Is now generally
| or wasting fever, or perhaps the bold word
| Consumption is used, and by or before this
time the careless exaG1iner-the physician
who says consumption caunot be cured
recognizes the foe with which he
has SO long been dealing, and advises
i codliyer oil, or the super-phosPhates, or
whisky and cream, Of the last fashionable
folly in the treatment of this dread disease.
and perhaps change of air to the south,
and probably sanctions a plaster to the
/ chest or between the shoulders, or covers
j these parts with croton oil or tartarixed an
timony. Oh. i is pitiful z see such help.
days in which there may be ground for
hopel This soon passes; the patient lies
later and later from day to day, till finally
cough is so harrassing and the discharge so
copious that the nurse holdsup 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
els, giving rise TO persistent and exhausting
though mild diarrhRa. 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 to some dis
tsnt friend. and make promises of visits and
| talk Of worldly affairs; If woman, will
speak OF what she is to wear when she gets
| well, and hog 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 1t SO swiftly and surely
tendsY All ground for hope is long since
gone. II took years, perhaps, to do the
| ton Is SO seldom cured is that it is not rec
| ogniged till its work is so far advanced.
| Physicians close their eyes to 1t till too late
i to master It, or having accidentally cured II,
| get credit for what they have done.