Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-07-23
CONSUMPTION


CONSUMPTION
Does not begin. as people generally think,
with cough or soreness of the lungs. but
usually with debility, weakness, languor,
dyspepsia, or catarrh. The most common
and most fatal form is that in which tuber-
cles 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
Frame and indu ing languor and inability
10 walk fast, or lar. 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. anc complains that he
walks SO fast, and puts her all out OF breath.
er, and then withou evident cause sinks
lower than before: and thus rises and sinks,
perhaps, many times before the tubercles
ripen and rot the tissues around them, when
time. dry. hacking cough; thenit becomes
moist ana softer, and she raises matter either
yellow or saltish. and perhaps offensive to
the taste, or 1t may be frothy or glairy. like
the white o. an sgg, y usually us, 20 Looked
common cold, the patient not deigning to
call In even the family physician. But even
II he ~ called he Is apt 70 make light 81 II,
and advise some simple thing. The patient
waits and hopes, but IL annoyed TO Ind she
does not get rid OF It; thinks It 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, lsssitude. or languor. or shortness OF
breath, with disposition to gasp or sigh or
catch for breath. AT this stage 1t Is easily
cured. II the patient tries the sperometer
he finds that he cannot breathe an average
amount, perhaps by forty or atty inches
not that the tubercles fll so much space, but
expulsion Of air. Young girls. at this stage,
are prone 10 lean on the parasol In walking,
as II for a cane TO support, and are disposed
TO loll and sit at ease, for any exertion puts
them out OF breath They ike 70 recline
They relinquish many OF their previous and
more active pleasures, and voluntarily with
draw from the dance, or skating. or smuse
ments requiring Lively or vigorous move no y.
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 meirlly
perhaps without them. II the lungs be
ments At this stage they sound duh under
the hammer, and give no sound at all
through the stethoscope over some one spot.
more commonly over the middle lobe Of the
healthy sound, it IL changed int creaking
called crepitation-bnt very faint.
This sound cannot be detected through the
garments, nor through any Of them. nor can
the hammer. There isno resort In the prac-
tice OF medicine more absurd and pernicious
than that Of pretendfngto examine the lungs
with the fingers Of one hand drumming on
makes 1t still more worthless is the
doing. OF Il over garmcnts that
than the one for which the practitioner Is
supposed e be listening. such ersmina-
10 so deep as to pass all hopes of recovery.
Still, up TO this time the ordinary
duties of life are carried on IS usual only
with an increasing disposition to rest and
often considered more lazy than sick"
II application be made to a physician In
common located practice, he declares after
one of those shiftless, faulty examinations
only Q little Irritation Of the tubes. Oh.
this fatal blindnessi fhe patient returns
comforted, and tries, perhaps. some cough
drops or expectorsnt 10 loosen the cough,
more easily bot alter While Complain q
some nausea after eating, and hollowness
when hungry--the early symptoms OF dys-
pepsia, brought ON by the depressing cough
SP ds 81 come OF daae @ss
.--@>@S
larger doses produce sickness at the stomach
~ sQuills, ipecac, lobelia, etc. These ex-
pectorants hasten ON the disease ut q much
sccsisrstsd rate; and comPiicstss ait, i Win Il
cure. But even ct this stage. BY tudicious
system OF inhalation, proper diet, habits.
t0nics and change OF air, 1t Is easily brought
under control. We cannot too deeply con-
cough drops, and expectorants Of all kinds
They hurry many to the 81 ave, and in 9TH
erg induce dyspepsia, rose catarrh or lever.
hay asthma and other troubles indicative Of
In the succeeding stages OF the disease the
symptoms Of the preceding ones are greatly
aggravated, and 70 these are commonly add-
ed some or all Of the following: In the
come scanty: the mind becomes, so to say.
capricious, the hopet being at one moment
unduly elated, and perhaps the next more
depressed and moody, and there Is mark
scenes and stories. and to laugh heai tily at
the slightest absurdittes or witticisms; the
emotions become very sensitive andtender,
and this is most observable at night, when
. cold, clammy sweat awakens the patient
from unquiet sleep, and gives reins to the
wiide,t fancies. fhe lips are often observed
TO be purple or black and dry; q fush fire.
quently appears on the cheek; the white OF
the eye becomes Of q mother-of-pearl APP
pearance; the cough deepens and extends
lrom morning till night. and from night till
morning. even sometimes continuing
through sleep that brings little refreshmeut;
the spit or sputa IL salt and yellow and Of
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
walk 81 4 few rods being su nicient to Induce
fatigue; the chest becomes tender, even 70
q slight percussion. and It is now generally
conceded that the patient is IN decline,
Or Wasting fever: or perhaps the Sold word ?,
time I the Careless e1sl fner.the physicisn
who says consumption c4unot Be cured
recognizes the foe with which he
ha. 80 long been dealing. and sdyises
whisky and cream, or the last fashionable
folly In the treatment OF this dread disease,
and perhaps change OF air 70 the south,
and probably sanctions plaster to the
chest or between the shoulders. or covers
these parts with croton oil or tartarised an
timony. oh, 1t Ii pisiful t. see such help
lessness at such q time, the last precious
days In which there may be ground for
later and later from day TO day. TIL finally
the whole day IL spent In bed and now the
cough Ii so harrassing and the discharge so
copious that the nurse holds up the patient
cup or bowl; the appetite becomes. very
capricious, the stomach feeble; probably
the tubercies ripen and slough In the bow
els, giving rise to persistent and exhausting
sense OF want of breath that is sometimes
called being tired and weary and il attribu-
ted to the cough. Even at this lafe stage the
patient will sometimes sit up in bed and
tant friend. and make promises Of visits and
talk Of worldly affairs; II woman, win
speak OF what she Is to wear when she gets
well, and how she will dress her hair, etc.,
and the nett minute may be found In tears.
why follow this declining life into the deep
darkness to which it SO swiftly and surely
tends? All ground for hope Is long since
gone. 1t took years, perhaps, to do the
ton IL so seldom cured Is that It is not rec
dpized till its work Is so far advanced.
Physicians close their eyes TO Il til too late