Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1886-07-24
CoNsUMPTIoN

/
with cough or soreness Of the lungs. bu
| usually with debility, weakness. languor
/ dyspepsia, or catarrh. The most common
| and most fatal form is that In which tuber
| Giles are deposited 10 the substance OF tn,
| lungs. These are small cheesy kernels thai
| usually lie dormant for many months even
| for years, showing their presence only by
shortening the breath and weakening the
frame, aud iudu ing languor and inability
| TO walk fast. or far or work hard.
The young wife, settling into q decline
| leans more neaviiy on the husbands arm
| Once she walked lightly with him step foi
step; now she leans. ana complains that he
| walks so fast, aud puts her all out Of breath
| She gets better for while in brighter wealth
| 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
she coughs. at first and perhaps for a long
| time. a dry, hacking cough; then 1t becomes
yellow or ssitish. and perhaps offensive e.
the taste, or Il may be frothy or glairy, like
the white Of an egg. II Is usually looked
| upon as Of no great account, but treated as a
sy eO family Bnt
| II he Is called he Is apt to make light OF II,
and advise some simple thing. The patient
waits and hopes. but Is annoyed to find she
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 1t.
mon one sis 1'V " His form q oonsumpsion:
First, lassitude. or lapguor, or shortness OF
breath. with disposition to gasp. or Sigh or
catch for breath. At this stage 1t Is easily
esr HI s bsssh me sp
amount, perhaps by forty or nifty inches
not that the tubercles fill SO much space, but
that they weaken the power Of imitation and
are prone to 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 like TO recline
on the sofa, or lounge in rocking chair;
more active pleasures. and voluntarily with
draw from the dance, or skating. or amuse
ments requiring lively or vigorous move
that the time Is fast approaching when they
shall even look on no more, and the dance
and the skates viii go on Just as mefrily
perhaps without them. II the lungs be
s ss S S,h ns aS 1sasi
the hammer, and give no sound at all
through the kaleidoscope over some one spot.
more commonly ever the middle lobe OF the
healthy sound. 1t is changed into a breaking
called crepitatiOn-but very faint.
This sound cannot be detected through the
garments, nor through any OF them, nor can
the Oulluets DC u6btcttu tnIOuBu tutm WIFI
the hammer. There is no resort in the prac
tice Of medicine more absurd and pernicfous
than thato Of pretending to examine the lungs
with the fingers OF one hand drumming ON
those Of the other over the chest; and what
doing Of 4 over garments that
than the one for which the practitioner is
supposed e be Listening. Such ., e1s s,n
Is so deep as TO pass all hopes of recovery.
Still, mp 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
one Of those shiftless, faulty examinations
only little irritation Of the tubes Oh.
this fatal blindDessi fhe patient returns
c0mforted, and tries, perhaps, some cough
drops or expectorant 70 loosen the cough,
more easily; but after while complains of
some nausea after eating, and hollownees
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
larger doses produce sickness at the stomach
a. squtll6, ipecac, lobelia, etc. These ex-
pectorants hasten on the disease at q much
accelerated RATE; and ccmplicste y with
others that make 1t mnch more difficult to
cure. But even 1t this stage, by judicious
| system Of inhalation, proper diet, habits.
tonics and change Of ar. i iseasily brought
denim and deplore the free use of troches,
cough drops, and expectorants Of all kinds
They hurry many to the u ave. and In 9th
ers induce dyspepsia, rose catarrh OF fever;
Q perverted tone of the mucous membrane.
In the succeeding stages OF the disease the
symptoms Of the preceding ones are greatly
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: the mind becomes, so to say,
capricious, the hopeh being at one moment
unduly elated, and perhaps the next more
ed disposition to shed tears over touching
scenes and stories. and to laugh heal ily at
the slightest absurdities or witticisms; the
emotions become very sensitive and tender,
and this is most observable at night. when
cold, clammy sweat awakens the patient
from unquiet sleep, and gives. reins to the
widest fancles. fbe lips are often observed
to be purple or black and dry; flush fire..
quenily appears on the cheek; the white OF
the eye becomes Of mother-of-pearl APP
pearance; the cough deepens and extends
from morning TIL night and from night till
morning.. even sometimes continuing
through sleep that brings little refreshment;
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 husky or hol-
ercise grow shorter with the shortening
breath, and less and less frequently, the
walk OF few rods being su fiicient to induce
fatigue; the chest becomes tender. even TO
slight percussion. and Il Is now generally
conceded that the patient is in 4 decline,
on wasting fever. or perhaps the bold word
Consumption Is used, apd by or before this
time the careless exananer-the physician
who says consumption caunot be cured
recognizes the Zoe with which he
has so long been dealing, and advises
codliver oil, or the super-phosphates, or
whisky and cream, or the last fashionable
and perhaps change Of air to the south.
and probably sanctions a plaster to the
CHEST or between the shoulders, or covers
these parts with croton oil or tartarized an
timony. Oh, i is piuful t, 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 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 tubercies ripen and slough in the bow
els, giving rise TO persistent and exhausting
though mild diarrh9a. There is a constant
sense Of want OF breath that Is sometimes
ted to the cough. Even at this late stage the
patient viii sometimes sit up In bed and
write words OF love and hope 70 some dis
tant friend. and make promises Of visits and
talk OF worldly affairs; II woman, Will
speak OF what she Is to wear when she gets
well, and hox she will dress her hair, ETC.,
and the next minute may be found in tears,
as she suspects she may never recover. But
darkness to which it so swiftly and surely
tendsY All ground for hope Is long since
gone. II took years, perhaps, 10 do the
work, but 1t is done. The reason consump-
ton is so seldom cured is that Il Is not rec
ofnized till its work IL SO far advanced.
Physicians close their eyes TO II till too late
to master It. or having accidentally cured Il,