The Progress., 1888-02-04
A STITCH IN TIME.
Cases In Which Medical Aid Is of Most
Value In the Early Stages.

value In the Early Stages.
In the earliest stages of consumption
of the lungs, it's possible to arrest the
progress Of the affection asd secure a
return to health by change Of climate
and Of habits of life, together with
wisely directed diet, exercise and hy-
giene generally. But this stage is
often permitted to pass without any
serious attention being given to it by
the patient or his friends One reason
OF this is the unreasonable hopefulness
that;is mental characteristic of most
cpnsumptives. Besides the insignif-
cant cough and slight symptoms Of de-
teriorating health. which are often only
to be noticed and given their true value
by the experienced physician, do not
carry with them any such degree of
alarm as they merit. When profuse
hemorrhage occurs the feeling of Sc
curity may give way to the alarm chat
has been felt before. Any persistent
cough should be attended to before it
is too late to do good. As in; all dis
eases depending upon special cause
or micro-organism, consumption is not
to be cured by drugs alone. 1t is pos
sible that, as the late Prof Flint taught,
1t may be a disease that has a tendency
to recover of itself, buff it is ..self-lim-
tied, it can only be so under the best
possible sanitary and hygienic condi-
tions.
An ordinary malarial fever is not, as
a rule. dangerous to life. But any case
of ague may develop into pernicious
(congestive) intermittent or remittent
fever at any time. This it is that rem.
'ders prompt arrest of the common ague
of such great Importance. For this
reason also treatment by nostrums and
dosiestic remedies too often results in
an attack which no form of medication
will be competent to cure. The per-
nicious attacks are almost invariably
preceded by ordinary chills, so that
when the "congestive' paroxysm does
come on no one can say that there was
any excuse for calling the doctor too
late. Even if pernicious attacks are
not developed. the subject of long-con-
tinued ague becomes broken in health,
is pale, sallow and full of pains of a
neuralgia character that makes life
miserable; and the longer the disease
persists without interruption, the more
difficult it is to stop it's progress and to
cure the results of chronic malariai
poisoning.
A large proportion of cases of valvu-
lar diseases of the heart originate in
acute rheumatism. This disease at
tacks the joints and such organs as
most resemble them in structure. The
heart from its continual movements
and the white fbrous materials from
which it is lined and covered bears a
very strong resemblance to large
joint. In rheumatic fever (inflamma-
tory rheumatism) .4the main /. dan ger
arises from the tendency the inflamma-
ton shows to attack the covering Of
the heart or the valves to be found be-
tween the cavities and at the, entrance
OF the great artery that takes the
blood to distribute it all over the BODY.
Experience has demonstrated that the
best method to prevent the disease
from attacking the heart is to give
large quantities of alkalies-the bicar-
Donates Of sodium and of potassium
being the best-until the acid material,
which appears to be at the basis of
rheumatism, is fully neutralized. This
is shown by the secretion of the kidneys
becoming alkaline in reaction. AS long
as this is not done and kept up per
.sistently there is danger of heart
trouble setting in at any moment. The
Younger the patient the greater the
danger Of these complications. Hence
the necessity, in every rheumatic case,
of prompt and rational treatment.
In nervous, sensitive children, slight
causes are sufficient to bring on an at
tack of convulsions. Thus, some hard
indigestible material swallowed, or the
presence of worms in the digestive
tube. is often enough responsible for
these always alarming symptoms. If
the cause can be removed, of course
this should be done, and the sooner the
better. One very cogent reason for the
last remark is the fact that after con-
vulsions have occurred number of
times a morbid habit becomes estab
lished in the nervous system, which is
strong enough by itself to produce a
return Of the spasms, even after the
original exciting cause has been thor
oughly removed. When the ..fits'' re-
return from time to time without ap-
parent reason, we say that the patient
has epilepsy, one of the most intracta-
bic Of diseases. 1t is in cases of this
description, where the cause of the con-
vulsions can be removed, that the phy
sician should not be called too late. If
consulted sufficiently early lifetime
of misery, ending in insanity, perhaps,
might be changed into one of useful
ness.
There are many surgical affections
which exemplify the warning this arti-
Gle is intended to. convey. Of these
cancer and sarcomas afford the best