The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1898-02-10
Bronchial Consumption.
From DIR. Hunters Lecture on the Progress
of Medical Science in the Treatment of
Tunp Diseases.

From DIR. Hunters Lecture on the Progress
| of Medical Science in the Treatment of
Lung Diseases.
| Ofthem any forms of bronchitis the one most
alarming of all is that in which the symp-
toms closely resemble those of consumption,
and hence called consumptive bronchitis, or
bronchial consumption. You must not, how
ever, understand from its name that it is
really tuberculous in character, or produced
by the hacllli which cause true consumption.
| In all inng cases 1 require portion of the
eXpectorated matter coughed up by the pa
| tient to be brought to me, or sent in small
bottle by express, before giving definite
opinion of the disease. If, on examination,
| find the tubercle bacill present, the case
is consumption; and if no bacilli-Bronchi-
| tbs. A large percentage of those who die of
d lung disease, supposed to be consumption,
are really deaths by chronic bronchitis re-
semblug consumption.
| A remarkable instance in veritcation of
this recently occurred. A lady was brought
to me in what appeared the last stage OF
consumption. Her physicians had told her
| husband that she could not live a week.
| She had bad cough, puriform expectora-
| ton, night sweats and was wasted almost
to skin and bone. Judging by her symp-
| toms and appearance, it was impossible not
| to fear that she had come too late. On
sounding her chest, however, l Was sur
prised to find no qualification by tubercles,
AMI on examining her sputum 4 total alb
sence of the bacilli The history, too of her
| sickness revealed that it had followed an at
tack of whooping cough and grippe. So, al
| though her pulse was 100 a minute, and so
| feeble as to be hardly perceptible, and the
| waste OF her body so extreme that she could
not stand without support, l did not hest
| tate to pronounce the disease bronchial and
gave it as my opinion that if we could sus-
tain her strength long enough for the reme
dies to act she would be saved. She was
Immediately placed under medicated air
| treatment, with tones to impart appetite
and digestives to help the enfeebled stomach
| to transform nourlshment into chvie and
F.! blood. Within week she showed signs of
! amendment. Her progress was necessarily
SLOW, as the healing powers of the body
We're nearly exhausted before the first in
haiatlon was given, but she gradually ac-
| CURED more and more strength, and 0ithin
SIX weeks able to take short wa Ks in
the open air, and is alive and well to-day
! This case shows the Importance of cor
rect diagnosis and proper adoption of the
treatment of the conditions to be remedied
Had the true nature of her disease not been
discovered just when it was she would have
lost her life through wrong treatment, and
been recorded az another deauh hy cOnSump-
ton.
In these bronchial cases we sometimes
have false membrane form on the inside of
the tubes, jjlst DIS false membranes are form
ed i'll the throat III diphtheria, and in the
! laruyX aud wndpipe in Group. | have re-
Gently had case in which the patient,
while recovering, GOughed up Il hollow cast
of the right brouchus, with casts of several
smaller bronchial tubes attached. 1t came
up ont OF the lungs looking like the branches
of a tree.
! Every form of bronchitis is durable by local
antiseptic and healing remedies applied di-
| rectly to the lungs by medicated air inhala-
| tioD, but none of them by stomach treat