A MANUAL CLINICAL MEDICINE, A MANUAL OF CLINICAL MEDICmE. PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS. BY T. II. TA^'XER, M.D., LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PDYSICIANS ; PHYSICIAN TO THE HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN, ETC., ETC. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE CODE OF ETHICS AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. PHILADELPHIA: BLANCHARD & LEA. 1855. SOEHMAN ft SON, PRINTERS, 19 Si. James Street. Hist 7:)jv TlS7yn TO ROBERT BENTLEY TODD, M.D., F.R.S., PHYSICIAN TO KI>-g'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL, ETC., THIS MANUAL IS DEDICATED, FRIEND AND FORMER PUPIL, THE AUTHOR. 1* PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEIMENT. In presenting to the profession of the United States this admirable little manual, the publishers have thought that its value as a work for daily reference would be enhanced by the addition of the excellent " Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association," which, adopted as it has been by most of the State Medical Societies, may be regarded as the standard guide of the American profession. Philadelphia, August, 1855. PREFACE. The following pages have been written with the intention of removing some of the difficulties which the student always — and the practitioner frequently — must encounter, while studying disease in its Pro- tean forms at the bedside. Remembering my own impressions of bewilderment on beginning to "walk the hospital," I have honestly endeavored to sim- plify the task for others ; and should this treatise be the means of doing so, I shall feel greatly rewarded for my exertions. Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, February, 1855. CONTENTS. CH'APTER I. ON THE CLINICAL STUDY OF DISEASE. PAGE Section 1. On the Faculty of Observation, . . "25 Section 2. The General Conduct of the Practi- tioner OF Medicine, 27 Section 3. The Clinical Examination of a Patient, Examination of the Exterior, 29 Interrogation of the Patient, . . . . . 29 Examination of the Cranium, . . . . .29 Thoracic Viscera, .... 30 Abdomen, 30 Present General Condition of the Patient, ... 30 Examination of Female Patients, . . . . .31 Section 4. The Clinical Examination of Children. Section 5. Mode of taking Notes of a Case, General Observations, ....... 32 Anatomical or Physiological Peculiarities, . . .32 Itellectual and Moral Peculiarities, .... 33 Previous History, ........ 33 General Healtli, 33 Present Illness, 33 Condition, . 33 Condition of Nervous System, . . . . .33 Organs of Respiration and Circulation, 34 Xll CONTENTS. PAGE Condition of Digestive Organs, . . . .34 Urinary Organs, ..... 34 Causes of Illness, 34 Diagnosis, , 34 Prognosis, ......... 34 General Rules of Treatment, 34 Section 6. Mode of taking Notes of Diseases of Females. Section 7. Mode of making a Post-mortem Examina- tion, Examination of the Skull, 35 Spinal Cord, .... 36 Thoracic and Abdominal Cavities, . 30 Urinary and Generative Organs, . 37 Section 8. Mode of taking Notes of a Post-mortem Examination, General Observations, ....... 37 Examination of Head, Face, Mouth, and Fauces, . . 37 Thorax, ....... 38 Abdomen, 38 Male Organs of Generation, . . .39 Female Organs of Generation, . . 39 Spinal Cord, 39 Section 9. The Clinical Examination of the Insane, Investigation of the Physiognomy, ... . . 40 Actions, 40 The Conversation of the Insane, . . . . .41 The Memory, Written Letters, &c., of the Insane, . 41 Certificates of Insanity, 42 Medical Case Book, 43 Section 10. Examination of Persons for Life As- surance, Different Knowledge required in Life Office to the Con- sulting-room, ... 44 Points especially to attend to in Examination of Appli- cant, 44 Aphorisms on the Value of certain Lives, . . .45 Section 11. On Medico-legal Investigations, Use of Notes, 46 Confessions and Death-bed Declarations, . . . 47 Reports for Judicial Purposes, 47 Medical Evidence at Inquests, 49 CONTEXTS. CHAPTER II. ON THE INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IN THE DIAGNOSIS OP DISEASE. TASK Section 1. On the Microscope, The Student's Microscope, ! 50 The Simple INIicroscope, ....... 50 The Compound Microscope, 50 The Magnifying Powers of the best Object-glasses, . . 51 Standards of Measurement, 53 Section 2. On the Test-tray, The Apparatus required in 3Iedical Chemistry, . . 53 Dr. Lionel Beale's Cabinet of Apparatus and Reagents, . 54 Section 3. On the Spirometer, Hutchinson's Spirometer, ....... 54 Mode of Testing the Vital Capacity, .... 54 Coxeter"s Portable Spirometer, ...... 55 Pereira's Spirometer, . 55 Section 4. On the Common Tape-measurp:, Stethome- ter, Pleximeter, Stethoscope, Etc., The Common Tape-measure, ...... 56 Mode of ascertaining the Circumference and Mobility of the Chest, 56 The Stethometer, 56 Dr. Sibson's Chest-measurer, ...... 56 The Movements in Respiration, ..... 57 Plessors, Pleximeters, &c., 57 Dr. Sibson's Spring Pleximeter, ..... 57 The Stethoscope, ........ 57 General Observations, ....... 58 Section 5. On the Dynamometer. Section 6. On the instruments required for making Local Applications to the Larynx, Etc. Section 7. On the Ophthalmoscope. Section 8. On the Speculum Uteri, Uterine Sound, Etc., The Speculum — Varieties of, . . . . . .60 The Uterine Sound, 61 Sponge Tents, . . . . . . .61 Dr. Protheroe Smith's Uterine Dilator, .... 62 2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. ON DISEASE. Section 1. The Nature of Disease, Definition of Disease, ..... . . Disease of Function, . ...... Structure, ....... Acute and Chronic Diseases, ..... Zymotic Diseases, Sporadic Diseases, ....... Continued, Remittent, and Intermittent Diseases, . Hereditary, Congenital, Specific, and Malignant Diseases, Asthenic, Idiopathic, Symptomatic, and Intercurrent Diseases, ........ Section 2. The Causes of Disease, Predisposing Causes, Exciting Causes, Non-cognizable Causes, ...... Section 3. The Classification of Diseases, The Division of Diseases by Sauvage, Cullen, Section 4. The Diagnosis of Disease, Mode of making a Diagnosis, Probability the Guide of Life, .... Section 5. The Prognosis of Disease, Importance of the Prognosis, .... Positive Statements — their Efiect, Section 6. The Terminations of Disease, Termination in Health, The Crisis of a Disease, . Metastasis, .... The Termination in Death, Sudden Death and its Causes, Death by Anoemia, . Asthenia, Asphyxia or Apncea. Coma, . 63 63 63 64 64 65 65 65 66 66 67 67 68 68 69 69 70 71 71 72 73 73 74 75 75 75 76 CONTEXTS. CHAPTER IV. ON THE VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY DISEASE. PAGE General Remarks, 1. Sex, 77 2. Age, 78 3. Hereditary Tendency, 79 4. Temperament and Idiosyncrasy, . . . . .80 The Sanguine and Irritable Temperament, 80 The Lymphatic or Phlegmatic, . . .80 The Nervous, / 80 The Bilious, 80 5. Diathesis, SO 6. Habit, 81 7. Climate and Temperature, 81 A great Range of Temperature compatible with Life, 82 Capability of bearing a great Degree of Heat, . 82 Sudden Transitions in Temperature, . . . .82 Effects of Heat on the Human Body, ... 83 Effects of Extreme Cold on the Human Body, . . 83 Cold in Motion and Moisture, .... 84 Temperate Latitudes, ...... 84 CHAPTER V. ON THE SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. Introductory Remarks on the Importance of Semeiology, . 84 Various Divisions of Symptoms, ..... 85 Section 1. Symptoms and Signs afforded by the Coun- tenance AND Condition of the Body, The Expression of the Countenance, . . .86 The Countenance in Facial Paralysis, .... 87 The Appearance of the Lips and Mouth, . . . .88 The Hue or Color of the Countenance, .... 88 A Dark Circle under the Eyes, 89 Signs presented by the Eye, ...... 89 The Arcus Senilis, 90 The Function of Vision, 91 The Sense of Hearing, ....... 92 The Posture of the Body, 92 XVI CONTENTS, PAOB The Nutrition of the Body, 94 The Temperature of the Surface of the Body, . . 94 The Moisture of the Surface of the Body, . . . .95 Section 2. Symptoms belonging to the Organs and Function of Digestion, The Teeth and Gum?, 95 The Saliva, 96 The Tongue, 96 The Taste, 98 Deglutition, 99 The Appetite and Desire for Drink, .... 99 Jaundice, 100 Nausea and Vomiting, ....... 101 Deftecation, ......... 101 Section 3. Symptoms belonging to the Function OF Respiration, The Respirations, ........ 103 Dyspnoea, 103 Orthopnoea, 105 The Odor of the Breath, 105 The Temperature of the Expired Air, .... 106 Cough, 106 Hiccough, . . 107 Expectoration, 107 Stertor, 108 Yawning and Sighing, .108 Sneezing, 108 Section 4. Symptoms belonging to the function of Circulation, Palpitations of the Heart and Large Vessels, . . . 108 The Pulse, 109 Condition of the Capillaries, . , . . . .114 Venous Symptoms, 115 State of the Blood, 115 Section 5. Symptoms connected with the Urinary AND Sexual Organs, The Excretion of Urine, . . . . . .118 Dysuria, . .118 Strangury, . . . . . . . . .118 Ischuria, 118 Incontinence of Urine, . . . . . . .119 Sexual Organs in the Male, 120 The Uterine System, . . . . . . . 120 CONTENTS. Section 6. Symptoms dbrfved from the Nervous System^ Pain, Diminished Sensibility, Paralysis, . General Paralysis, Hemiplegia, Paraplegia, . Spasm, Tonic Spasm, Clonic Spasm, . Delirium, Coma, 121 122 123 123 123 123 124 124 124 124 125 CHAPTER VI. ON THE DIAGNOSIS OF NATURAL FROM FEIGNED DISEASE. Introductory Observations, . 127 The Four Modes in which Disease may be simulated, . 127 A Table of Feigned Diseases, 128 Concluding Remarks, .138 CHAPTER VII. ON THE PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. Introductory Remarks, . . . . . .138 The Nature of Physical Signs, 139 Section 1. The Physical Signs of Cerebral Disease, Cerebral Auscultation, ....... 140 The various Auscultic Phenomena, . . . .140 Section 2. The Physical Diagnosis of Diseases of THE Lungs and Heart, Introductory Remarks on the Structure of the Lungs, . 142 Position of the Patient, 143 Regions of the Thorax, 144 Description of the Methods of Physical Diagnosis, . . 147 1. Inspection, Form of Chest, 147 Size, 149 Movements, 149 2* CO XT K NTS. 2. Palpation', Vocal Vibration, or Fremitus, Pulmonary Friction Fremitus, Fluctuation, The Heart's Impulse, Fremissement Cataire, Cardiac Friction Fremitus, .^. Meksuratiox, Circular Width of Chest, . Variation of the two Sides, . Diseases causing Enlargement, Diseases causing Narrowing, 4. Succussiox, Mode of Practising Succussion, Uses of, . 7. IS Spirometry, Vital Capacity as affected by Height, . Weight as affecting Vital Capacity, Age as affecting Vital Capacity, . Percussion", Mode of Practising, .... Diminution of Clearness, . Increase of Clearness, .... Tympanitic Sound, Amphoric Resonance and Metallic Tinkling, Tubular Sound, ..... The Bruit de Pot Fele, Auscultation, Mode of Practising, .... f Pulmonary or Vesicular Respiration, Bronchial Respiration, The Laryngeal Murmur, Sounds caused by Morbid Secretion, , Dry Sounds, ]\Ioist Sounds, .... ^Friction-sounds, .... p Bronchophony, J Pectoriloquy, iEgophony, Morbid Phenomena of the Cough, . Sounds of the Heart, . Pericardial Friction-murmur Endocardial Murmurs, Diseases of the Cardiac Valves, Inorganic Murmurs, . CONTEXT! Section 3. The Physical Diagnosis of Diseases of THE Abdomen, Regions of the Abdomen, 173 Modes of Physical Examination, . . . . .173 Inspection, ........ 174 Mensuration, 174 Palpation, 174 Percussion, 177 Auscultation, 179 Auscultation of the Abdomen during Pregnancy, . 180 CHAPTER Yin. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE DIAGNOSIS OP THORACIC DISEASES. Bronchitis, 182 Pleurisy, 183 Pneumonia, . . . . . . . .184 Asthma, 186 Emphysema, ......... 187 Pneumothorax, 187 Phthisis, 188 Pericarditis, 190 Endocarditis, 191 Valvular Diseases of the Heart, 192 Atrophy of the Heart, 194 Hypertrophy of the Heart, . . . . . . .195 Cyanosis, ......... 196 Aneurism of the Aorta, 196 CHAPTER IX. ON THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OP THE SKIN. Willan's Classification, 198 Order 1. The Exanthemata, Erythema, 199 Erysipelas, 199 Roseola, 200 Rubeola, 200 Scarlatina, 201 Urticaria, 204 XX CONTEXTS. PAGE Order 2. Vesicul.*:, Miliaria, 204 Varicella, 205 Eczema, 205 Herpes, 205 Scabies, 206 Order 3. Bullj?, Pempliigus, 206 Rupia, 206 Button Scurvy, 207 Order 4. Pustul.e, Variola, 207 Vaccinia, 207 Ecthyma, 209 Impetigo, 210 Acne, 211 Mentagra, 211 Porrigo, 211 Plica Polonica, 212 Equinia or Glanders 212 Order 5. Papula, Lichen, 212 Prurigo, 213 Order 6. Squama, Lepra, 213 Psoriasis, . . . . . . . . .213 Pityriasis, ........ 214 Pityriasis Versicolor, 214 Ichthyosis, 214 Order 7. Tubercul^, Elephantiasis GraBCorum, 214 Molluscum, 215 Frambcesia, 215 Order 8. Macule, Lentigo, 216 Ephelides, 216 NfEvi, 216 Albinismus, 216 Vitiligo, 216 Order 9, Lupus, 216 CONTEXTS. PAGE Order 10, Pellagra, 217 Order 11, Malum Allepporum, 217 Order 12, Syphilida, 217 Order 13, Purpura, 218 Order 14, Elephantiasis Arabicum, 218 Order 15, Cbeloidea, "219 CHAPTER X. PARASITIC WORMS POUND IN THE HUMAN BODY. Table of the Worms, 219 1. Internal Parasites, Acephalocysts or Hydatids, 221 Echinococcus Hominis, .221 Filaria Oculi, Filaria Medinensis, and Filaria Bronchialis, 221 Cysticercus Cellulosee, . 222 Distomata, ........ 222 Polystoma Pinguicola, 222 Strongylus Gigas, 222 Dactylius Aculeatus, 223 Diplosoma Crenata, 223 Spiroptera Hominis, 223 Trichina Spiralis, 223 Tricocephalus Dispar, 224 Ascaris Lumbricoides, ...... 224 Ascaris Vermicularis, ....... 224 Ta-nia Solium, 224 Bothriocephalus Latus, 224 2. External Parasites, Pulex Penetrans, ....... 225 Acarus Scabiei, ........ 225 Acarus FoUiculomm, 225 Pediculi, 226 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XL ON THE CHEMICAL AND MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION OF THE BLOOD, EXPECTORATION, VOMITED MATTERS, AND URINE. FAGB The Excretions generally, 226 Section 1. The Blood, General Composition of, 227 Chemical Composition of, ..... 228 Microscopic Examination of, ..... 229 Mode of Examining Stains of, . . . . . 229 To detect Uric Acid in Serum of, . . . . . 229 Section 2. The Expectoration, General Characters of, 230 Microscopic Examination of, . . . . .230 Section 3. Vomited Matters, SarcinEB Ventriculi, 231 Section 4. The Urine, Table of Solid Contents, 232 Mode of making a Clinical Examination o.^, . . 233 Increased Flow of Urine, 233 Deficiency of Urine, ....... 233 Reaction of Test-papers, 233 Urine depositing Uric Acid, 234 Urine containing an excess of Urea, . . . .234 Urate of Soda, Lime, &c., 234 Ammoniacal Salts, . 234 Urine containing Purpurine, ..... 235 . 235 . 235 . 236 . 236 . 2.36 . 236 238 . 239 Cystine, .... Oxalate of Lime, Gravel, .... Mode of testing for Albumen, Pus, Sugar, Kiestein, .... Casts of Tubes, Epithelium, &c Bile in the Urine, 239 Iodide of Potassium in the Urine, .... 239 CONTENTS. CODE OF ETHICS OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO THEIU PATIENTS, AND OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF PATIENTS TO THEIR PHYSICIANS. PASE Art. 1. Duties of Physicians to their Patients, . . 240 Art. 2. Obligations of Patients to their Physicians, . 242 OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO EACH OTHER, AND TO THE PROFESSION AT LARGE. Art. 1. Duties for the support of Professional Character, 244 Art. 2. Professional Services to each other, . . . 245 Art. 3. Of the Duties of Physicians as respects vicarious offices, ........ 245 Art. 4. Of the Duties of Physicians in regard to Consul- tations, 246 Art. 5. Duties of Physicians in cases of Interference, 248 Art. 6. Of Differences between Physicians, . . . 250 Art. 7. Of pecuniary Acknowledgments, . . . 250 OF THE DUTIES OF THE PROFESSION TO THE PUBLIC, AND OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE PUBLIC TO THE PROFESSION. Art. 1. Duties of the Profession to the Public, . . 251 Art. 2. Obligations of the Public to Physicians, . 252 A MANUAL CLINICAL MEDICINE CHAPTER I. ON THE CLINICAL STUDY OF DISEASE. SECTION 1. ON THE FACULTY OF OBSERVATION. All who have studied the writings of the greatest of philosophers — Lord Bacon — must know that there are two especial sources to which he refers men for real increase of knowledge, namely, to observation and experiment, which he insists are but questionings of Nature in respect of specific matters. To cultivate the faculty of observation must then be the first duty of those who would excel in any scientific pur- suit,' and to none is this study more necessary than to the stu- dent of medicine. To such an one it may be said, that the habit of correct observation is that mode of learning his profession which above all others he should most diligently cultivate ; remembering that observation does not consist in the mere habitual sight of objects — in a kind of vague looking-on, so to speak — but in the power of comparing the known with the unknown, of contrasting the similar and dissimilar, in justly appreciating the connection between cause and effect, and in estimating at their correct value established facts. The great Newton has assured us that he knew of no difference between himself and other men but in his habits of observation and *"L'art d'observer est le seul moyen d'acqu6rir des coniiaissances utiles." — La Croix. 3 26 CLINICAL STUDY OF DISEASE. attention, and almost the same encouraging remark was made by Locke. The constitution of the human mind is such that the acqui- sition of knowledge can only be very gradual. Just as there is no royal road to learning, so there is no rapid method of gaining experience ; and he who wishes to excel must not only work assiduously, but must be careful that he toils in the right direction. Although at first the difficulties in the way of observing correctly may appear insurmountable, yet as the habit is daily encouraged will the path become clear, until at last what was at first a labor becomes a matter of almost routine practice. The most important part of the medical man's education is undoubtedly to be gained at the bedside. In the wards of our various hospitals every diversity of ailment, every variety of injury may be carefully observed and investigated, first — as disease appears naturally, when, as we may say. Nature is performing her experiments for our wisdom ; and secondly — as modified by a careful use of those remedial agents which have been so bountifully bestowed upon us. In order, how- ever, that the observation of disease may be profitable, it must be complete. It will be useless unless the malady be watched during its whole course, the symptoms as they arise noted, and the effects of medicines carefully observed until the termination in recovery or death. Especially is the ter- mination of a case instructive, and not the less so when the result is death, since we may then mark the way in which the patient succumbed, and learn to guard against such an event in similar examples for the future. Just as a man who wishes to become acquainted with the nature and characteristics of a foreign country may read a whole library on the subject, inspect charts and panoramic views faithfully drawn, or study a series of paintings delineating separately all that is most worthy of observation, and yet certainly fail to obtain any correct idea of the distant land ; so may a student learn the entire practice of physic by heart from books, and yet be unable to distinguish small-pox from measles when called upon to put his theoretical knowledge into actual practice. Valua- ble, therefore, and indeed indispensable, as is the assistance to be derived from a careful study of the writings of the masters of our profession, yet these ^vTitings must be regarded principally, if not solely, as guide-books, that is to say, as intended to smooth the difficulties which the observer will have to encounter, but by no means calculated to do away with the labor of self observation ; for it is not too much to COXDUCT OF THE MEDICAL P R ACTITIO XER. 27 say that without practical experience all other acquirements are of no avail to the practitioner of medicine. Truly excel- lent, then, is the advice given by Dr. Latham to the student, '' begin by learning to stand by the sick-bed, and make it your delight." He who will be content to do this in a right spirit, may be assured of becoming an eminently useful mem- ber of the noblest profession that can engage the attention or encourage the development of the highest qualities of the mind of man : let him but work diligently, perseveringly, and conscientiously, and he may be certain of ultimately acquiring — if not the purse of Fortunatus — at least a competence ; but, above all, will he experience that happiness which princes may envy, but which they cannot bestow, the gratification of knowing that — in however humble a degree — he is the honored instrument of " God, who healeth our diseases." SECTION 2. THE GENERAL CONDTJCT OF THE MEDICAL PRACTITIONER. Although much might be advantageously written upon this subject, yet a very few words must suffice. The mere fact that the practice of medicine arose from an instinctive impulse to relieve the pains and sufferings of others is sufficient to show that the medical man, of all men, should be free from that vice which is the besetting sin of mankind — selfishness. He must indeed, be thoroughly content to live, not for him- self, but for others ; not to look to his own interests, not to be guided in his actions by motives of policy, but to let the rule of his life be to do as much good to others as possible. He should think as little of pecuniary rewards as is compatible with his own interests and that of his brother practitioners, remembering the maxim adopted by La Bruyere from Con- fucius — that he who esteems gold more than virtue, will be likely to lose both gold and virtue. The physician, to be suc- cessful, must not only possess a sound practical knowledge of his profession, but he must also be careful that his moral character be free from blemish ; that his general conduct be not only above vulgarity, but such as to excite the respect of his friends and neighbors ; that he be conscientious, attentive, careful of the secrets of those who consult him, unmindful of the worldly condition of his patients, sympathizing, calm, and circumspect in his behavior generally. As it is his object to prolong life, so he must leave no means unpursued in order to attain such object, remembering that the mere prescribing of medicines is often the least part of his duty. It would 28 CLINICAL STUDY OF DISEASE. indeed be well if medical men generally thought more of the moral remedies at their disposal ; and if more attention were bestowed upon soothing the fleeting moments of the afflicted, by inspiring them with hope, confidence, and ease of mind. A man who practises his profession conscientiously will never be unmindful of the duties which he owes to his colleagues — to those treading the same path as himself. He will carefully avoid all such short-sighted proceedings as may tend to elevate himself by depressing others : he will strictly eschew those disgraceful methods of obtaining notoriety, newspaper puffing or prescribing ; and he will hesitate at giving, as a rule, gratuitous advice, where such is not needed by the circum- stances of the patient, and where such a course of proceeding must injure those who are content to receive a small remune- ration for their toilsome labors, and whose daily bread pro- bably depends upon their obtaining such a return for their exertions. The encouragement bestowed upon medical men is for the most part very deficient, their worth and usefulness being unacknowledged, their fatigues and anxieties unheeded, and their unselfishness and disregard of wealth abused. While striving to diminish the sufferings of their afflicted fellow- creatures, can it happen otherwise than that their feelings should be hurt by observing the attention paid to men prac- tising the most palpable absurdities and deceptions, by witnessing the success of homoeopaths, table-turners, mes- merists, and such like ? Has it not, however, always been so ? Does not Bacon himself tell us, that " the weakness and cre- dulity of men is such, as they will often prefer a mountebank or witch before a learned physician,"' and is the present age less credulous than that of the great philosopher? I fear not ! But it is the prerogative of superior minds to rise with the occasion. Let us, therefore, individually and collectively, as students and practitioners, strive to improve our art : let us each endeavor to attain that mental sagacity which will enable us to perceive the important features of cases coming under our care and the salient points of diagnosis ; that Avisdom which can foresee the course and progress of disease ; that judgment which will enable us to select the proper remedies ; and that calm determination which will render us capable of insisting that the necessary measures are thoroughly carried out. ' The Advancement of Learning. CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF A PATIENT. 29 SECTION 8. THE CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF A PATIENT. Upon the application of a sick person to a medical man, the first object of the latter must be to ascertain the exact nature of the disease before him. As it often happens that the sufferer is embarrassed by the novelty of his situation and by general debility resulting from his malady, we must endeavor by calmness, delicacy, patience, and kindness on our part to put him at his ease, which will be readily done by one who has accustomed himself to intercourse with invalids. A few remarks on general subjects, inquiries as to his place of residence, and the length of time he has suffered from bad health, will enable the practitioner to learn much from — An Examination of the Exterior, the physiognomy first engaging attention, since from it may be learnt the patient's apparent age, strength, state of mind, complexion — whether pale, florid, or dusky, and his general constitution. The gene- ral bulk of the body should then be cursorily examined, noticing whether it be large and full, or thin and wasted ; the condition of particular regions, whether swelled or attenuated ; the presence or absence of any cutaneous eruptions ; and, lastly, evidence is to be obtained as to the powers of voluntary motion, as the use of the arms, of the legs in locomotion, &c. Interrogation of the Patient. — We are now prepared to interrogate the patient himself, and this we do by inquiring whether he has any pain, where it is seated, and the lengthy of time he has been ailing. "This leads him to enter into a description of his sufferings, and of the means he has adopted for their relief; and although in many instances he may not make his statement the short simple narrative we might desire, yet, as a general rule, it will always be better to let him tell his own tale in his own fashion. Then, according as complaint is made of suffering in any particular organ, we proceed to investigate the condition of this and of all parts connected with it. Thus, suppose pain be complained of in the head, we proceed to make — An Examination of the Cranium, as to its general form, symmetry of the two sides, special prominences and depres- sions, and heat of the integuments. Inquiries are then to be made as to the nature and duration of the pain, as to whether it is deep-seated or superficial, affected by pressure, by noise ; whether it is periodic, or connected with neuralgic or rheu- matic paius in other parts of the body. We must ascertain, also, the presence or absence of vertigo ; the condition of the 3* 30 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. functions of sight and hearing; the ability or inability to sleep, to take exercise, and to make use of the mental facul- ties. Or, perhaps, the seat of disease may appear to be in the thorax. "We then make — An Examination of the Thoracic Viscera, resorting to inspection, palpation — or the application of the hand, mensu- ration, percussion, and auscultation, in the manner to be hereafter noticed. We then endeavor to ascertain the presence or absence of cough and its nature ; the characters of the expectoration 5 the amount of facility or of difficulty of breathing, both when the body is quiet and when undergoing exertion ; the nature of the heart's action, whether there be palpitation or no ; and the presence or absence of such general symptoms as emaciation, purging, night-sweats, &c. An Examination of the Abdomen, when any of the abdominal viscera appear affected, must be made by inspec- tion, measurement, palpation, percussion, and auscultation. The boundaries of the liver, spleen, and stomach must be ascertained ; the nature, duration, and seat of pain, if any ; the presence or absence of tumors, and hernial protrusions ; the condition and number of the alvine evacuations ; the mode in which digestion is performed, and the state of the appetite ; and the characters of the renal secretion. Present General Condition of the Patient.— It then remains for us to endeavor to ascertain accurately the present condition of the patient, the state of his skin as to its tempe- rature, &c., the condition of the tongue, and the nature of the pulse. His real age, profession, whether married or single, constitution, habits and mode of living, usual state of health, &c., are then to be inquired into, and we conclude by ascer- taining the causes of the disease, whether it be hereditary or acquired, whether the present is the first attack or otherwise, and the ability of the sufferer to undergo the necessary treat- ment. There are, of course, many circumstances which often prevent our making an examination in the exact manner just described. Thus, in many instances, we have to depend for much of our information on the testimony of relatives or friends, or we may even be called to a person who is quite insensible, and we may be unable to obtain any history at all. The educated practitioner, however, will be at no loss how best to proceed on such an emergency.' * The student may advantageously refer to the " Mode of Interrogatina- a Patient," recommended by Dr. Spillan, in the introductory cliapter of his Translation of AndraPs '-Clinique M6dicale. ' CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF CHILDREN. 31 Examination of Female Patients.— In examining into the history of a female patient, we must proceed as just recom- mended, at the same time paying attention to the condition of the sexual system, ascertaining especially whether the patient is single, married, or widowed ; the number of her pregnancies and of her children, and the date of her last labor 5 the man- ner in which the catamenial function is performed ; and the presence or absence of any leucorrhoeal or other discharge. SECTION 4. THE CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF CHILDREN. The importance of attending to the diseases of children can- not be too much insisted upon, especially seeing that so serious are their maladies, and so great is the mismanagement to which young children are often subjected, that it has been calculated one child in every five dies within a year of its birth, and one in three before the end of the fifth year ; while of the deaths occurring within the first year, nearly one-third are said to take place before the end of the first month. Some authorities even estimate the mortality as higher than this. Thus, Dr. Friedlander asserts — '' II perit pres du quart des enfans pendant la premiere annee."' In many of the large manufacturing towns of England, the Registrar-General's Re- ports give a proportion of nearly one-fourth for the males and one-fifth for the females, under one year of age, out of the whole number of registered deaths. In no case perhaps does the practitioner so much stand in need of a certain tact as investigating the disorders of child- hood. As Dr. West justly says — " You try to gather informa- tion from the expression of his countenance, h\it the child is fretful, and vdW not bear to be looked at ; you endeavor to feel his pulse, he struggles in alarm : you try to auscultate his chest, and he breaks out into a violent fit of crying.''^ But, by patience and good temper, by a quiet demeanor and a gentle voice, all may be made to go well, and a diagnosis may be formed almost as easily as in the case of adults. The first point is to be careful not to alarm the patient, but on entering the room to gain quietly the previous history of the case from the mother or nurse, the circumstances under which the pre- sent illness has come on, its early symptoms, the child's sex and age, the nature of its food, and whether it has been weaned, the state of the bowels, and the nature of the evacuations ; while, at the same time, without appearing to do so, you exa- • Education Physique des Enfans. a West on the Diseases of Infancy and Childliood. 32 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE, mine the expression of the countenance, the character of the inspirations and expirations, &c. By this time the little suf- ferer will have become accustomed to your presence, and you may advance to the bedside to examine it more closely. The temperature of the body and condition of the skin, the nature of the pulse, the state of the scalp and fontanelles, the pre- sence or absence of abdominal pain or tenderness on pressure, may now be ascertained, and by a little management auscul- tation may be practised. It is worthy of remembrance that immediate auscultation is generally to be preferred in these cases, if possible, as the pressure of the stethoscope frightens, if it does not hurt the child. In practising percussion, care must be taken not to strike too smartly, the variations in reso- nance being more readily appreciated by a gentle stroke : it is almost unnecessary to say that mediate percussion must be employed, that is to say, the blow must fall on the finger, not on the chest walls. Lastly, the state of the tongue, the condi- tion of the gums, and the number of the teeth, if any, remains to be ascertained, it being generally better to defer this to the last, since, as Dr. West observes, it is usually the most grievous part of your visit to the child. SECTION 6. MODE OF TAKING NOTES OF A CASE. It has long been a matter of regret that medical practition- ers, generally, do not pay greater attention to recording sys- tematic notes of their more important cases. Lord Bacon has well observed, in speaking of the deficiencies of physicians — " The first is the discontinuance of the ancient and serious diligence of Hippocrates, which used to set down a narrative of the special cases of his patinets, and how they proceeded, and how they were judged by recovery or death."* Such nar- ratives, carefully arranged, not only prove of inestimable value to the practitioner himself, but they forward the progress of the healing art, and especially tend to increase our knowledge of diagnosis and therapeutics. In taking these notes, it is especially necessary to do so methodically. The following plan will probably be found as simple and useful as any: — General Observations. — Name ; age ; married or single ; if a female, number of children and date of last birth ; date of coming under treatment. Anatomical or Physical Peculiarities. — Development » Advancement of Learning, Book ii. Narrationes medicinales. MODE OF TAKING NOTES OF A CASE. 33 of trunk and limbs ; deformities ; height ; weight ; countenance ; eruptions on skin, their form and nature ; nervous excita- bility : disposition to sleep ; habitual state of bowels. Intellectual and Moral Peculiarities. — Education; memory ; judgment : reasoning powers ; behavior ; disposi- tion ; religious feelings, &:c. Previous History. — Place of birth ; condition in life, and health of parents ; health of brothers and sisters ; family dis- eases ; present residence, and how long resident there ; occu- pation ; mode of living, appetite, and hal)its, whether temperate or otherwise ; habitual use of medicines, and their nature, as narcotics, purgatives, &c. ; peculiar habits ; venereal indul- gences. Previous General Health. — Habitual health and strength; former illnesses, their nature and duration ; liability to colds, coughs, fevers, fits, rheumatism, gout, hemorrhages from nose or mouth, hernia. If a female, age at vdiich catamenia first appeared ; nature and duration of the flow ; whether regular or otherwise ; date of last period ; leucorrhoeal or other dis- charges ; number of children or abortions; character of labors ; suckled her children or not. Present Illness. — Date and mode of commencement, whether sudden or gradual ; symptoms complained of, with date of accession and progress of each up to the present time ; medical treatment to which patient has been subjected ; result of such treatment. Present Condition. — Aspect and complexion ; state of nutrition ; state of strength ; fever ; sensation of cold ; shiver- ing; skin harsh and dry, or moist; disposition to be anxious and depressed, or hopeful. Condition of Nervous System. — Pain of head, or giddi- ness ; pain on pressure ; pain over any part of spinal column ; impairment of sensibility or motion, in face, tongue, sphinc- ters, extremities; power of mastication and deglutition; intellect; memory; senses; capacity for mental exertion; sleep, tranquil or disturbed. Condition of Organs of Respiration and Circulation. — Number and character of respirations and pulse ; cough ; expectoration ; voice ; pain of chest ; decubitus ; size and form of chest ; relative size of the two sides ; examination of the expansive movements of the chest ; examination of the lungs by the spirometer, by palpation or the application of the hand, by percussion and auscultation. Phenomena of the cir- 34 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. culation — palpitation ; percussion and auscultation of the heart ; point at which the apex is felt ; impulse ; auscultation of the carotids, and other arteries ; state of the veins ; effect of change of posture on the pulse. Condition of Digestive Organs.— Appearance of mouth, tongue, fauces, tonsils, and pharynx; thirst 5 appetite; nausea or vomiting; character of vomited matters ; bowels, frequency of defecation, and character of evacuations ; pain or tender- ness of abdomen ; results of manual examination; boundaries of liver and spleen ; auscultation ; tumors ; hernial protru- sions ; hemorrhoids. Condition of Urinary Organs.— Micturition easy, fre- quent or otherwise ; character of urinary secretion, quantity in twenty-four hours, color, odor, trransparency, reaction with litmus and turmeric papers, specific gravity, results of the em- ployment of reagents, nature of pellicle or of deposits — if any; microscopical examination. Causes of Illness. — Assigned cause ; probable cause ; duration of. Diagnosis. Prognosis. General Rules of Treatment.— Regimen ; diet ; prescrip- tion. At each subsequent visit the progress of the case must be commented on, the effect of the remedies employed noticed, and at the conclusion the interesting points should be summed up in a few brief remarks. Should the case terminate fatally, a post-mortem examina- tion must be made in the manner to be presently described. SECTION 6. MODE OF TAKING NOTES OF DISEASES OF FEMALES. The following is the plan adopted by myself at the Hospital for Women. It is necessarily short, but by a little manage- ment all the important features of the case can be recorded, and they are at all times seen at a glance. Date. No. of ward and bed. Disease. Name and address. Age ; single, married, or widowed. Date of marriage. No. of pregnancies. No. of children. Date, and character of last labor. r O S T - M O R T E M E X A M I N A T I O X. 35 Condition of life and general habits. Catamenia — nature and duration of flow ; age at first appear- ance : date of last. Leucorrhoeal or other discharges. History ; health of relations, &c. Date of present illness. Causes. Symptoms. Condition of nerv'ous system. Condition of organs of respiration and circulation. Organs of digestion. Urinary organs, and secretion. Examination per abdomen. Examination per vaginam ; by the touch ; by the speculum ; by the uterine sound. Examination per rectum. Progress, treatment, and termination. SECTION 7. MODE OF MAZING A POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION. At a period varying from twelve to thirty-six, or even — in cold weather — to forty-eight hours after death, the post-mortem examination may be made. Having carefully examined the external appearance of the body, The Skull is to be thus opened : — separate the hair, and make an incision through the scalp from one ear across the vertex to the other ; reflect the anterior flap over the face, the posterior over the neck. Then with a saw make a cut through the outer table of the bones of the skull, completely round the cranium, passing the saw anteriorly about an inch above the superciliary arches, posteriorly just below the tubercle of the occipital bone, and on each side on a level with the cartilage of the ear. Introduce the elevator or chisel, and by means of a few smart strokes with the hammer, the inner table will be readily fractured, and the calvarium may be then torn away. The dura mater, the most external of the membranes of the brain, being thus exposed, it must be cut through with a scis- sors on either side — and in the direction of — the superior longitudinal sinus ; divide the falx cerebri ; and elevating the head by means of a block or tripod, proceed to remove the brain, by gently raising it with the fingers placed under the anterior lobes and olfactory bulbs. The internal carotid artery, and second and third nerves, which first present them- 36 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. selves, are then to be divided ; the pituitary body to be dis- lodged from the hollow in the centre of the sphenoid bone ; and an incision is to be made through the fourth nerve, and the tentorium cerebelli close to its attachment to the temporal bone. We then successively perceive, and must divide, the two roots of the fifth nerve, the sixth, the seventh with its facial and auditory portions, the three divisions of the eighth — the glosso-pharyngeal, pneumo-gastric, and spinal accessory, — and the ninth nerve. Lastly, we cut across the vertebral arteries as they wind round the upper portion of the spinal cord, and then, as low as possible, divide the cord itself, with the roots of the spinal nerves attached on each side. The brain may now be readily taken from the skull, and carefully examined, by slicing it in thin layers in the horizontal direc- tion, from above downwards. The vascularity of the gray and white portions, the quantity of fluid in the ventricles, and the condition of the cerebral arteries must be noticed. To judge of its consistence, a fine stream of water should be poured from a height on the different parts, as they are successively exposed. The Spinal Cord is to be exposed by sawing through the arches of the vertebras on each side, close to the articular pro- cesses, after the skin and muscles have been divided doAvn to the bones. In some parts — as in the hollow of the lumbar region — difficulty will be experienced in using the saw; a chisel and hammer will then be found useful. When the spinal canal is opened, the strong tube of the dura mater pro- longed from that lining the skull will be exposed ; this is to be slit up, and the cord, examined in situ, at the same time observing the quantity of fluid in the spinal canal, and the condition of the spinal veins. Subsequently divide the anterior and posterior roots of the thirty-one spinal nerves, and remove the cord for a closer inspection. The Thoracic and Abdominal Cavities.— For the pur- pose of examining the morbid appearances presented by the thoracic and abdominal viscera, we open the cavities contain- ing them at the same time, by making a straight incision from the thyroid cartilage of the larynx down to the symphysis pubis. Dividing the integuments, muscles, and peritoneum, we open the abdomen, the contents of which may be more readily exposed by making, in addition, a transverse subcuta- neous incision on each side, through the fascia, muscles, and peritoneum ; then dissecting back the skin and muscles cover- ing the front of the thorax, we expose the cartilages connect- in f; the ribs with the sternum. The cartilages are then to be NOTES OF POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION. 37 cut through at their junction with the ribs, except those of the first ribs ; and the sternum may now be raised like the lid of a box, a good substitute for a hinge being made by cutting the articulation of the first joint of the sternum on the inside. In inspecting the trachea and bronchi, they should be opened along their anterior surface. To show the valves of the heart, the right ventricle must be opened by a V-shaped flap, made by an incision immediately to the right of the septum, meeting at the apex another, carried along the right edge of the heart. Before laying open the pulmonary artery, the finger should be introduced, so as to guide the incision between the valves. The left ventricle should be opened by an incision in the direction of the aorta, beginning at the apex, a little to the left of the septum, having previously dis- sected the pulmonary artery off from the aorta, and taking care to use the same precaution against injuring the valves as in opening the pulmonary artery. The Urinary and Generative Organs may be readily removed from the body for examination through the pelvis, and if the integuments in the perineum be left uninjured, and the several outlets stitched up, any portion presenting diseased appearances may be taken away without disfiguring the body, and without any of the contents of the abdomen protruding. With regard to the remaining viscera, no special directions seem necessary as to the mode of preparing them for inspec- tion. SECTION 8. MODE OF TAKING NOTES OF A POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION. As it is of course requisite that the details of the morbid appearance should be strictly accurate, the notes should be taken at the time of making the autopsy. The following arrangement may be adopted : — General Observations. — Name ; age ; day and hour of death ; day and hour of examination ; temperature to which the body has been exposed ; degree in which external sexual characters are marked, mammae, mons veneris, &c. ; state of nutrition; eruptions; peculiarities of formation, or deformi- ties ; oedema of face, limbs, or trunk ; marks of violence, con- tusions, wounds ; degree of rigor mortis ; and the presence or absence of any marks of putrefaction. Examination of Head, Face, Mouth, and Fauces. — Bones of the head ; fractures and their seat ; adhesions of 4 38 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. calvarium to dura mater ; characters of dura mater, arachnoid, and pia mater ; Pacchionian glands ; quantity and character of the sub-arachnoid fluid. Weight of brain ; weight of cerebrum, pons Varolii, medulla oblongata, and cerebellum. Convolutions of the brain, their appearance and consistence. "White and gray substance of hemispheres ; consistence — ■whether natural, increased, diminished, — soft, creamy, dif- fluent; color of cut surface; number and size of red points. Extravasation of blood ; situation ; quantity. Unnatural cavities in cerebral substance ; situation ; contents ; linings ; state of surrounding brain substance. Tubercular, calcare- ous, or malignant deposits. Lateral ventricles ; contents — color and quantity of fluid ; condition of choroid plexus. Third ventricle ; contents. Optic thalarai and corpora striata. Pons Varolii. Medulla oblongata. Cerebellum ; form ; firm- ness ; color ; appearances on section. Face ; lips ; cavity of mouth, contents — food or foreign substances ; teeth, whether recently fractured ; tongue — size, form, papilla?, if stained or corroded. Fauces ; tonsils ; pharynx, contents of, nature of; oesophagus, dilated or constricted ; epiglottis ; rima glottidis. Examination of Thorax. — Trachea; bronchial tubes. Pleuree ; nature and quantity pf fluids eff'used into pleural sacs ; adhesions. Lungs ; external characters ; degree of collapse ; puckering at any part ; cicatrices ; emphysema ; deposits of tubercle, of cancer ; hydrostatic test, whether the lungs sink or float, result with various portions ; substance of lungs, consistence, exudation of serum on section ; crepita- tion ; abscess ; gangrene ; pulmonary apoplexy ; tubercles, their seat and condition ; cavities, their seat, size, form, con- tents, and if communicating with bronchial tubes ; cysts ; deposits of cancer. Pericardium ; adhesions ; effusions ; white spots, their size, shape, and situation. Heart ; weight ; size ; quantity of blood contained in various cavities, and its condi- tion, frothy, liquid, or coagulated ; thickness of walls ; size of cavities, right auricle and ventricle, left auricle and ventricle ; condition of musculi pectinati, columna? carneae, chorda3 tendineae ; condition of foramen ovale ; auriculo-ventricular openings — tricuspid valve, bicuspid or mitral valve ; aperture of pulmonary artery, semilunar valves, and corpora Arantii ; aortic orifice, valves, and corpora Arantii. Coronary arteries, their condition. Microscopical examination of muscular fibres of heart. Examination of Abdomen. — Peritoneum ; condition ; contents ; parts through which hernia? have passed. Liver ; external characters, form, measurement, weight, color, coudi- CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF THE INSANE. 39 tlon of capsule ; substance, cut surface, color, degree of fat, deposits of tubercle, of cancer ; cysts ; gangrene ; micro- scopical examination. Gall-bladder ; size ; shape ; contents calculi ; ductus communis choledochus. Spleen ; position size ; weight ; capsule ; substance. Pancreas ; position weight ; substance ; color ; duct. Kidneys ; external cha- racters ; capsule ; surface after removal, if lobulated, grauu lated ; cut surface ; cortical substance ; pyramidal portion pel\-is of kidney; ureters ; microscopical examination. Uri- nary bladder ; contents ; walls. Stomach ; position ; size form ; contents ; condition of mucous membrane ; rugae cardiac orifice : pyloric orifice ; walls of; cicatrices ; ulcers perforations ; wounds. Abnormal condition of intestines generally ; cicatrices ; ulcers ; wounds : perforations. Duo- denum ; Brunners glands ; ductus communis. Jejunum and ileum : valvulifi conniventes ; villi ; Peyer's patches ; glaudulae solitariaj. Caecum ; appendix vermiformis ; ileo-C£ecal valve ; ileo-colic valve. Colon ; glandular solitarioe. Rectum ; hemorrhoids ; prolapsus. Examination of Male Org-ans of Generation. — In- guinal canal ; vasa deferentia ; spermatic cord ; tunica vagi- nalis : testes ; penis ; prostate gland. Examination of Female Organs of Generation. — Labia ; nymph® : clitoris ; urethra ; hymen ; vagina ; uterus — lips, size of cavity, thickness of walls ; Fallopian tubes ; ovaries ; pelvic tumors. Examination of Spinal Cord ; vertebral canal ; theca ver- tebralis ; size and consistence of cord, cervical and lumbar enlargements, gray and white substance ; roots of nerves ; Cauda equina. SECTION 9. THE CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF THE INSANE. The clinical examination of a man supposed to be insane differs very materially from that adopted in the diagnosis of corporeal diseases. To inquire of a lunatic of what he com- plains — or where he suffers pain — or how long he has been ill? — is in the majority of cases useless; since he will only reply that he has no pain, that he is quite well, and that he wishes to know by what authority you venture to question him. Neither does the appearance of the tongue, the nature of the pulse, nor the character of the secretions afford us any valu- able indications ; but we are obliged to rely upon the informa- 40 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. tion gained from a close examination of the physiognomy, actions, conversation, powers of memory, &c. The state of the general health is, however, by no means to be neglected, since, as is well known, the body affects but too closely the state of the mental faculties : — want of vitality and of nervous tone, deficient healthy action of the skin and internal organs, and torpidity of the prima3 viae, are, moreover, exceedingly common in the insane. The difficulties experienced in the diagnosis of insanity will, of course, depend upon the degree in which the mental faculties are lost. The complete maniac lives in a waking- dream ; he raves without the power to control himself, without the power oL appreciating the necessity for doing so; he is completely the victim, not in the least the master, of the strongest impressions uppermost in his fancy. The partially insane person, on the other hand, will restrain himself, though probably with a great effort, on occasions when he thinks such restraint advisable, as before strangers, &c. The majority of insane people — especially chronic cases — are able by a greater or less degree of exertion to restrain their insane impulses on occasions, and they do so. Consequently, we must draw our conclusions not merely from the evidence derived from the nature of the countenance, or of the actions, or of the conver- sation, but from our entire — and, if necessary, frequent and unsuspected — examination of the patient.' Investigation of the Physiognomy. — To appreciate cor- rectly the inferences to be drawn from this examination, the eye must be practised by long-continued observation not only of the insane, but of the varieties of expression which indicate the growth, normal state, and decline of mental vigor. We should be familiar with the cheerful open countenance of the man in the enjoyment of mental and bodily health and ease, with the vacant stare of the thoughtless, the melancholy visage of the disappointed, the dreamy look of the absent man, and with the wildness of expression of the maniac ; we shall then be able justly to estimate the evidence written upon the fore- head, the expressive language spoken by the eyes — the mirror of the mind, and the inward restlessness betokened by the constant play of the muscles around the mouth. The more closely these appearances have been observed, the more readily will the peculiar manifestations of insanity be recog- nized. Investigation of the Actions.— From examining the ' See Remarks oii Insaniry, by Dr. Henry Monro. CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF THE INSANE. 41 face, we shall proceed naturally to observe the attitudes, ges- tures, movements, and general conduct. The facility, sup- pleness, and co-ordination of the movements must be noticed. The attitude of the old man with his head inclined to his chest, his back bent, and his knees giving way under him, is not more characteristic of a state of senility and exhaustion, than is the position of an unfortunate human being seated on the floor, with his chin resting on his knees, motionless for hours, and entirely unmindful of all that is passing around, indicative of incurable dementia. The gestures alone often indicate the passion which predominates. In insanity from disappointed love, airs of languor are often affected ; in that from religion, great humility and attention ; in that from sexual excesses, a downcast appearance, an evident desire to avoid notice, and an inability to look one in the face. The various gestures and actions of the insane, however, from the happy easy move- ments of the man who believes himself a monarch, or the excited violent ravings of one suffering from acute mania, to the sad torpid listlessness of the incurably demented, require to be drawn in stronger colors than I have the art of employ- ing, in order to produce truthful portraits. The Conversation of the Insane.— In endeavoring to gain information from this source, we must first seek to obtain, by kindness and a sympathizing manner, the confidence of the patient ; for since it will frequently be necessary to ascertain his thoughts on the most varied subjects, so — unless we do so — and succeed in interesting him, he will often become sus- picious of our motives, sullen, and uncommunicative. Lord Erskine, in his defence of Hadfield, referred to the case of a lunatic from whom he could draw no indication of insanity in the course of an examination in a court of laAv, until Dr. Sims entered, when the man addressed him as the Lord and Saviour of mankind. In many cases of madness, the reasoning facul- ties not being wholly lost, we are not surprised at finding that the patient can discourse correctly on many topics, until some accidental observation leads him to break out into the most imbecile extravagance, or makes him confide to us plans of revenge, or proposals for performing the most impracticable achievements. The Memory of the Insane. — Evidence may generally be obtained more easily upon this point than upon most others. A few quiet questions addressed to the patient as to his name, age, and address, the members of his family, the nature of his occupation, the day of the week, the name of the reigning 4* 42 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. monarch, &c., will often suffice ; or where there is evidently mental weakness, we may ask him to shut his left eye, give his left hand, put out his tongue, show his right leg, and so on. An examination of the letters written by such an one will often also give us information upon this head, while they at the same time teach us his intimate thoughts. These let- ters are often rambling and incoherent, and a very frequent characteristic of them is that they are full of wants. The fol- lowing copy of a paper given to Dr. ConoUy, by one who said that he had " received a commission from God Almighty," is a good example of this : — '' In the name of the most High, Eternal, Almighty God of Heaven, Earth, and Space — I com- mand you to procure me the following articles immediately : — a Holy Bible, with engravings, &c., a Concordance, a Martyr- ology, with plates. Some other religious books. A late Geographical Grammar, a Modern Gazetteer, Newspapers, Magazines, Almanacs, &c., of any kind or date. Musical instruments and Music ; Large Plans, Maps, Guides, Directo- ries, and Histories of Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Dublin, Paris, Rome, Naples, &c. ; Histories of Rob Roy ; Riley's Itinerary, and his other works. Histories and Memoirs of George the Third, Queen Charlotte, Princess of Wales, Prin- cess Charlotte of Wales, the Regent and Court, Prince Cobourg, Marquis of Hastings, Lords Sidmouth, Castlereagh, Bonaparte, the Beast, &c. Wines, fruit, lozenges, tobacco, snufF, oysters, money, everything fitting to Almighty God. Answer this in three days or you go to hell. P. S. — A portable desk and stationery, and a dressing case." In connection with this subject it remains to say that the practitioner should, as a rule, be introduced to the patient in his proper character, and that he should bear in mind that the object of his examination is not only to determine whether the individual is of unsound mind, but if so, the treatment that must be adopted, especially with reference to the necessity for restraint, and the degree to which it may be called for. Should the circumstances require him to give A Certificate of Insanity, he must remember the strin- gent rules with respect to it, enforced by the Act of Parliament, which came into operation on the 4th of August, 1845. Ac- cording to Section 45, no person (not a pauper) can be re- ceived into or detained in any licensed house or asylum, with- out an order from some responsible person, and two medical certificates, which must be signed by two physicians, surgeons, or apothecaries, not in partnership, and having no interest CLINICAL EXAMINATION OF THE INSANE. 43 directly or indirectly in the house or hospital in which the patient is to be confined. They must each separately examine the alleged lunatic, not more than seven days prior to his reception into the asylum ; and they must severally sign and date the certificate on the day of examination, and state the facts on which they form their opinion. The following is the form of certificate in the case of a private patient : — I being a (') hereby certify that I have this day, separately from any other medical practitioner, \asited and personally examined the person named in the accompanying statement and order, and that the said is a (^) and a proper person to be confined, and that I have formed this opinion from the following fact (^) viz. : — Signed, Name. Place of Abode. Dated this day of one thousand eight hundred and Medical Case-book. — In the same Act of Parliament a section has been introduced requiring that a medical case- book shall be kept in every asylum throughout the kingdom, in which the history, treatment, &c., of all patients shall be from time to time recorded. The following is the plan adopted by Dr. Stevens, at St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics : — Name ? Age ? Married, single, or widowed? Number of children ? Age of youngest ? Occupation? Residence ? Where born ? Religion ? Disposition ? Duration of existing attacks ? Whether first attack ? Age on first attack ? Previous place of confinement? Date of previous admission ? And discharge ? ^ „ f Moral ? C^^;^^- I Physical? Hereditary ? Diseases of children ? Habits? Degree of education? Complexion ? Hair ? Eyes ? Natural affection perverted or not? How ? Temperament ? • Physician, surgeon, or apothecary, duly authorized to practice as such. ^ Lunatic, or insane person, or an idiot, or a person of unsound mind. ' Or facts. 44 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. Evidences of J insanity ? 1 Form of insanity ? Dangerous to self or others ? Certificates ? Previous treatment ? State of bodily health ? Any injuries from violence? Admitted on day of into gallery ? Progress, treatment, and result ? SECTION 10. EXAMINATION OF PERSONS FOR LIFE ASSURANCE. The knowledge required by a medical man in ''the life ofi&ce'' is somewhat different from that necessary in the private consulting-room. In the latter the patient is full of complaints, anxious to acknowledge all the pains and symptoms of disease which he may be suffering from, and ready to communicate the cause and history of his malady ; in the former he gene- rally acknowledges no uneasiness, and does his best to appear constitutionally strong and free from disease. In the consult- ing-room no information is withheld, and it is only necessary for the practitioner to weigh the value of the evidence laid be- fore him, reject that which is worthless, and act upon that which is to be relied on; in the assurance office the tendency is to withhold and keep back everj^hing which the assurer may deem calculated to make his life appear bad. The duty of the medical officer, consequently, resolves itself into looking out for and detecting any hidden diseases, malformations, or conditions which may threaten to shorten or endanger life ; as well as to observe upon the effects of any previous disorders which may have tended to vitiate the constitution. In most life offices the medical officer is required to fill up a printed form of questions, which in many instances is un- necessarily long and complicated. Indeed, it would be much better for every office to select their physicians and surgeons with care, and then be guided implicitly by their advice, with- out also rendering it necessary for the practitioner to submit to the directors the evidence upon which he founds his conclu- sions. The points to which the medical man should chiefly direct his attention are these : 1. The age, apparent age, occupation — and exposures attending it, and general appearance. EXAMINATION FOR LIFE ASSURANCE, 45 2. The family history, especially as regards scrofula, phthisis, insanity, gout, apoplexy, epilepsy, and renal diseases, occur- ring either in father, mother, brothers, or sisters. 3. Illnesses gone through since childhood, especially as regards small-pox and vaccination, gout, rheumatism, spitting of blood, asthma, pulmonary complaints, and fits of any kind. 4. The general habits and mode of living, inquiring as to the employment of exercise, early hours, and the use of intoxi- cating drinks, opium-eating, &c. 5. The character of the pulse and respirations. 6. The height, weight, and vital capacity — as ascertained by the spirometer. When an examination has been made in the above order, the practitioner must proceed or not to make further investi- gations as he may deem necessary, and in the manner his judgment will suggest. In deciding upon a life, the recollec- tion of the following aphorisms may lead to a correct decision. If in doubt about the propriety of accepting a certain life, consider whether it would be advisable for the office to have one hundred such cases on its books. Paucity of evidence in the family history must lead to in- creased care in the personal examination of the applicant. Decline the life of a person who is not sober. Even if he has been given to drinking, and has reformed two or three years, yet his life should be declined, since permanent refor- mation is so very rare. Tavern-keepers and such like, must be most carefully ex- amined. "When there is consumption in the parents, decline the case. The parents being well, but two or three of the brothers or sisters having died from phthisis, the life may be accepted, pro- vided the applicant be strong and healthy, of proper weight and vital capacity, and of good habits. Should there be any flaw in the weight or vital capacity, decline. If a man has had haemoptysis, decline. If a woman has had haemoptysis, especially in early life, we may accept after a careful examination. If a man or woman be above the normal weight, and the weight be rapidly increasing, decline ; since such a person is quickly making fat, and may convert tissues whose integrity is necessary to life into the same material ; especially in such is there a tendency to apoplexy, fatty degeneration of the arte- ries of the brain being often a cause of this disease. Look with suspicion upon an applicant who has fatty de- generation of the margin of the cornea (arcus senilis), since a 46 CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. similar change may be taking place in the muscular fibres of the heart, or in the cerebral vessels. Where there is any hereditary tendency to insanity, be very careful in the examination ; if the life be accepted, it should only be at an increased premium. It is almost unnecessary to add, in conclusion, that an epi- leptic, or one who has had a fit of apoplexy — however slight, or one afi'ected with paralysis — however partial, can never be accepted. SECTION 11. ON MEDICO-LEGAL INVESTIGATIONS. In addition to the duties which every medical man owes to the public individually in his capacity of a practitioner, there are no less important obligations due from him to society at large. He is therefore often called upon not only to save life when it has been threatened by violence, the use of poisons, &c., but also to give e^'idence, in courts of law, touching such cases, in order that crimes against the person may be dis- couraged by the detection and punishment of those who prac- tise them. Use of Notes.- — In the examination of such cases, it is advisable that notes be made at the time of all the particulars, whether they appear important or not, noting the time at which the person was first seen, the hour, day of the week, and day of the month being invariably mentioned, the period of the occurrence of death, as well as the circumstances under which the practitioner was summoned. The words, yesterday, next day, and similar vague expressions, should never be em- ployed in such records, as they cause great inconvenience if referred to at a trial, and render a reference to almanacs necessary. It is also indispensably necessary that the notes should be taken on the spot at the time the observations are made, or as soon afterwards as possible, otherwise, they are not admissible as evidence. There is another rule which it is essential to remember. The notes may have been made on the spot in the manner required by law ; but when a witness is about to refer to them in a court of justice, he will often be asked whether he is using them for the purpose of refreshing his memory, or whether he is about to speak only from what is written on the paper, without having any precise recollec- tion on the subject. If for the latter purpose, the evidence is inadmissible, for it has been held by our judges that notes can only be used in evidence for the purpose of refreshing the memory on a fact indistinctly remembered ; they are, in other MEDICO-LKGAL INVESTIGATIONS. 47 words, allowed to assist recollection, not to convey informa- tion. Confessions and Death-bed Declarations.— It not un- frequeutly happens that the medical man is called upon by the sufferer to receive a confession. He must be careful, in doing so, to hold out no promise or threat of any kind. He should receive it without comment, write it down at the time, read it over to the person making it, obtain his signature to it, and countersign it himself The same rules apply to all death- bed declarations, which, it must be remembered, will only be subsequently admissible as legal evidence, when the parties making them were satisfied that recovery was impossible. Reports for Judicial Purposes. — In drawing up a report of the symptoms, post-mortem appearances, and results of a chemical analysis, the facts should be in the first instance plainly stated in language free from technical terms, and easily intelligible to non-professional persons, any display of erudition being misplaced. In recording facts also, a reporter should not encumber his statements with opinions and infer- ences, but should reserve his conclusions until the end of the report. The language in which these conclusions are couched must be precise and clear, and should form a concise summary of the whole report, upon which the judgment of a magistrate or the decision of a coroner's jury may be ultimately based. They should be strictly kept to the matters under inquiry, and ought commonly to refer to the following questions : — What was the cause of death ? What are the medical circumstances leading to a supposition that death was not due to natural disease ? What are the circumstances leading to a supposi- tion that death was caused by violence, by poisons? &c. It must be remembered, also, that the conclusions are to be founded only upon medical facts, and upon what the reporter has himself seen ; a conclusion based upon mere probabilities is of no value as evidence. In performing a post-mortem examination, a note must be made of the time afler death at which it is made. The ex- ternal appearances of the body are to be then observed, noting whether the surface be livid or pallid, the state of the coun- tenance, and the presence or absence of marks of violence on the person ; also, whether the rigor mortis has gone off, as well as the presence or absence of warmth in the extremities, or in the abdomen. The state of all the internal organs must then be remarked, especially the condition of the abdominal * See Dr. Guy's Forensic Medicine. 4d CLINICAL STUDY OF MEDICINE. viscera. If the stomach and intestines be found inflamed, the seat of inflammation should be exactly specified ; also all marks of softening, ulceration, eff"usion of blood, corrosion, or perfo- ration. The stomach must be removed and placed in a sepa- rate vessel, with its contents, a ligature being previously ap- plied to the cardiac and pyloric orifices. The state of the thoracic viscera, of the brain, and of the spinal marrow, as well as of the genital organs, should be examined. Occasionally the inspection is required to be made some time after interment. So long as the coffin remains entire, the expectation of discovering certain kinds of mineral poi- son in particular organs may be entertained ; although decom- position may have advanced so as to destroy all pathological evidence. The inspection in such cases is commonly confined to the abdominal viscera, especially to the stomach, liver, and spleen, which should be taken from the body, and immediately sealed up in clean glass or porcelain vessels, and so kept for analysis. In drawing up a report on the results of a chemical analysis, the following rules should be borne in mind: 1st. When, how, and from whom, the liquid or solid reserved for analysis was received ; its state, whether secured in any way or exposed ; whether labelled or not 5 and the kind of vessel containing it. 2d. Where and when the analysis was made ; whether with or without the assistance of a second person ; and where the substance was kept during the intermediate period. 8d. The physical characters of the substance ; the processes and tests employed for determining whether it contained poison, not detailing all the steps, but giving a general outline of the analysis ; together with the strength of the poison, the quantity present, and whether it could be produced or exist naturally within the body. And 4th. What quantity of the poison discovered would suffice to destroy life ; and to what extent the dose might be modified by age or disease. There are but few reports in which answers to these ques- tions will not be required ; and unless the whole of them be borne in mind at the time an analysis is undertaken, those which are then omitted can never be subsequently answered with satisfaction. The results of analysis, in the shape of sublimates or precipitates should be preserved as evidence, in small glass tubes hermetically sealed and labelled, so that they may be produced at the inquest or trial. In many medico-legal inquiries, we shall derive invaluable assistance from the use of the microscope, as in diagnosing blood-stains from discoloratious pr()duced by red fluids, human THE SIMPLE MICROSCOPE. 49 hair from that of animals, as well as in discovering sperma- tozoa in cases of rape. Should we resort to the employment of this instrument, drawings must be made — by the aid of the camera lucida — of the appearances found. Medical Evidence at Inquests.—In giving evidence before the coroner, the medical man should be as careful as if in one of the superior law courts ; it being necessary to remember that all he says is taken down by the coroner, and that if the case be sent for trial, such depositions will be in the hands of both judge and counsel. Should there conse- quently be any discrepancy in the practitioner's evidence, he will subject himself to severe censure. CHAPTER II. ON THE INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. SECTION 1. THE MICROSCOPE. It is certainly not asserting too much to say that the micro- scope^ is an instrument of paramount importance to the medical practitioner of the present day. From having been formerly used as a toy, it has now been rendered one of the most important aids to scientific research, not more in natural history than in physiology and pathology : and I know not the way in which any other instrument can be substituted for it in the diagnosis of many diseases, especially perhaps those depending on the fatty degeneration of tissues, abnormal states of the blood, and diseased conditions of the renal secretion. The chief obstacle to the more frequent use of the micro- scope is to be found in its expense ; it not being generally known that with a cheap instrument, such as may now be obtained for six or eight pounds from many makers (Pillischer, Highley, Smith and Beck, and Salmon), under the name of the studenfs microscope, almost all may be accomplished that the practitioner need desire. Dr. Lionel Beale, in his " Tre- tise on the Microscope," well describes these instruments, and speaks highly of their utility. From my own observation, I can especially recommend Pillischer's student's microscope, which can be obtained complete for about £12. Microscopes are of two kinds, the simple and the compound. * Mtvpof, small, and cKoircoi, to view. 5 50 INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IX DIAGNOSIS. The Simple Microscopes are of two sorts, namely, those held in the hand, and those mounted on a stand ; the latter have a stage for holding the object to be viewed, a mirror for reflecting the light through transparent objects, and a con- denser for throwing light on such as are opaque. The micro- scopes held in the hand consist, for the most part, of double convex or plano-convex lenses, mounted in tortoiseshell frames, and varying in focal length from the quarter of an inch to two inches ; or they may be formed of a sphere of glass, round the equator of which a groove has been cut, which has been subsequently filled up with opaque matter, and then set in German silver, forming the Coddington lens ; or they may consist of a double convex lens, with one convex surface greater than the other, which form, placed in a silver frame, is known as the Stanhope lens. Either of these glasses will be found useful pocket companions, and when mounted on a small stand, such as is used by the watchmakers and engravers, may be emplo)'ed for dissecting the coarser tissues. There are many other different forms of simple microscopes, which of course are made to suit the fancy of each optician. They are all useful, and many of them are constructed very ingeniously so as to form a box, or to fold up into the size of an octavo volume, by which contrivances greater portability is secured. The Compound Microscope. — This instrument differs from a simple microscope, inasmuch as the image of an object formed by the object-glass is further magnified by one or more lenses forming an eye-piece ; or, in other words, the rays of light from an object being brought into a new focus, there form an image, which image being treated as an original object by the eye-piece, is magnified in the same way as the simple microscope magnified the object itself* A compound microscope consists of two essential parts : the stand — including a tube for carrying the optical apparatus and the stage ; and the optical apparatus itself — consisting of the object-glasses or magnifying powers, the eye-pieces, and the mirror. In choosing a microscope, one of the great requisites in the stand is steadiness — although a large instru- ment is by no means necessary ; the tube should allow of being moved by a coarse and fine motion, to permit of accurate focal adjustment ; and the stage should be freely movable in two directions, at right angles to each other, either by screws, or by the rack and pinion. The object-glasses * See Quekett on the Microscope, 2d edition, p. 67. THE COMPOUND MICROSCOPE. 51 usually supplied with the best and most expensive instruments are either six or seven in number, and vary in their magnify- ing power from 20 to 2500 diameters ; they are called two inch, one inch, half inch, one-quarter, one-eighth, one-twelfth, and one-sixteenth ; '' but it must be understood that these names are not derived from the distance the bottom-glass of each combination is ft-om the object, but from a fact found in practice, that a thin single lens, to magnify the same number of diameters as any of the preceding achromatic combina- tions, would be required to be of the same focal distance as that given to the others by name. In other words, if a single lens were made the object-glass of a compound micro- scope, and if it were necessary to employ a power equal to that of the one-fourth achromatic combination, with the same compound body, it would be found that a thin single lens of one-quarter of an inch focus would be required to give that power." (Quekett, op. cit.) The eye-pieces furnished with the compound microscopes are made on the Huyghenian principle, and are three in number ; they are generally marked from the lowest to the highest. A, B, C. In estimating the magnifying power of a glass, we do so by the measure termed linear. Thus, if a cube be magnified ten times, we say that it is magnified ten times in diameter ; but since it is magnified ten times in breadth as well as in length, some persons, to excite the astonishment of the vulgar, give the superficial magnifying power, and by squaring the linear would assert that the cube was magnified one hundred times (10x10 = 100). Such a mode of expression is not counte. nanced by men of science. The best microscopes at the present time are those made by Ross, Smith and Beck, and Powell and Lealand, at a cost, varying according to the number of object-glasses and appa- ratus, from twenty-five to fifty or sixty pounds. The magnify- ing powers obtained with the different eye-pieces and object- glasses of these makers are shown in the following tables : MR. ROSS. Eye- pieces. OBJECT-GLASSES. 2-in. 1-in. i-iu. i-in. i-in. iV-i"- A B C 20 30 40 60 80 100 100 130 180 220 350 500 420 670 900 600 870 1400 52 INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IN DIAGNOSIS. MESSRS. SMITH AND BECK. LINEAR MAGNIFYING POWER, NEARLY. Focal Length. Angle of Aperture about With Eye-piece. 1 2 3 Draw tube closed, . . 20 45 80 } 13 deg. Iji-inch Add for each inch of tube. drawn out, .... 4 6 8 ) f-inch Tube closed, .... 60 105 180 ^'" Add for each inch of tube, 7 12 20 jl^-incb Tube closed, .... 120 210 350 |55 » Add for each inch of tube. 12 20 35 4-inch Tube closed, .... 205 360 620 ^70 " Add for each inch of tube. 25 35 60 ^-inch Tube closed, .... 240 430 720 1- " Add for each inch of tube. 30 45 80 |-inch Tube closed, .... 450 760 1300 ^90 " Add for each inch of tube. 40 60 115 -jijj-inch Tube closed, .... 500 920 1500 I 120 " Add for each inch of tube, 50 70 130 MESSRS. POWELL AND LEALAND. Eye-pieces. OBJECT-GLASSES. 2-in. 1-in. i-in. i-in. i-in. ^V-in. 1st. Eye-piece, 2d. Eye-piece, 3d. Eye-piece, 20 40 70 40 80 140 75 150 250 170 340 600 330 660 1200 700 1400 2500 Although I have here given the magnifying powers of all the different object-glasses, it by no means follows that the practitioner need purchase a complete set, since all that he will require to do — in the great majority of instances — can be accomplished with two powers, the inch and the quarter. The necessary accessory instruments are but few in number, consisting of a diaphragm for cutting off the most oblique rays of light, and those reflected from the mirror which are not required for the illumination of the transparent object; a bull's-eye condenser, for concentrating the light on opaque objects ; a pair of forceps ; glass slides, three inches by one in size ; thin glass covers ; a few watch-glasses, pipettes, needles for unravelling various tissues, &c. Should expense be no THE TEST-TRAY. 53 object, an achromatic condenser will be found useftil, for ex- amining those delicate structures which require achromatic light ; a polarizing apparatus, for viewing various crystals and other substances by polarized light ; a camera lucida, for making dramngs of the appearances observed ; and a microme- ter, for measuring the size of minute objects. In the perusal of foreign works on histological science, the student will be often confused by the standards of measure- ment employed on various parts of the Continent differing from each other, and from that used in this country — com- monly the inch. The following table, from Hannover's " Trea- tise on the Microscope," will show at a glance the value of the different measurements : Milli- metres. Paris Lines. Vienna Lines. Rhenish Lines. English Inch. 1 2-255829 2-195149 2-179538 25-39954 •443296 1 •973101 -966181 11-2595-2 •455550 1-027643 1 -992888 11-57076 -458813 1-035003 1-0071625 1 11-65364 •0393708 -0888138 •0864248 •0858101 1 For the microscopical examination of the blood, sputa, vomited matters, uHne, &c., see Chapter XI. SECTION 2. THE TEST-TEAY. In the practice of medical chemistry, a small quantity of apparatus, of an inexpensive nature, is all that is necessary, which may be conveniently arranged in a common wooden tray, about fourteen inches long, ten broad, and five deep ; it should be covered in at the top by a piece of deal, in which holes must be cut to receive the test-tubes, spirit-lamp, and bottles containing the reagents. The following articles are those which will be mostly re- quired : A spirit-lamp ; a cylindrical precipitating glass ; a urinometer, for taking the specific gravity ; blue litmus paper, for testing acidity ; slightly reddened litmus and turmeric paper, for testing alkalinity, the former being the most deli- cate ; watch-glasses and evaporating dishes ; half a dozen test-tubes ; a thermometer, with an exposed bulb ; a small retort-stand ; a blow-pipe ; platinum foil ; a glass funnel and filtering paper ; glass rods ; one or two pipettes ; and bottles 5* 54 INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IN DIAGNOSIS. for the fojlowing reagents : nitric acid, sulphuric acid, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, liquor potassse, liquor ammoniaj, a saturated solution of nitrate of barytes, solution of nitrate of silver (one drachm of the crystallized nitrate to the ounce of distilled water), solution of oxalate of ammonia, alcohol, and rectified ether. Should the practitioner prefer a more porta- ble case, he can purchase Highley's Cabinet of Apparatus and Reagents, as selected by Dr. Lionel Beale, in which he will find, — urinometer in case, test-papers, graduated 2 oz. mea- sure, pipette, stirring-rod,- microscopic slides and thin glass, watch-glasses, test-tubes, tube-holder, brass forceps, platinum foil, spirit-lamp with wire ring, and seven capped dropping bottles for the following reagents : nitric acid, acetic acid, ammonia, potash, nitrate barytes, nitrate silver, and oxalate of ammonia. With these agents he will be enabled to make a clinical examination of the urine, blood, sputum, &c., as far as it is necessary to do so in the practice of medicine for the pur- poses of diagnosis. For the mode of making a chemical ana- lysis of the blood and secretions, see Chapter XI. SECTION 3. THE SPIKOMETER. Under the designation of the pulmometre, the spirometer has been known for the last half century, but it was of no practical utility until the vital capacity of the lungs was ascer- tained by the laborious researches of Dr. Hutchinson.' Hutchinson's Spirometer. — This instrument — somewhat resembling a small gasometer — consists of a cylindrical vessel of japanned zinc, about two feet and a half high and two feet in circumference, capable of holding many pints of water. Into it is inverted a cylinder or receiver — somewhat smaller — which is counterpoised by weights ; in its cover is inserted a movable plug. Communicating with the smaller cylinder is a tube, having an elastic tube and mouth-piece attached. A graduated scale is fixed to one side of the instrument, extend- ing some distance above the top of the large cylinder. On respiring through the mouth-piece, the air passes into the lesser cylinder, and causes it to rise by displacing the water ; an indicator attached to it marks on the graduated scale the number of cubic inches of air expired. We are thus enabled readily to measure the volume of air expired from the lungs. When the vital capacity is to be tested by this apparatus, the patient should loosen his vest, stand perfectly erect, take as deep an inspiration as possible, and then place the mouth- * See Medico-Cliirurgical Transactions, vol xxix. p. 138. i)K. pkrkira's si'iKo meter. 55 piece of the spirometer between his lips. The observer having opened the tap, the patient empties his lungs, making the deepest possible expiration, at the termination of which the operator turns off the tap, thus confining the air in the receiver. The receiver is then to be lightly depressed until the surfaces of the spirit in a bent tube on the outside of the instrument are on a level with each other, when the vital capacity may be read off from the scale. Coxeter's Portable Spirometer is of much more simple construction than the preceding, and- is so compact that it can be easily carried in the pocket. It consists simply of two flexible, inelastic, air-tight bags, one being much larger than the other and communicating with it by means of a piece of tubing provided with a stopcock. It may be best compared to the human stomach and duodenum, supposing that at the cardiac orifice a mouth-piece, tube, and stopcock are attached; another stopcock at the pyloric orifice, by which the opening into the duodenal continuation can be opened or closed ; and a third stopcock at the termination of the duodenal portion, by opening which this part can be emptied of its contents : we must also imagine the duodenum to be graduated, and to be capable of containing exactly fifty cubic inches of air. Suppose now that the two bags have been compressed in our hands, the air expressed from them, and that they are kept empty by closing the stopcocks; if we take a deep inspiration, apply the mouth-piece, open the stopcock and expire, the expired air will be forced into the large bag, where we retain it by closing the tap ; by opening the communication with the duodenal portion, and letting it fill with the expired air from the large bag, we obtain precisely fifty cubic inches ; then, by closing the communication, and opening the escape valve, we have the duodenal part again empty, and ready to measure another fifty cubic inches, or thirty, or forty, as the case may be ; and so we proceed until the whole volume of the expired air in the large bag has been ascertained. Dr. Pereira's Spirometer. — This instrument is much the - same in principle as Dr. Hutchinson's. It consists of a large glass cylinder, suspended by means of a cord, in a reserv^oir of water, the cord passing over a pulley, and having a weight attached, so that by careful adjustment the cylinder may balance in any position. A pipe, forming the continuation of the tube through which the patient has to breathe, rises in the bell-glass above the level of the water ; and by forcing the air through this tube, the vessel will ascend, and indicate, by a graduated scale affixed, the quantity of air passed into it. 56 INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED IN DIAGNOSIS. SECTION 4. THE TAPE-MEASURE, STETHOMETER, PLEXIMETER, STETHOSCOPE, ETC. The Common Tape-Measure. — A common measure thirty-six inches in length, fixed in a small German-silver box, and made to act by a spring, will be found useful in the diagnosis of diseases of the lungs. To ascertain the circum- ference of the chest we pass the tape round it, over the region of the nipples ; should the patient have his shirt and flannel jacket on, we must make an allowance of a quarter of an inch for each of these articles. To learn the mobility of the chest, we pass the measure as just directed, request the patient to fill his lungs as much as possible by taking a deep inspiration, and note the number of inches on the measure, this being of course the greatest circumference ; we then, without moving the tape, make him expire to his utmost, and noting the number of inches, we shall have the minimum circumference 5 the difference between the maximum and minimum will give us the mobility of the chest. In healthy persons, of ordinary weight and middle age, the average mobility is three inches, very rarely extending to four. The Stethometer. — An instrument, called a stethometer, for measuring the expansive movements of the thorax during inspiration, and for ascertaining the difference in the mobility of opposite sides of the chest, has been invented by Dr. Richard Quain. It is a small machine about the size of a watch, with a graduated dial, and an indicator ; a silk cord passes out of the side of the case and is connected by an axle with the indicator, which is capable of moving round the dial plate. The cord being extended from one fixed point on the chest to another, the extent of the respiratory movement becomes manifested by the tension made on the cord being communi- cated to the indicator, which thus shows the degree of expan- sion during inspiration, and of contraction during expiration. It is obvious that not only will the mobility of the chest be ' thus shown, but comparisons can also be readily drawn of the action of different parts of the chest, giving this instru- ment, therefore, advantages over the common tape-measure. Dr. Sibson's Chest-measurer. — This instrument — some- what resembling Dr. Quain's — is useful for ascertaining the diameter of the chest, and for accurately measuring the movements of respiration to the hundredth part of an inch. In form it resembles a watch, with a small bar or rack pro- truding from its lower part. This rack, when raised by the THE STETHOSCOPE. 57 moving walls of the chest, moves, by means of a pinion, the index on the dial 5 one entire revolution of the index showing one inch of motion in the chest, and each division indicating the hundredth of an inch. The chest-measurer can be readily applied to any part of the body, and, by successive applications of it over the chest and abdomen, all the movements of respiration can be ob- served with great facility. It indicates the rhythm of respira- tion, showing whether the expiration be equal to, or longer or shorter than the inspiration ; the character as well as the extent of motion may be read off from the dial. By it, also, we can perceive the exact amount of chest-movement, both during tranquil breathing and the deepest possible inspiration and expiration. It thus tells indirectly (though less accurate- ly) the extreme breathing capacity of the chest, which is rendered directly and exactly by Dr. Hutchinson's spirometer: its inferiority in this respect is, however, in some measure counterbalanced, by its possessing the additional faculty of localizing the diminished movement, if it be local, and so pointing to the diseased part ; or of showing it to be diffused over the whole breathing apparatus, if the disease be more general. Plessors, Pleximeters, &C. — In practising percussion, the fingers, as a general rule, are superior to any artificial instruments. Occasionally, however, a small hammer tipped with gutta percha, or a thimble headed with the same material, may be useful as a plessor [Trhnc-a-u, I strike), and may enable us to produce a clearer stroke ; these may be employed either for striking on the index or middle finger as a pleximeter 5TX>)iuic, the people) are such dis- eases as occasionally infest a community, more or less gene- rally, at the same time, and w^iich are apt to recur at uncer- tain intervals. They may be not inaptly compared to the blights or tribes of animalcules which appear and disappear without any evident cause, and which at certain seasons pro- duce such havoc in the vegetable kingdom ; it is not impro- bable that they are due to some atmospheric influence, though the nature of this influence is unknown. Cholera, influenza, and fever are the epidemics from which we suffer the most severely : the ravages from cholera having been most alarm- ing as it has gradually traversed Asia, Europe, and America, in the year 1831-1832, 1848-1849, and 1853-1854. A disease is said to be endemic (ev, in or among, and J«^of) when it is peculiar to, or especially prevalent in, any particu- lar locality. Thus ague is endemic in low marshy districts, goitre in certain parts of Derbyshire, Switzerland, &c. But a disease may also be epidemic and endemic, as is the case with cholera, which appears to be endemic in India, and epi- demic only in Europe. Contagions diseases are tliose which are communicable from one person to another. The terms contagion and infec- tion are generally employed synonymously, though some have applied the word infection to the communication of disease from the sick to the healthy by a morbid miasm or exhalation diffused in the air, reserving contagion to express the trans- mission by immediate or mediate contact. Since, however, it is obvious that these are merely modes of the same agency in the great majority of cases, it seems better to view contagion as merely one mode of infection. There are three modes in which infection maybe produced: 1, through wounds or an abraded surface, as in hydrophobia, vaccination, &c. ; 2, through contact, as w^e see in gonorrhea, syphihs, and certain cutaneous affections depending upon the existence of parasitic HEKKDITARY DISEASES. 65 plants or animals; and, 3, through exhalations from the skin, breath, perspiration, or other secretions, which becoming dif- fused through the air to a certain extent, infect those who come within reach of the poison, as is seen in measles, small- pox, pertussis, fevers, and similar infectious disorders. Sporadic Diseases. — Diseases which attack only one person at a time, and which supervene indifferently in every season or locality, from accidental circumstances, and inde- pendently of epidemic or contagious influence, are termed sporadic. Thus dropsy, cancer, gout, diseases of the heart, and the great majority of the affections to which flesh is heir, are sporadic. Occasionally, when an epidemic proceeds slowly from one person to another, the attacks are said to occur spo- radically. Continued, Remittent, and Intennittent Diseases. — Fevers are called contimted, when they pursue their course without any well-marked remissions. In remiitent fevers cer- tain intervals occur daily in the course of the disease, in which intervals there is no cessation of the fever, but simply an abatement or diminution. The remissions usually occur to- wards the morning, and continue for six, ten, twelve, or four- teen hours : they are followed generally, by increased feverish excitement or exacerbation towards night, continuing for some hours. In intermittent fevers there is an interval of almost perfect health. The three common species of intermittent fever or ague, are the quotidian, tertian, and quartan. When the paroxysm occurs at the same hour every day, it is called quotidian ague ; when every other day, tertian, though secun- dan would be more appropriate ; and when it is absent for two whole days and then recurs, quartan. In the first species the interval is twenty-four hours, in the second forty-eight, in the third seventy-two. The time between the commencement of one paroxysm and the beginning of the next is termed the interval 5 that between the termination of one paroxysm and the commencement of the next, the intermission. Hereditary, Congenital, Acquired, Specific, and Ma- lignant Diseases. — Hereditary diseases are such as are transmitted from an ancestor or parent to a descendant or offspring ; they may exist at birth, or may become developed at any subsequent period of life: gout and scrofula furnish examples. Congenital affections are those born with the indi- vidual, as congenital cataract, hernia, &c. Hereditary and congenital affections differ from those which are acquired, that is to say, derived from causes operating after birth. The term 6* 66 ON DISEASE. sjyecijic is sometimes applied to diseases which are marked by some disordered vital action not belonging to disease in gene- ral, but peculiar to the individual case ; thus syphilis and hy- drophobia are specific diseases. Malignant diseases are those which are of a highly dangerous and intractable character, and the symptoms of which are generally very formidable from the commencement. Certain forms of typhus and typhoid fever, which rapidly depress the vital energies, are said to as- sume a malignant type ; so again, cholera is often called ma- lignant. By some this term is used to denote cancerous affections. Asthenic, Idiopathic, Symptomatic, and Intercurrent Diseases. — Most of these terms explain themselves, but it may be as well to mention that diseases attended by manifest depression of the vital powers are said to be asthoiic, in con- tradistinction to those marked by activity of the vital forces — sthenic disorders. Diseases, also, which are not dependent upon or symptomatic of others, are called idiopatliic or pri- mary ; while intercurrent disorders are those which arise in individuals from incidental causes during the prevalence of zymotic diseases. SECTION 2. THE CAUSES OF DISEASE :— ETIOLOGY. Whatever is capable of deranging either of the functions or any part of the structure of the human body, must be ranked amongst the causes of disease. It is not surprising therefore, considering the numberless variety of circumstances to which man is exposed, that these causes are very numerous, that in any particular case they often elude our observation, and that many attempts have been made to classify them without any marked success. Thus they have been divided into external or extrinsic, and internal or intrinsic, according as they ope- rate on the body from without or from within ; into predis- posing and exciting; into general and local 5 proximate and remote ; into caiisce ahdiice and caiisce evidentes; into me- chanical or chemical, and physiological 5 and so on. The true simple view of all causes is, that they are circumstances of the most variable nature inducing disease 5 and the most simple division of them probably is into predisposing and exciting. They may be arranged in two tables, partly accord- ing to the plan adopted by Dr. C. J. B. Williams, in his excel- lent work on the Principles of Medicine, from which I have already quoted. CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASE. 6t Predisposing Causes Disease f Debilitating influences. Excitement Previous disease. Present disease. ^8 1 Hereditary constitution. °^ ' Temperament. Age. Sex, Occupation. Climate. 1. Cognizable Agents 2. Exciting Causes of Disease. 2. Non cognizable Agents 1. Mechanical. 2. Chemical. 3. Ingesta. 4. Bodily exertion. 5. Mental emotion. 6. Excessive evacuation. 7. Suppressed or defective evacuation. 8. Defective cleanliness, ven- tilation, and drainage. 9. Temperature and changes. (^ 10. Parasitic plants and ani- mals. 1. Endemic i Epidemic > Poisons. Contagious S !i The scope of the present Manual will not permit of my treating of each of these causes in exteiiso, neither is it neces- sary to do so. I must, however, say a few words on the non- cognizable causes or those due to miasmata secreted by the human body, or generated largely from unknown sources, which especially deserve the attention of the medical philoso- pher, since they are most appalling in their effects, and but very little is known of their nature. These morbid poisons are all subjected to certain general laws, the most important of which are — 1. That they all have, not capricious, but certain definite and specific actions, and that they each affect especially cer- tain organs, as in scarlatina — where the eruption differs from all other eruptions, runs a course peculiar to itself, and where the force of the poison is expended on the skin and mucous membranes ; in hooping-cough — where the virus affects the or- gans supplied by the eighth pair of nerves or thepneumogastrics. 2. That, after mingling with the blood, they continue in latent combination with this fluid for a certain period of time before their specific actions are set up. Thus in small-pox there is a latent period — between infection and the appearance of the phenomena of the disease — of from twelve to fifteen days ; in measles from twelve to fifteen days ; in scarlatina from four to six 5 and in ague an unknown period, twelve months even having elapsed between the time of exposure to the malaria and the appearance of the fever. 68 ON DISEASE. 3. That the phenomena resulting from the poison, when roused into action, vary to a certain extent, according to the strength of the poison, and the predisposition, temperament, and constitution of the patient. 4. That they possess the power of generating to an im- mense extent a poison of the same nature as that by which the disease was first produced. Thus a quantity of small-pox virus almost inappreciable in size may produce thousands of pustules, each containing fifty times as much pestilent matter as that originally introduced. And 5. That many of these poisons possess the extraor- dinary power of exhausting all future susceptibility in the constitution of the affected party to any similar action of the same agent, as is well known to be the case in scarlatina, small-pox, hooping-cough, &c. In considering the importance of the various causes of disease individually, the student must bear in mind that disease may be induced by one only, or by several acting together or in succession ; and that they are modified by several circumstances, but especially by the vis medicatrix naiurce, which, in healthy persons, is sufficient to resist the force of many circumstances that would otherwise give rise to disordered action. SECTION 3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASE:— NOSOLOGY. In order to simplify the study of morbid processes, it has been found necessary to briefly designate the important peculiarities, phenomena, and situations of diseases, and to classify them according to some definite plan, dividing and subdividing them into classes, orders, genera, and species. The word Nosology is used to express this classification. Several nosological systems have been proposed. Thus Sauvage divided disease into ten classes, — viiia, fehres, phleg- masice, spasmi, anhelationes, debilitates, dolores, vesanice.,f.uxus, cackexice, taking as the foundation of each class the most prominent symptoms. CuUen, proceeding on the same plan, endeavored to simplify this arrangement by reducing the classes to four, — pyrexice, neuroses, cacJiexice, and locales. The great error in these classifications is, that symptoms are regarded as the essential parts of disease, whereas they are merely indications, are very variable, and by no means uniformly correspond with the amount of disordered function or diseased structure present. Thus delirium forms a promi- DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. 69 nent symptom in many diseases of the most opposite nature ; but what an amount of error would be involved were these disorders all classed together on account of this symptom. The true foundation of a natural classification of diseases is — as observed by Dr. Williams — in a correct pathology, or knowledge of the intimate nature of diseases ; the subdivisions being conveniently determined by the chief seat of the disease, or by some of its more prominent characters. There are, doubtless, many difficulties in the way of making such a classification, and when made it will be imperfect ; still it will be the best, and will approach the nearest to that which is unattainable — a perfect methodical nosology. SECTION 4. THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. The con-ect diagnosis of disease — the distinction of diseases from one another — is the most important part of the physi- cian's duty. To discriminate well the malady, and to discern its effect upon the patient, requires the highest skill — a skill which can only be obtained by observation and practice. In attempting to make out the nature of a disease, every branch of medical knowledge must be brought to bear upon the inquiry ; information must be sought from every source likely to afford aid. Having carefully learnt the general his- tory of the patient, we must examine all the symptoms, investigate the condition of suspected tissues or organs, inquire into the assigned cause, and take into consideration all con- trolling influences, such as age, sex, temperament, habits, modes of living, constitutional peculiarities, &c. Accidental circumstances often aid us considerably, especially when the patient is unwilling to impart all the information he is capable of giving. At the same time the feelings, prejudices, and mental peculiarities of the sufferer must be consulted, and the practitioner should endeavor to come to a correct conclusion with as little that is disagreeable to him as possible. Bishop Butler has well said that "probability is the guide of life," since man may have sufficient evidence in a thousand cases to warrant his actions, though that evidence is very far removed from certitude. This is especially the case in the diagnosis of disease, numerous maladies being discriminated, treated, and cured as often under the guidance of sober con- jecture as of undisputed certainty. Such conjecture, however, is very different from arrogant guesswork, which fails much more frequently than it succeeds, and knows not why it suc- ceeds or fails. " The conjecture which should guide the 70 ON DISEASE. physician is rigorous, and calculating, and honest. It acts strictly by rule, and leaves nothing to chance. It does not absolutely see the thing it is in quest of, for then it would no longer be conjecture. But, because it does not see it, it pon- ders all its accidents and appurtenances, and noting well whither they point, it takes aim in the same direction, and so oftener hits the mark than misses it. And succeeding thus, it knows why it succeeds, and it can succeed again and again upon the same terms. Next to knowing the truth itself, is to know the direction in which it lies. And this is the peculiar praise of a sound conjecture."' The mode of diagnosing particular diseases will be treated of in a subsequent part of this work. SECTION 5. THE PROGNOSIS OF DISEASE. In forming an opinion as to the future course, changes, and termination of any disease, we must be chiefly guided by our knowledge of the general progress of the class of disorders to which it belongs, by the effect which the disease has had upon the patient, by the degree to which it has hitherto been controlled by remedies, and by the extent to which they are likely to be further beneficial. It is usually of the greatest consequence that the character of a disease should be plainly perceived. In cases where there is a reasonable chance of recovery the stimulus of hope is of great service, and in itself favors the return to health. On the other hand, where a fatal termination is indicated, a sick man, made aware of his dan- ger, is enabled to arrange his worldly affairs, to make his will, and to prepare for the awful change that awaits him. Fore- seeing the event of a disease, it becomes a question whether the practitioner should divulge his opinion. There is always some risk of losing instead of gaining credit, by strong state- ments, and confident predictions of the death or recovery of a patient.* Hippocrates, in one of his aphorisms, says, "in acute diseases it is not quite safe to prognosticate either death or recovery." By giving an unfavorable prognosis, you may lose your patient altogether ; for the friends, naturally arguing that you are not infallible, that you may be mistaken, and that because you know of no means of safety, it is no reason why another practitioner should not be more successful, dismiss you to seek other advice. This is not merely a selfish question ; for it is the practitioner's duty to save his * Lectures on Diseases of the Heart, by P. M. Latham, M. D. vol. ii. p. 5. » Watson's Practice of Physic, third edition, vol. i. p. 114. TERMINATIONS OF DISEASE. 71 patient from those unprincipled rapacious quacks who will undertake to cure any case, however hopeless it may be, pro- vided that there is sufficient plunder to be obtained. More- over, it often happens that a person is dangerously ill of a disease from which, however, recovery is by no means impossi- ble. To take away hope in such an instance is often to cut the thread of life. In these cases, my own plan is to commu- nicate the condition of the patient to his most judicious friend solely. But when my opinion is asked by a sufferer from phthisis, cancer, &c., and where there is no hope what- ever of the patient's life being long spared, I then think it a positive duty to communicate my opinion to him, stating the case fairly as to a reasonable being, explaining fully my own opinions, and giving reasons for them. In many instances of cancer of the uterus, for example, where I have been called upon to state my views, I have done so fairly and unreservedly ; and I certainly have never had cause to regret doing so, having retained the patients under my care, in, at least, the majority of the cases, and having, I believe, seen them soothed and better prepared for the fatal event by the information, than if they had been deceived. Indeed, for my own part, I should regard that man as dishonest who would hold out hopes of curing a patient, when he clearly saw that such was impos- sible. The instances in which the conscientious practitioner may feel the greatest difficulty are cases of heart disease, since, so strong is the belief that sudden death is the termination of these affections, that great, injurious, and permanent mental anxiety will result from telling the patient of his condition. I should then communicate with some dear relative, explain the case fully, and at the same time endeavor to convince that in the majority of examples of cardiac disease death does not occur suddenly, but as Dr. Stokes insists, gives notice of its approach by long-continued symptoms of dropsy, pulmonary, and hepatic disease. SECTION 6. THE TERMINATIONS OF DISEASE. All diseases ultimately terminate in health or in death. Before ending in either, they may assume different forms and characters to those which they originally presented, or they may give rise to other diseases, or they may change their situation by what is termed metastasis. Termination in Health. — This takes place in very diver- sified modes, according to the nature of the malady ; iu all 72 ON DISEASE. cases it is due to the subsidence of the morbid actions, and to the vital energy. In some instances — nervous affections, for example — convalescence takes place suddenly. Most frequently, however, the change is gradual, especially in acute diseases ; a diminution in the frequency of the pulse, a cleaning of the tongue, and a restoration of the secretions to their normal condition, being the earliest symptoms. Often, convalescence goes on happily ; but frequently, also, it is delayed by unpleasant symptoms, such as night-sweats, loss of appetite, mental despondency, restlessness, &c. Sometimes the cure is interrupted by a return of the disease — by a relapse, in which the patient's position is rendered more unfa- vorable by the debility and unrepaired mischief remaining from the first attack. Great importance was formerly attached, during the pro- gress of a malady, to what were termed crises, or turning points — whether favorable or unfavorable — in the disease. Critical days, critical symptoms, critical discharges, &c., were then anxiously looked for. Hippocrates, who first drew atten- tion to critical changes, believed that disease was more prone to alter at certain periods than at others, and he accordingly designated the seventh, fourteenth, twentieth, twenty-seventh, thirty-fourth, and fortieth days as critical days. Crises are said to manifest themselves chiefly by a diminution of fever, by sweats, hemorrhages, increased flow of the secretions, eruptions of the skin, boils, carbuncles, buboes, salivation, and gangrene. The existence of critical days and critical symptoms has been denied by most modern authorities, as, at least, not applying to diseases as they now exist ; copious and apparently critical discharges not only fi-equently appearing without any influence upon the progress of the symptoms, but many disorders ending favorably, without any excretion which could be at all regarded as critical. It cannot but be allowed, however, that there is, at all events, a foundation of truth in these ancient doctrines ; and the practitioner will do well to remember that where relief follows from the appearance of critical symptoms, they at least show the direction in which nature is acting, and point the way in which the physician must work, in order to aid and not thwart the vis medicatrix natur(E. The careful investigations of Dr. Traube, of Berlin,' which have led him to revive the doctrine of crises and critical days in fever, are deserving the attention of the reader who wishes to learn all that can be said on this interesting subject. » Ueber Krisen und Krilische Tage. Von Dr. L. Traube, Berlin, 1852. TERMIXATIOXS OF DISEASE. 1o Not unfrequently an acute disease becomes chronic; that is to say, the symptoms subside without disappearing, and continue for a lengthened period. Another mode in which disease may leave a particular organ is by metastasis — from /uiBta-m/ui, I transfer. This change is perhaps most frequently seen in gout or rheumatism, either of which, suddenly disappearing from the affected joint, may attack the head, or heart, or stomach. Dr. Copland mentions two instances which fell under his own observation, and which serve to elucidate this subject.* A medical friend suffered from gout in the lower extremities, for which he took a large dose of colchicum, before the morbid secretions had been evacuated. He almost instantly had a violent attack of the disease in the stomach, with simultaneous disappearance of it from the original seat. The free use of stimuli caused it to relinquish the stomach, and to reappear in the extremi- ties. In this case, the transfer from one place to the other was instantaneous, the medium being evidently the nervous system. The second patient had, upon suppression of gout from the lower extremities, an attack of simple apoplexy, for which he was bled and purged. When Dr. Copland saw him he was comatose, but the head was still cool. Mustard sina- pisms to the feet, and ammonia with camphor, were ordered ; the gout suddenly reappeared in the feet, the patient at the same instant awakening as from a profound sleep, and with- out evincing subsequently the least cerebral disturbance, either organic or functional. Another form of metastasis is often seen in cutaneous affections, when the eruption suddenly ceases — often from improper medical interference — and dan- gerous disease is developed in internal organs. The same may also happen from the suppression of morbid secretions, of discharges from ulcers, &c., which have become necessary to the sustenance of health. The Termination in Death. — Death is the condition to which all organized bodies must ultimately be reduced. It may take place naturally and gradually from old age — from exhaustion of the vital forces, the active powers gradually de- serting each organ, the functions of absorption and secretion being arrested, the general circulation becoming slowly sus- pended, and the heart ceasing to contract. Unfortunately, death from mere old age is very rare. Haller estimated the average probability of human life, and deduced the conclusion that only one individual in 15,000 reaches the hundredth year. * Medical Dictionary, vol. i. p. 600. 7 74 ON DISEASE. Seeing, then, that death from disease or accident is the rule, it behoves us, as guardians of the public health, to do our utmost to remove the causes of disease, and to treat that which is unavoidable with the greatest skill and caution. Death from disease may take place in two ways — either suddenly, the transition from life to death being made in a moment, without warning, — or slowly and gradually, as the termination of some lingering disorder. The most frequent causes of sudden death are, apoplexy ; rupture of an aneurism or large bloodvessel into one of the three great cavities of the body 5 disease of the valves of the heart — the liability to sudden death being greater in disease of the mitral valve than in aortic valvular disease ; rupture of the heart, from fatty degeneration ; laceration of the chordae tendineae ; asphyxia, from obstruction of the glottis, or the bursting of purulent cysts into the air-passages; syncope, from severe shock or alarm; and injury of the spinal cord. As regards the last-mentioned cause of sudden death, it must be remembered that as the phrenic nerve arises from the third, fourth, and tifth cervical nerves, so any severe injury to the cord above the origin of the third nerve will produce instant death, by suddenly paralyzing the diaphragm and in- tercostal muscles ; while if the injury occurs below the sixth vertebra the patient may live for some hours, if not days, although the action of the greater number of the intercostal muscles must be wholly or partially arrested. One or two examples of sudden death have occurred lately, in which the cause seemed to be latent pneumonia of one lung. Slight indisposition appears to have been complained of for a day or two, when suddenly, without any apparent reason, death has taken place. Dr. Quain and Mr. Ashton have related cases to this effect. A large number of instances of sudden death occur annu- ally in this country from the different causes just enumerated. Very curiously, it appears that women have less chance of dying suddenly than men — in the proportion of ten to eighteen — but that more women than men die from paralysis. This is proved by the following table, taken by Dr. Granville from the reports of the Registrar-General, of the number of sudden deaths, and of deaths from apoplexy and paralysis, in all England and Wales, males and females, for the years as fol- lows :' * Granville on Sudden Death. TERMINATIONS OF DISEASE. 75 Years. SUDDEN. APOPLEXY. PARALYSIS. Male. [Female. Total. Male. Female.' Total.' Male. Female. :Tolal. 1847 1848 1849 1850 Total, 2154 i 1554 > 3708 1811 1 1386 i 3197 2012 ; 1543 ; 3555 2025 i 1535 3560 4007 3898 3896 ; 4078 3874 I 7881 3704 : 7602 3901 : 7797 4016 8094 3376 3213 3428 3473 3695 3458 3900 3844 7069 6671 7328 7317 8002 i 6018 14020 15879 15495 131374 13490 14895 28385 Death as it occurs in disease is usually complicated ; but in all cases, whether it take place suddenly or gradually, or whatever may be the malady, it approaches through one of the three vital organs — the brain, the heart, or the lungs. Life being inseparately connected with the circulation of arterial blood, death takes place directly the action of the heart is completely arrested ; and since the action of the heart is de- pendent upon the more or less perfect condition of all the vital organs, which stand in a peculiar reciprocal relation to each other, a cessation of the functions of either of the three speedily arrests the remaining two. Thus innervation of the muscles of respiration depends upon the medulla oblongata, the energy of the medulla oblongata upon the decarbonization of the blood, and the decarbonization of the blood upon the circulation and respiration. The force of the heart, if not directly, is indirectly connected with the medulla oblongata, because the circulation of venous blood destroys the irrita- bility of the muscles. And so it results that failure in any one of the three links in the chain is fatal. Hence Bichat spoke correctly of death beginning at the head, at the heart, and at the lungs. We may have then — 1st, Death by AncEmia, that form which is caused by a want of the due supply of blood to the heart. The deaths from flooding after labor, from the bursting of aneurisms, &c., are good examples of this form ; on examin- ing the heart afterwards, the cavities are found empty, or nearly so, and contracted. 2d, Death hy Asthenia, in which there is no deficiency of the proper stimulus to the heart's action — the blood, but a total failure of the contractile power of this organ. The effects of certain poisons — as hydrocyanic acid, of strong mental emotion, of lightning, &c., furnish good illustrations of this form. The state of suspended animation common to both these modes of dying, is termed syncope. 3d, Death hy Asphyxia — or, as Dr. Watson terms it, by apnoea, or, as we say commonly, by suffocation — is that which occurs 76 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY DISEASE. when the entrance of air into the lungs is in any way stopped, as in drowning, strangulation, spasmodic closure of the rima glottidis, &c. I in this mode death begins in the lungs. The blood being unaerated, continues venous, passes through the pulmonary veins into the left side of the heart, and thence through the arteries to all parts of the body. Venous blood, however, being unable to sustain the functions of the organs to which it is sent, its effect on the brain is at once seen by the convulsions and insensibility which ensue ; the blood in the pulmonary capillaries becomes retarded, and gradually stagnates, leaving the lungs and right chambers of the heart full and distended. 4th, Death by Coma, in which extinction of organic life takes place in the same way as in the preced- ing case, the difference between the two forms of dying being this — that in death by apnoea, the chemical functions of the lungs cease first, and then the circulation of venous blood through the arteries suspends the sensibility ; whereas in death by coma, the sensibility ceases first, and in consequence of this the movements of the thorax are arrested, as well as the chemical functions of the lungs. Thus the circulation of venous blood through the arteries is in the one case the cause, in the other the effect, of the cessation of animal life.^ CHAPTER IV. ON THE VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY DISEASE. Having shown in the previous chapter that disease consists of disordered action in one or more parts of the machinery of the body, it becomes necessary now to prove that these dis- ordered actions vary much, in their nature, severity, and duration, in different individuals ; being modified by age, sex, constitution, temperament, and many other circumstances which I now propose to speak of. To discriminate well the malady and the exact condition of the patient, and to regard both in the attempt to cure disease, must be the constant endeavor of the skilled practitioner. The same disease in one individual often assumes a different character in another, and requires consequently a different method of cure. Just as we never find two individuals perfectly alike in features, stature, strength, constitution, &c., so we learn that disease ' Dr. Watson, op cii. Lecture V. SEX. 77 becomes varied and modified, although its broad principles maj remain unaltered. Physiologists have long since shown us, that a poison of such potency as to destroy the life of an animal in two minutes when introduced into the system, will produce its fatal efi*ect in half a minute if the animal's strength be reduced by bleeding. We are all familiar with the fact that in typhus fever, for example, the patient will bear a very large quantity of alcohol without being affected by it, just as in tetanus and hydrophobia scarcely any amount of opium will tranquillize the nervous system. So, again, there are some few persons with constitutions so insensible to the action of mercury, that no quantity will affect their gums or increase the secretion of the salivary glands ; while others, on the contrary, are so susceptible, that it is scarcely possible to administer a grain of this metal without giving rise to its specific effects. If, then, disease or constitution so qualifies the action of these powerful agents, is it not reasonable to suppose that many conditions of the system may in like manner modify disease ? And this is really the case. How often, for instance, do we see many people differently circum- stanced exposed to the same morbid agency with a varied result. Thus, of half a dozen persons exposed to the same noxious influence — say that of wet and cold — one shall have rheumatism, one an attack of influenza, a third catarrh, a fourth ophthalmia, and so on. Again, a man may be exposed to the influence of some infectious disease — as small-pox — and not being predisposed to suffer from infection may escape unharmed. Yet in a few days, nay, in a few hours, with his system depressed from fatigue, the same morbid element being encountered, he no longer escapes its influence, and the variolous poison takes root — so to speak — and produces its well-known fruit. Nature, thus apparently capricious, works according to certain general laws ; and although our present knowledge may not enable us on all occasions to solve these laws, yet that they admit of solution there can be no doubt. The following are the circumstances which chiefly modify the nature, severity, and duration of disease : 1. Sex. — Both sexes are equally liable to many diseases. Females, however, on account of the greater excitability of their nervous system, and owing to their possessing an organ — the uterus — whose lesions affect the whole system, are especially predisposed to nervous complaints ; and such causes as give rise to inflammation in males, will in them often produce merely functional disorder. Thus gout and rheumatism often lurk unsuspected in the female system, 78 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY DISEASE. causing dyspepsia, palpitations, uterine and neuralgic affec- tions, without manifesting themselves more openly. It has been said that during the prevalence of epidemics women suffer less than men ; which is probably to be accounted for by their more regular habits, and their being less exposed to the exciting causes of these diseases. The uterus is the active centre of sympathies, from puberty to the period of the change of life. The regular flow of the catamenia becomes essential to health, and the interruption or cessation of the discharge, except under certain circumstances, often proves the cause of great constitutional disturbance. About the age of puberty women are apt to suffer from anaemia, chorea, and hysteria. The condition of pregnancy is favorable to health ; while at the cessation of menstruation chronic inflam- mations and lesions of the uterus, diseases of the breast, dis- orders of the colon and rectum, and cancerous affections, are likely to occur. 2. Age. — Each of the various epochs of life is liable to certain peculiar diseases. Diinng the earliest period — from birth to first dentition — not only is the body very frail, but there is great irritability and sensitiveness, a predisposition to spasms and convulsions, to hydrocephalus, inflammation of the brain or its membranes, and to rickets, «S:c. Mankind spring not up full-formed, and ready armed for battling with adversity, like the fabled army from the teeth of dragons sown by Cadmus ; but rather as the seed which is scattered from the hand of God over all the earth.' As then the young plant requires care and attention proportioned to its frailness, so the tender infant demands the most constant watchfulness and judicious management. The process of dentition alone keeps up a constant irritation which impairs the functions of the brain, alimentary canal, and skin ; and many children die during teething. So slender indeed is the thread of life, and so serious are the various infantile diseases, that one child in every five dies within a year after birth, and one in three before the end of the fifth year. After the Jirst dentition to the sixth or seventh year, the powers of life become more energetic ; there is great excite- ment of the vascular and nervous systems, easy exhaustion but also easy restoration. The predisposition is to inflamma- tory affections, to attacks of fever, and to the exanthematous disorders. In the inflammatory diseases of children there is a strong tendency to the formation of coagulable lymph, ' Oil the Use of the Body in relation to the Mind. By G. Moore, M. D. HEREDITARY TENDENCY. 79 and to the exudation of false membranes upon the mucous surfaces. After the second dentition until the age of puberty, is one of the healthiest periods of life, the vital functions reacting readily upon the depressing causes of disease, and being eminently conservative in resisting noxious influences. The predisposition to the eruptive or exanthematous fevers con- tinues, and there is also a frequent liability to epistaxis. The age of puberty is often attended with temporary constitutional derangement, especially in the female, in whom disorder of the uterine functions is common. From the age of puberty till the time when growth ceases, is a dangerous period, there being a strong predisposition to hemorrhages, tubercular disease, scrofula, and disorders of the digestive organs. After maturity there is again a period of comparative ex- emption from morbid tendencies, the functions being well balanced, and the actions of each organ well regulated. In females there is a tendency to disease of the reproductive system about the time of the cessation of the catamenia — from the forty-sixth to the fiftieth year ; and in both sexes, as age advances after the fiftieth year, there is decrease of strength, disturbance of certain functions, a tendency to degeneration of tissues, and loss of power in different organs. Hence there is a predisposition to various organic diseases ; the brain, heart, and the genital and urinary organs being especially prone to suffer. As senility advances sensibility decreases, the memory fails, the muscular strength becomes diminished, and gout, apoplexy, paralysis, softening of the brain, &c., often supervene to hasten the period of second childhood to its close. 3. Hereditary Tendency. — As the child often resembles the parents in form and feature, so frequently does he inherit their constitutional peculiarities, and the morbid tendencies growing out of them. It is not, generally speaking, diseases that are inherited, but only those peculiarities of structure or constitution which predispose to them. Thus children are not born with phthisis, gout, rheumatism, calculus, &c., but only with those conditions of system which favor the development of these aftections when other causes co-operate. It some- times happens, however, that the hereditary tendency is so strong, that the disease becomes developed notwithstanding the greatest efforts to prevent it, as is often seen in affections of the lungs and brain. Where there is a predisposition to disease, the time at which it appears depends generally on the 80 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY DISEASE. nature of the disorder. Thus the disposition to convulsions, hydrocephalus, idiotcy, and scrofula is most apparent during the early periods of life ; to epilepsy and phthisis about the age of puberty; to gout, rheumatism, and various nervous disorders, during the years of maturity; and to cancer, asthma, and paralysis at advanced stages of life. The inheritance may proceed from one parent only, or from both. In the former case the disposition is often slight, and with care the offspring frequently escapes from any manifestation of the affection ; in the latter, the chances of safety are greatly diminished. Hence the danger of intermarriages between relations, who may be supposed to have the same defects of constitution. 4. Temperament and Idiosyncrasy. — There are few in- dividuals possessing an organization so well constituted but that they show some inequality of function, or some peculiar susceptibility, or constitutional state favoring a particular class of morbid actions. These peculiarities when affecting classes of persons are called temperaments y when individuals, idiosyncrasies. Thus the sanguine and irritable temperament^ in which excitement is easily produced, the circulation active, and the passions strong, disposes to plethora, congestions, inflammations, hemorrhages, and fevers of an inflammatory character; the lymphatic or phlegmatic temperament, which is characterized by a languid circulation, softness of the muscles, and torpidity of the bodily and mental functions, — to chronic diseases, debility, tubercular, scrofulous, and dropsical affec- tions ; while the nervous temperament, in which the cerebro- spinal system is peculiarly excitable, the circulation feeble, and the moral susceptibilities acute, predisposes to convulsive diseases, disorders of the nervous system, insanity, and me- lancholia: and the bilious temperament — characterized by de- cision of character, energy, and a capability for great physical and mental exertion, — to dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, and dis- ordered action of the liver. Sometimes, indeed generally, the temperaments are mixed, two or more existing in combination — as the sanguineo-hilious, ■when there is a tendency to inflammatory hepatic affections, to inflammations of the intestinal canal, &c. 5. Diathesis. — A strong predisposition^-either hereditary or acquired — to certain diseases is not uncommon. The principal diatheses are the gouty, rheumatic, cancerous, tuber- cular, and strumous. To refer to an illustration which I have before employed, let us suppose five or six people to be ex- posed to wet and cold. Of these one or two may escape HABIT. 81 without any harm, one or two may merely suffer from simple catarrh, but an individual of a rheumatic diathesis will most probably suffer from an attack of rheumatism, while pulmonary consumption may be induced in the person afflicted with the tubercular diathesis. Patients in whom certain deposits habitually occur in the urine with corresponding constitutional disorder, are often said to be of, or to suffer from, a lithic acid, or phosphatic, or oxalic acid diathesis. 6. Habit. — The habits of life, mode of living, and nature of occupation are amongst the most powerful predisposing causes of — or safeguards against — disease. Habitual intem- perance, fast or luxurious living, indolence, and excesses of all kinds, as they sap the strength and impair the health, so they increase the danger of accidents and of serious affections ; while the same effect results from the opposite extreme — from great privations, from too sedentary a life, from anxiety and distress of mind, and from over-fatiguing mental or corporeal employments. The habitual use of animal food in excess, especially when a counterbalancing amount of exercise is not taken, predisposes to inflammatory affections, to disorders of the primae vias, to gout, apoplexy, &c. A vegetable diet, on the contrary, leads to impoverishment of the blood, and its attendant diseases. Alcoholic drinks too freely employed, frequently excite plethora, paralysis, delirium tremens, and dropsy ; while pulmonary disease, epilepsy, and insanity often result from inordinate sexual intercourse. All these vitiated habits, moreover, by depressing the powers of life, predispose the system to receive any epidemic or infectious poison that may be prevalent, and to which it may be accidentally exposed ; while, by lowering the conservative powers of nature, the constitution is less able to bear up against the resulting diseases when developed. In some instances the influence of habit is salutary, as we see in persons who become acclimated in malarious or other- wise unhealthy districts, and in those whose sensibility to cold and wet is blunted by habitual exposure. In the same way many systems become reconciled to the habitual use of certain classes of poisons — probably those only which are derived from the vegetable kingdom — as tobacco, opium, and alcohol, which even become sources of enjoyment, and apparently, to a certain extent, of health. 7. Climate and Temperature. — The influence of climate and temperature over disease, either in promoting, modifying, 82 CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MODIFY DISEASE. or alleviating it, is now generally admitted by all practitioners of medicine. The range of atmospheric temperature compatible with life is very extensive. Gibbon — after stating that the Roman sol- diers, from their excellent discipline, maintained health and vigor in all climates — adds, that " man is the only animal which can live and multiply in every country, from the equator to the poles." It seems probable, however, that for this boasted pri- vilege man is more indebted to the ingenuity of his mind than to the pliability of his body, being enabled' by the former to raise up numerous barriers to protect his constitution from the deleterious effects of extreme heat or cold. This fact is at least certain, that a mode of living essential to health in the northern regions, will prove rapidly destructive at the equator, and vice versa ; though it is worthy of notice that greater care is necessary to preserve life under very great cold than under intense heat. The power which man possesses, under certain circum- stances, and for a short time, of enduring a much greater de- gree of heat than the atmosplaere ever attains in any part of the world, is very remarkable. Boerhaave's idea— deduced from experiments on animals — that the blood would coagulate in the veins at a temperature slightly above 100° Fahr., has long since been disproved. MM. Duhamel and Tillet, making some experiments on heat in 1760, found that a girl could enter an oven and remain in it some ten minutes with the thermometer at 288° Fahr., being 76° above the boiling-point of water. Drs. Pordyce and Blagden, occasionally naked and occasionally with their clothes on, entered and remained for some time in rooms heated to 240° and 260° Fahr., with but little inconvenience, although the same air which they respired sufficed to cook eggs and beefsteaks. It would appear, from the remarks of s^everal observers, that either extreme of heat or cold is better borne than any sudden change in temperature, though such changes are by no means so destructive to health as is commonly imagined. Thus Dr. "Walsh states, that sailing along the coast of Brazil, after en- joying a temperature of 72°, the wind rose, and the thermome- ter fell to 61°, when "the sense of cold from the sudden tran- sition of temperature was quite painful. After bearing it for some time shivering on deck, it became intolerable, and we all went below, put on warm clothing, and dreadnoughts — and again appeared with thick woollen jackets and trousers, as if we had been entering Baffin's Bay, and not a harbor under one of the tropics." A curious insta,nce of inconvenience CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE. 83 from a rise in temperature is related by Captain Parry, who says that when in the Arctic regions the thermometer suddenly rose from 13° below zero to 23° — or 9° below the freezing- point, — when every one complained of the temperature being much too high to be agreeable. The first effect of extreme Jieat is on the organic functions of the body, which become greatly stimulated, while the ani- mal functions are depressed. The action of the heart becomes accelerated, the pulse increases in frequency, the biliary secre- tion is augmented — but deteriorated, and the skin perspires freely. On the other hand, there is nervous depression, with languor, lassitude, and an incapacity for mental or bodily exertion. The ill effects upon Europeans of residence in tropical cli- mates — where the thermometer often ranges from 80° to 100°, or even 110° Fahr., or higher,' — are soon seen in the liver, causing an increase in the biliary secretion ; this gland being maintained in a state of undue excitement, both from the stimulating influence of the heat, and the additional duty which it has to perform in the elimination of carbon. Hence — as occurs in every organ stimulated to undue action — one of two things occurs. Either — the cause being constant and long maintained — serious injury accrues to the organ itself, generally to the extent of structural alteration ; or — the cause being only temporary — torpor or exhaustion of the gland takes place, and in the performance of its functions it falls short of the healthy standard ; in either case producing great constitutional disturbance. Another primary effect of a hot climate is seen on the cutaneous surface, in promoting per- spiration, and also in giving rise to a morbid condition — attended with pricking, tingling, and itching sensations — in which the skin is generally covered with an eruption of vivid red pimples. This disease, known as the prickly heat — lichen tropicus — makes a tropical life for a time miserable, since it causes irritation at the most unseasonable hours, for weeks together.^ The covp de sohil, or sun-stroke, not uncommonly affects individuals exposed to the direct beams of a hot sun, causing insensibility, and frequently death. Examples of it are fre- quently seen among the troops during long marches in India. The individuals most benefited by a residence in the tropics are those of a strumous habit, as well as those of a tubercular ' The mean temperature of the London atmosphere is 501° Fahr. 3 Johnson and Martin, on Tropical Climates. 84 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. diathesis in whom pulmonary disease has not actually declared itself. The effects of extreme cold are first shown in causing de- pression of the organic functions, as is seen in the dwarfish size of men and animals in cold regions, the shrinking of ex- ternal parts, the diminished cutaneous circulation, the contrac- tion of the skin around the hair-bulbs and sebaceous follicles — producing the peculiar appeai*ance known as cutis aiiserina, and in the diminished power of the sexual organs. Long and unprotected exposure to extreme cold gives rise to torpor of the nervous system, confusion of the intellect, a staggering gait resembling that from drunkenness, and to an overpower- ing desire for sleep, which, if indulged, almost inevitably proves fatal. Cold proves more injurious, and is less easily borne, when applied by a wind or current of air, as well as when accompanied by moisture, than when the atmosphere is dry and at rest. Diseases of the pulmonary organs are the most common affections of cold climates. In temperate latitudes there is a less exclusive tendency to disease of any special organ than in climates nearer the poles or the equator ; although, owing to the sudden vicissitudes of temperature, the frequency of cold winds, and of moisture, there appears to be a morbid tendency to inflammatory, rheumatic, and catarrhal affections. CHAPTER V. ON THE SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. Without a correct knowledge of symptomatology or semeiology — the science which treats of the symptoms and signs of disease — we can know but little of the art of medi- cine ; since a thorough acquaintance with the structural and functional disorders to which the human body is liable, essen- tially comprises a recognition of existing symptoms and signs, a proper appreciation of their value, source, antecedents, causes, relations, and connections with each other, and the results which may be expected to flow from them singly or in combination. The importance of carefully studying the symptoms, therefore, can hardly be over-estimated, for from them we form our diagnosis and prognosis, and learn in what direction to conduct the treatment. It follows necessarily that he will prove the best physician who is the most sagacious in ob- serving them, and in deciphering their import and true value. SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. 85 "What, then, it may be asked, is a symptom ? I cannot do better than reply in the words of Dr. Watson, who says — ^' Everything or circumstance happening in the body of a sick person, and capable of being perceived by himself or by others, which can be made to assist our judgment con- cerning the seat or the nature of his disease, its probable course and termination, or its proper treatment : every such thing or circumstance is a symptom.'"* It thus appears that symptoms are obvious to all persons alike, to the educated as to the uneducated, in this respect differing from the signs of disease, which are — generally speaking — intelligible to the medical eye alone. Signs indeed are, for the most part, deduced from symptoms, either from one symptom or from a combination. Thus cough is a symptom of many laryngeal and thoracic afifections ; but combined with a hooping noise during inspiration it becomes a sign. Symptoms have been aptly compared to words taken separately or put together at random ; arranged in due order, put together in sentences, they convey a meaning, they become signs. Various divisions of symptoms have been made, which are neither very philosophical nor of much practical utility. It is necessary to mention, however, that authors speak of symptoms as local, general, or constitutional ; as idiopathic, when proceeding directly from a primary disease ; symptomatic or secondary, when due to secondary disorders, or those pro- duced by the primary affection; premonitory or precursory, or symptoms which indicate an approaching disease ; of symp- toms which are diagnostic, since they enable us to distinguish disorders which might otherwise be confounded ; or of those which are p)rognostic, because they denote the probable issue of a case ; or therapeutic, since they indicate the treatment. Moreover, those diagnostic symptoms which are peculiar to one disease are called pathognomonic, ov patliognostic. When authors speak of physical signs, they allude to those pheno- mena which take place in the body in accordance with physi- cal laws ; when of vital symptoms, to such as depend on "the vital properties of a part or parts of the body, as irritability, tonicity, sensibility, &c. It may almost appear unnecessary to mention that in the study of semeiology every circumstance which is at all characteristic is important ; and that the form and violence of the symptoms, the particular order in which they appear, and the manner in which these signals of disease are con- joined, merit especial attention. ' Op.cit. vol. i. p. 111. 8 86 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. We will now proceed to the proper subject-matter of this chapter, according to the following arrangement: — 1. The symptoms and signs afforded by the countenance, and the general appearance and condition of the body ; 2, those symptoms and signs belonging to the organs and function of digestion ; 3, those belonging to the function of respiration ; 4, those belonging to the function of circulation ; 5, those connected with the urinary and sexual organs ; and 6, those derived from the nervous system. SECTION 1. SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS AFFORDED BY THE COUNTENANCE, AND THE GENERAL APPEARANCE AND CONDITION OF THE BODY. The manifestations of disease which have to be considered in this section are those derived from the expression of the countenance, from the eye and the function of vision, from the sense of hearing, and from the posture, and the general condition of the body. The Expression of the Countenance.— The facial expres- sion is of importance in the recognition, diagnosis, and prog- nosis of most maladies, but especially perhaps in those of young children. When the general expression of the countenance is serene, tranquil, or expressive of hope, it may generally be regarded as of favorable import in disease, especially if such expression supervene gradually on the disappearance of restlessness and acute symptoms generally : it must be remembered, however, that it may be — though it is so rarely — an unfavorable sign, as when it occurs suddenly during the progress of severe organic disease on the unexpected cessation of pain, when it frequently indicates gangrene of the affected organ, or paralysis. In chronic disorders, unattended with pain or suffering, and in the low stages of fever, the countenance is often indifferent, the look is partly fixed, and the eyes bright. In the low stage of fever, however, the movements of the lips are tremulous, and the lips themselves are covered with sordes and with a brown or black coating, like that on the teeth and tongue. Immobility of the features may generally be looked upon as a sign of debility, or of loss of consciousness, or of general tonic spasm — as catalepsy. Anxiety and pain produce a characteristic change in the features. At the commencement of acute diseases generally, in spasmodic affections, asthma, angina pectoris, &c., in in- flammations of important viscera, in disorders of the genera- EXPRESSION OF THE COUNTENANCE. 8t tire organs, and in hypochondriasis, the countenance assumes an anxious air ; a peculiar mixed expression of anxiety and resignation is also common in organic diseases of the heart, and of the great vessels. The expression of terror or of great fear, is observed chiefly in delirium tremens, in hydrophobia, in certain forms of insanity, during or after hemorrhages, and after accidents. So the expression of rage occurs for the most part in inflammation of the brain, in hydrophobia, and in insanity. A bashful, downcast countenance, with inability to look one manfully in the face, is generally a sign of nervous exhaustion from masturbation, and often of impotency. That peculiar cast of countenance termed the Hippocratic is thus described by Hippocrates: ''The forehead wrinkled and dry ; the eye sunken •, the nose pointed, and bordered with a violet or black circle ; the temples sunken, hollow, and retired ; the ears sticking up ; the lips hanging down : the cheeks sunken ; the chin wrinkled and hard ; the color of the skin leaden or violet ; the hairs of the nose and eyelashes sprinkled with a yellowish-white dust." Such is the alteration in the human physiognomy which usually precedes death, or which may be produced by intense anxiety, grief, or sudden fright, or by long-continued want of sleep : in all cases it renders the prog- nosis very unfavorable. But of all the appearances presented by the countenance, that caused hj facial paralysis is the most striking and pecu- liar, since from one-half of the face all power of expression is gone ; the features are blank, still, and unmeaning ; the para- lyzed cheek hangs loose and flaccid ; and the face is drawn on one side, the healthy side being that so drawn, owing to the action of the sound muscles not being counterbalanced by the play of those on the affected side. "The patient," says Dr. Watson,' " cannot laugh, or weep, or frown, or express any feeling or emotion, with one side of his face, while the features of the other may be in full play. One-half of the aspect is that of a sleeping or of a dead person, or stares at you solemnly; the other half is alive and merry. The incongruity would be ludicrously droll, were it not so pitiable also, and distressing. To the vulgar, who do not comprehend the pos- sible extent of the misfortune, the whimsical appearance of such a patient is always a matter of mirth and laughter." Happily, however, there is not in the greater number of cases any cause for real alarm ; protracted cold, or some external injury or wound to the facial nerve — the portio dura of the seventh pair — or pressure upon this nerve by an enlarged * Op. cit. vol. i. p. 548. 88 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. parotid gland, being often the exciting cause of the complaint. In slight cases of hemiplegia the face is often unaffected, the paralysis being confined to the upper and lower extremities of one side ; sometimes, on the contrary, however, the face is the part first affected, the motor portion of the fifth nerve being more or less involved in, or influenced by, the paralyzing lesion. In such cases, the motions of the jaw on the affected side are impaired, and mastication is impeded 5 but unless the portio dura is also involved there is little or no distortion of the fea- tures, and no loss of expression. The disease of the motor portion of the fifth pair may be seated in or near the origin of the nerve in the brain, or, more rarely and more favorably, in the course of the nerve ; when there is loss of sensibility also, the sensitive branches of the fifth pair are likewise implicated. The appearance of the lips and mouth alone, often gives valuable aid in diagnosis. Thus, retraction of the corners of the mouth, so as to produce the sardonic grin — risus sardoni- cus — is very remarkable in inflammation of the diaphragm, and in certain painful affections of the stomach and bowels. So in the last stage of phthisis, or of hectic from exhausting diseases, or of cancer, the thin, retracted appearance of the lips, as if they were stretched over the gums, is peculiar. Swelling of the lips often occurs in children suffering from in- testinal worms, and in incipient phthisis ; in strumous sub- jects the upper lip is generally enlarged. After hemorrhage, in anaemia, and in diseases of the uterine organs, the lips are pallid, and at the same time inclined to crack, and become sore ; so, on the contrary, they present a purple hue, when, from any cause, the blood is imperfectly arterialized, and when there is congestion of the thoracic viscera. The hue or color of the countenance should be noticed. A pallid or anaemic tint attends all diseases caused by, or giving rise to, poverty or thinness of the blood, with a deficiency of the red corpuscles ; a generally diffused redness of the face attends inflammatory fevers in their early stages ; a dark, murky tint shows a morbid condition of the circulating fluids ; a continued sallowness is common in diseases of the liver, with insufficient secretion of bile, as well as in diseases of the spleen 5 jaundice is caused either by some impediment to the flow of bile into the duodenum and the consequent absorption of the retained bile, or by defective secretion on the part of the liver so that the principles of the bile are not separated from the blood ; a blue, leaden tint is seen in cases of mahg- nant cholera ; while the face becomes livid, in obstructive dis- eases of the heart or great vessels, in general acute bron- SIGNS PRESENTED BY THE EYE. 89 chitis, in the last stage of pneumonia, and in congestion of the lungs. A dark circle under and around the eyes is often observed in females suffering from ovarian or uterine disorder, menorrhagia, prolonged leucorrhoea, or who practise masturbation. It is not uncommonly present also in connection with severe organic dis- eases, especially perhaps when they are of a malignant character. Puffiness or oedema of the eyelids is frequently seen in the early stages of dropsy, dependent upon cardiac or renal disease ; closing of the eyelids takes place from intolerance of light, vertigo, or swelling; a falling of the upper lid — ptosis — caused by paralysis of the third nerve, may be due to merely local causes, as rheumatism, injury, &c., — or it may be the consequence of cerebral disease, as apoplexy, concussion of the brain, and so on, — or it maybe the precursor of an attack of hemiplegia ; and lastly, a frequent tremulous movement of the lids is observed in chorea, epilepsy, hysteria, and in cata- lepsy towards the end of the paroxysm. Signs presented by the Eye. — The eye may be increased in size from hyperemia of its tissues, such as takes place in impending suffocation, or in congestion of the brain, heart, or lungs; it also becomes more prominent, and therefore ap- parently increased in size, in convulsions, apoplexy, epilepsy, and delirium tremens. Ecchymosis — or swelling of the con- junctiva — is common in catarrh and many simple affections; but enlargement of the whole organ takes place only in hy- drophthalmia, or dropsy of the vitreous humor, and especially in medullary cancer, in which the eye becomes extruded from the cavity of the orbit as the disease advances. The position of the eye, as regards prominence or sinking, demands attention. Thus protrusion may occur from enlarge- ment of the eye — as just noticed, from tumors developed behind it, from infiamraation and turgidity of the surrounding tissues, from enlargements of the lachrymal gland, from aneurism, exostosis, or disease of the periosteum. Sinking of the eye is, on the contrary, a sign of atrophy of the parts behind the eyeball, and is seen in phthisis, in malignant and all wasting diseases, after long fasting, or hemorrhages, or violent evacuations, and fevers. As a rule, both eyes are equally sunk : if only one be so, some local affection of the brain, or paralysis of the optic nerve, is the probable cause. The color of the eye should not be disregarded. Redness of the conjunctiva is a symptom either of congestion and inflammation of this tunic, or of congestion or inflamma- tion of the brain or its membranes. In conjunctivitis, 8* 90 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. the enlarged vessels are seen generally of a bright scarlet color, irregularly arranged over the whole of the membrane ; when the vessels present a dirty brown appearance, a vitiated state of the blood exists, and the prognosis is unfavorable. The redness produced by inflammation of the sclerotic is very characteristic, the turgid vessels being arranged regularly in a radiated or zonular form, the radii running towards the edge of the cornea ; the vessels are smaller, also, than in in- flammation of the conjunctiva, and are seen to lie beneath the membrane. Sclerotitis is generally due to injury, or to severe catarrh, occurring in subjects predisposed to — or suffering from— rheumatism. In iritis there is discoloration of the iris, — if naturally blue, it becomes greenish ; if dark-colored, of a red hue,— ^with contraction, irregularity, and immobility of the pupil ; there is also dimness of vision, sometimes amounting to blindness ; pain, which is especially severe around the orbit at night ; and unless care be taken, adhesions are very likely to form between the pupillary edge of the iris and the capsule of the lens. A red or dirty gray turbidity at the bottom of the eye indicates disease of the retina, and often disease of a malignant character ; change of color from a clear white to a thick yellow tint in the crystalline lens is a sign of cataract ; while a greenish discoloration of the pupil is the pathogno- monic sign of glaucoma. The circumference of the cornea often undergoes a remarka- ble change in individuals about the age of forty-five or fifty — it is very rare before middle age — when, instead of presenting that translucent appearance so characteristic of its perfect state, it loses its lustre, and becomes opaque. This change, so well known as the arcus senilis, comes on gradually, with- out pain, and without giving rise to any loss of function ; it also occurs simultaneously in both eyes, except in cases where local disease or injury may have materially impaired the nutrition of only one organ. We are indebted to Mr. Canton for the discovery that this senile arc is due to fatty degenera- tion of the edge of the cornea, and for the still more important observation that it may be regarded as indicating a similar state of decay in important internal viscera, as the heart, the liver, the kidne}', the muscles, the coats of the small blood- vessels of the brain, lungs, &o. <' I have in no instance," says Mr. Canton,* ^' found the senile arc, when well developed, un- accompanied by fatty degeneration of the heart. The extent of degeneracy has appeared to me to bear a relation to the degree to which the cornea was invaded by the deposit." ♦Lnncet, llih January, 1851. SIGNS PRE SENT ED BY THE EYE. 91 This statement must be received, I believe, with some reserva- tion, but that it approximates rather closely to the truth, most practitioners allow; and I would say, therefore, that I should fear the conversion of other tissues into fat, and their conse- quent death — so to speak, and that life's forces altogether were more spent than other appearances might indicate, in any individual whose corneae presented well-marked senile arcs. If in addition to the arcus senilis the pulse was feeble and slow — below 50, and if the affected individual suffered, also from repeated attacks of syncope, I should be inclined to diagnose fatty degeneration of the muscular fibx'es of the heart. The size of the pupil possesses some diagnostic importance. A contracted pupil is observed in congestion of the brain, in inflammation of this organ or of its membranes, in some un- favorable cases of apoplexy and epilepsy, in hydrocephalus, in inflammation of the retina, and in poisoning by opium. A dilated pupil — when not due to an obstruction to the entrance of the rays of light, as by cataract or other causes — is in- dicative of some disease of the brain, attended with effusion and pressure, as apoplexy, the advanced stage of hydroce- phalus, &c. ; or of some sympathetic cerebral disturbance from gastric or intestinal irritation ; or of amaurosis ; or of the action of belladonna, or a poison of the same class. When, during the progress of any cerebral affection, dilatation follows rapidly upon contraction of the pupil, the occurrence of eftusion or some organic change is to be feared, especially if only one pupil be so affected. The lustre of the eye is generally diminished at the com- mencement of acute diseases, in all infectious and pestilential maladies, after exhaustion from any cause, and in all affec- tions where the nervous system is greatly debilitated. It is increased in the early stage of cerebral inflammation, in delirium, and in many forms of insanity, especially acute mania. A glazed appearance of the eyes is common before death. The function of vision is early affected in some disorders. Photophobia — increased sensibility to light — is observed in diseases where the sensibility generally is exalted, as hysteria; in irritation or inflammation of the brain; in inflammation of the different textures of the eye; and in scrofula. In com- mencing disease of the brain, or of the optic nerve (leading to amaurosis), one of the earliest symptoms is generally in- distinctness of vision — amblyopia ; or objects appear double — diplopia ; or only one-half of a figure can be distinguished at a time — hemiopia. In the same cases, scintillations, or 92 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. sparks or flashes of fire — photopsia — are seen ; or the patient complains of dark spots, or black figures, or flies — muscae volitantes — floating in the air. Lastly, squinting, when congenital or acquired by habit, is of no importance as regards diagnosis or prognosis ; but when it occurs in cerebral inflammation, apoplexy, or indeed in the course of any disease of the brain, it must be regarded as of very unfavorable import. In paralysis of the third nerve — which, it may be observed, is often a precursor of hemiplegia — there is generally, in addition to a falling of the upper eyelid, squinting of the eyeball outwards. The Sense of Hearing. — Preternatural acuteness of the sense of hearing sometimes precedes delirium and affections of a spasmodic character, especially epilepsy and tetanus ; when it occurs during the progress of severe diseases, the prognosis is rendered suspicious, to say the least. The oppo- site fault — obtuseness of hearing — is moi'e common, and generally of less significance ; when it occurs in continued fever, in the exanthemata. Sec, as it often does, it is not a symptom of much moment. With the deafness depending upon some physical imperfection in the organ of hearing, the physician has but little concern ; it is only in instances in which it has a deeper origin that his attention is excited. In organic cerebral diseases especially, the occurrence of deaf- ness must be regarded as an unfavorable sign ; such is also the case in concussion of the brain, and in epilepsy. A depravation of the sense of hearing, consisting of peculiar ringing noises in the ears — tinnitus aurium — often results simply from excitement of the imagination, and from too strong throbbing of the arteries about the temple 5 congestion of the cerebral vessels and morbid states of the brain of every kind will also produce it. When more or less constant, and of course supposing it to be independent of disease of the ear or closure of the Eustachian tube, it has been regarded as a sign of degeneration of the vessels of the head, and it may then prove the precursor of apoplexy, or paralysis, or — more fortunately — merely of epistaxis. Phenomena of a similar kind are often complained of by aged persons of both sexes who omit taking exercise in the open air ; and by women sufiering from nervous exhaustion, anaemia, or disease of the uterine organs. These annoying sounds are variously com- pared to the rushing of the wind, the hissing or singing of a tea-kettle, the beat of a drum, &c. The Posture and General Condition of the Body. — Inability to stand results from weakness in a great number of GENERAL COXDITIOX OF THE BODY. 93 acute and chronic diseases. It may, however, be the conse- quence of disease of the joints or bones of the lower extremi- ties, or of paralysis, or of vertigo, as at the commencement of many acute fevers. Inability to lie down — the necessity of assuming the sitting attitude — is an important indication in many disorders of the thoracic viscera. It is often hardly possible to relinquish the sitting position in simple dyspnoea, asthma, severe bronchitis, advanced phthisis, pleurisy with copious effusion, pneumonia, and in many instances of organic disease of the heart. In less urgent examples of these affections the sufferer obtains ease in a semi-supine posture, the shoulders and head being elevated by pillows. In extreme cases of asthma, the patient is often obliged to lean forwards, and place his elbows or arms on the window-ledge, in order to procure a fixed point for a stronger contraction of the muscles of respiration. A constantly retained position on the back is common in low fevers, and in the last stage of acute maladies, when the vital powers are thoroughly exhausted ; there is often at the same time unconsciousness, or coma, or low muttering delirium, indicating extreme exhaustion of organic nervous power. When this position is long retained, great attention to cleanliness, and a water-bed or cushion, will be required to prevent ulceration and gangrene of the skin over those parts of the back most pressed upon. The supine position, with the knees drawn up, so as to relax the abdominal integuments, indicates peritonitis, or, less frequently, inflammation of some of the viscera within the abdomen. Lying on the abdomen, and tossing from the prone to the supine posture, is observed in severe colic, during the passage of gall-stones, &c. A quiet position in lying down, with perfect consciousness and strength, is a favorable sign in disease, showing that the morbid processes are terminating. In acute rheumatism, however, the patients lie quiet, owing to the pain caused by any movement. A restless mode of lying down yields an unfavorable prognosis in thoracic inflammations, in rheu- matism, and in most organic diseases. Lying on the right side is often preferred in health, and especially in pneumonia of the right lung, or in pleurisy with effusion of the same side, afler the acute and more painful symptoms have sub- sided. Patients wish to lie on the left side in many organic diseases of the heart, sometimes in aneurism of the thoracic aorta, and in pneumonia or pleurisy of this side with effusion, af\.er the pain has ceased. In the early stages of pleurisy of 94 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. either side the affected person mostly lies on his back, with an inclination perhaps towards the affected side. The nutrition of the body should always attract attention. When there is emaciation, and it is rapidly increasing in degree, we may feel certain of the existence of severe consti- tutional disorder. In organic diseases of the lungs, heart, or digestive organs, emaciation is always present: so also in those affections attended with morbid discharges, as well as in low, continued, remittent, and hectic fevers. A redundant flow of milk — galactia — in women who are suckling, will give rise to wasting. When some of the secretions are so increased as to be exhausting, they are spoken of as colliquative, as colliquative sweats, colliquative diuresis, &c. Arrest of the progress of emaciation, and a more or less marked restoration of the flesh, is always a very favorable symptom, especially if at the same time there be an increase in strength. A sudden tendency to become corpulent, without any change in the habits and mode of living, must be viewed with some sus- picion, such tendency being often a forerunner of apoplexy. Care must be taken not to confound increased size, occasioned by the deposition of fat, with serous infiltration and em- physema. Serous infiltration of the face and of the upper extremities is a result of disease of the heart or lungs, rather than of the abdominal viscera, although one of the earliest circumstances which attracts attention in Bright's disease is frequently oedema of the face. (Edema of the lower extremities indi- cates some difficulty in the return of blood to the centre of the circulating system, and is therefore most frequently met with in diseases of the liver, heart, or spleen, or in renal affections, or in cases where ascites or abdominal tumors disturb the circulation. In acute diseases with great debilit}', and in anaemia, partial oedema of the lower extremities and of the feet often occurs, without rendering the prognosis unfavor- able, since it rapidly disappears upon the employment of appropriate treatment. Coldness of the surface oftlie body often attends sinking of the general strength, and when extreme and attended with cold sweats, generally teaches that the fatal stage of disease is approaching ; this is well seen in the state of collapse in cholera. Chilliness, shivering, horripilation, or rigors, with a remarkable feeling of coldness along the spine, usher in most of the febrile and inflammatory affections, just as increase of heat follows on the reaction of the vascular system. Shiver- ing, when it occurs in intermittent fevers, is not a dangerous THE TEETH AND GUMS. 95 symptom : when it takes place during the course of inflam- mations, suppuration is to be dreaded. Rigors also, at the height of such acute diseases as are associated with great depression, stupor, or cold sweats, are bad ; they are much less unfavorable when followed by heat. A harsh, dry, burning heat of the bochj is always unfavor- able, but especially so in inflammatory affections of important viscera : if at the same time a sense of internal heat is ex- perienced, with coldness of the feet and lower extremities, restlessness, and anxiety, there is a great fear of a rapidly ap- proaching fatal termination. A perspirable condition of the skin is, in the majority of cases, a favorable symptom, and more so when it arises natu- rally than when due to medicine. On the supervention of the sweating stage in ague, remarkable relief is experienced, as occurs generally in most fevers, inflammations, and especially in rheumatic fever. SECTION 2. SYMPTOMS BELONGING TO THE ORGANS AND FUNCTIONS OF DIGESTION. The symptoms and signs furnished by the digestive func- tions and organs comprise those evinced by the teeth and gums, by the saliva, by the tongue, by the taste, by degluti- tion, by the appetite, by jaundice, by nausea and vomiting, and by defecation. The Teeth and Gums. — In persons of good constitution the teeth are often found sound and perfect until an advanced period of life: their early decay indicates either prolonged disturbance of the function of digestion, or loss of constitu- tional strength, or constitutional vice, or the abuse of power- ful medicines, as acids and mercurials. They become loose in scurvy, purpura, and in mercurial salivation ; while impro- per diet — especially the abuse of spirituous liquors, of acids, and perhaps of sugar, renders them carious at an early age. In low fevers they become covered with mucus and sordes of a dark brown color, the extent of the sordes increasing with the depression of the vital powers. The accumulation of tartar round the teeth is said to show a disposition to calcu- lous and gouty affections. Chattering of the teeth occurs in the early stages of catarrh, fever, and acute inflammations generally : it is most marked in the cold stages of agues. Grinding of the teeth during sleep is common in irritable persons, and in children during dentition, or when suffering from intestinal worms, or from cerebral disease. 96 SYMPTOMS AND SIGN'S OF DISEASE. The gums are pale in anasmia, in most exhausting diseases, and after copious bloodletting. They are soft and disposed to bleed in scurvy, and in cancrum oris. They become red, spongy, and swollen in purpura, diabetes, salivation, and in dyspepsia of long continuance. In lead poisoning they pre- sent a blue margin ; a valuable symptom pointed out by the late Dr. Burton as pathognomonic of the contamination of the system by this metal. The Saliva. — Increased secretion of saliva — salivation or ptyalismus — may occur from the use of certain medicines, as mercury, iodine, and antimony ; from disease of the stomach, liver, or pancreas ; and from any cause which can irritate the parotid, submaxillary, or sublingual glands, or the mucous membrane of the mouth, as dentition, aphthae, small-pox, pus- tules, glossitis, tonsillitis, &c. In epilepsy, hydrophobia, and occasionally in apoplexy, the saliva is also increased in quan- tity, and frothy ; while at the commencement of most acute disorders there is diminution, with thickening of it. The Tongue. — The general indications afforded by the tongue are most important, since it not only sympathizes with the different parts of the alimentary canal and the organs con- nected with it, but more or less with the whole system. The mode of protruding this organ deserves attention. When in acute febrile diseases its movements are not under the patient's control ; when, upon being requested to put out the tongue, there is inability to do so ; or when the organ trembles much in the attempt, there is either great prostra- tion, or some exhausting nervous disorder, or dangerous cere- bral disease. Under the same circumstances, a difficult, hesi- tating mode of speaking, resembling stammering, is very un- favorable. Slight paralysis of the muscles of the tongue, giv- ing rise to indistinctness of speech, is not unfrequently the forerunner of general palsy. In chorea, the manner of sud- denly protruding and as rapidly withdrawing the tongue is very peculiar. In cases of facial paralysis, and especially in hemiplegia, when the ninth nerve is influenced by the paralyz- ing lesion, the tongue will be protruded towards one side, and generally towards the affected half of the body ; this is owing to the muscles which protrude this organ being paralyzed on that side, and in full force on the opposite, so that the strong muscles prevail and push the tongue to the weakened part. The hulk of the tongue may be increased or diminished. It may become enlarged from inflammation, or as a result of small-pox, scarlatina, syphilis, or the action of mercury or THE TONGUE. 97 poisons. Chronic hypertrophy sometimes takes place without any appreciable cause. When the enlargement of this organ is not sufficient to be very obvious, it may be frequently recog- nized by the appearance of indentations on the sides, caused by the pressure of the teeth : at the commencement of saliva- tion such an appearance is common. Actual diminution in the size of the tongue is rare ; when it occurs it is probably due to a deficiency in the quantity of the blood, or to feeble- ness of the heart's action. The condition of the tongue as to dryness and moisture is often significant. Dryness may exist in different degrees. It depends on a deficiency of saliva, or of mucus, and indicates a general tendency to diminished secretion : it is most common in continued fevers, in the exanthemata, in inflammation of the abdominal viscera and the serous membranes, and in many other diseases of an acute and febrile nature. "When the tongue, after having been furred and loaded, becomes diy, rough, hard, and dark-colored, a state of great and most dan- gerous prostration is indicated, with contamination of the blood, and suppression of the secretions. Humidity or mois- ture of the tongue is generally a favorable symptom, especially when it supervenes upon a dry or furred condition. In acute disorders the humidity first appears at the sides, and gradu- ally extends : this change is usually accompanied with a dimi- nution in the severity of the general symptoms. The color of the tongue is often changed from the natural healthy hue. A pale color is frequently associated with a similar appearance of the gums and lips, and is seen in anaemia, after loss of blood, in affections of the spleen, and during the progress of chronic disorders. A very red tongue occurs for the most part in inflammations of the palate, tonsils, and pharynx, and in the course of the exanthemata ; while in gastric and bilious fevers, and in severe dyspepsia, the redness is often limited to the tip and edges of the organ. When the blood is insufficiently aerated the tongue assumes a livid or purple color. An aphthous state of the tongue is not uncommon in in- fancy, when it constitutes a special disease — the thrush — as well as in adults in the last stage of phthisis, and in several other severe visceral diseases when tending towards a fatal termina- tion. Some forms of aphthae are said to depend upon the copious development of microscopical parasitic plants — the Leptothrix huccalis and the Oidium albicans. The temperature of the tongue is not often much affected. It is probably diminished in all diseases hastening to a fatal 9 98 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. termination: in the collapse of epidemic cholera the coldness of the tongue is always well marked. But of all the conditions of this member, the most valuable, as regards diagnosis, is that known as a furred tongue. In this state the tongue is covered with a morbid coating, varying in length, thickness, and color, and somewhat resembling the pile on the surface of cotton velvets. A furred condition of this organ is common in inflammations, in irritation of the mucous membranes, in diseases of the brain and its mem- branes, in all the varieties of fevers, and in short, in almost all acute and dangerous maladies. The presence of a fur, how- ever, is not always a sign of disease, since some persons habitually have a coated tongue, especially on rising in the morning, without any symptom whatever of disordered health. When the fur is white, thick, moist, and uniform, it usually indicates an active state of fever, without inflammation of in- ternal organs, and without any malignant tendency. When of a yellow hue, there is generally disordered action of the liver, with retention of bile in the blood. When brown or black, a low state of the vital powers is indicated, with contamination of the blood. In many instances the white fur of the tongue is modified by the tops of the red and swollen papillae project- ing through it, an appearance which is well seen in scarlet fever •, as the fur clears away, these papillae become more dis- tinct, and give the tongue a strawberry appearance. We may often learn much from the manner in which a furred tongue begins to clean. Thus it is a sign of a rapid and lasting convalescence when the fur slowly retires from the tip and edges, thinning gradually as it recedes. When it separates in flakes and patches, beginning at the middle or near the root of the organ, and leaving a smooth, red, glossy surface, the convalescence is apt to be more tedious and in- terrupted. Sometimes the fur recurs again and again before ultimately disappearing, especially in cases where the advance towards health is uncertain and unsteady. And lastly, when the crust is rapidly removed, and the exposed surface left of a raw appearance, or glossy, or fissured, or dark-colored, the prognosis is unfavorable. The Taste. — The sense of taste is rarely rendered more acute than natural, though it is so occasionally in nervous affections, as hysteria, hypochondriasis, &c. It is often im- paired in fevers, gastritis, gastro-enteritis, dyspepsia, catarrhs, and influenza : its early restoration in such cases is a favorable symptom. When lost from apoplexy, or some other cerebral disease, and when not restored during convalescence, a re- APPETITE AND DESIRE FOR DRINK. 99 lapse is to be dreaded. A vitiated taste is common in disor- ders of the digestive organs, in affections of the lungs, in dis- eases of the uterus, and in all nervons complaints : it may be insipid, as in catarrhs ; or bitter, as in diseases of the liver ; or saltish, as in phthisis ; or putrid, as in gangrene of the lungs ; or metallic, as is occasioned by the action of metals on the system, such as mercury, &c. Deglutition. — This may be difficult — dysphagia; or im- possible — aphagia. Both conditions may arise from enlarge- ment of the tonsils, disease of the tissues, of the pharynx, or of the oesophagus, or from disease of the brain, medulla ob- longata or their membranes, and from structural changes in the nerves distributed to the tongue, pharynx, or upper part of the oesophagus. When the result of functional nervous dis- order, as in hysteria, it is generally accompanied with spasms in other parts, or with flatulent distension of the stomach, and a sensation as of a ball rising in the throat — globus hystericus ; in such cases it is of little moment. The prognosis is more unfavorable when dysphagia occurs towards the termination of acute diseases, than when it does so at their commencement; when dependent upon paralysis or upon organic disease, it is also a very unfavorable symptom. Aphagia, unless caused by inflammation, is generally fatal. The Appetite and Desire for Drink.— The appetite may be diminished, or increased, or depraved. The temporary loss of desire for food is one of the earliest results of disease, es- pecially perhaps of fever, while its return is commonly one of the first evidences of convalescence. The perfect loss of ap- petite — anorexia — may depend upon the general disturbance caused by all acute diseases ; or upon there being but little necessity for food, as in aged persons, and in those of weak constitution and sedentary habits; or upon malignant or chronic disease of the stomach or some other part of the ali- mentary canal ; or upon functional derangement of the nervous system. Increased appetite — bulimia — more rare than the preceding, is occasioned either by an increased want of nu- trition from excessive consumption of the living tissues or of the blood; or it may arise from irritation of the stomach, or from the irritation of worms in the intestines, or from disease of the nervous system. The existence of hunger during the progress of fever is generally considered a bad sign, as indi- cating great derangement of the nervous system. A voracious appetite with vomiting — the bulimia emetica of Cullen — is common in certain forms of inflammatory irritation of the pylorus or of the mucous membrane of the stomach, and in 100 SYMPTOMS AXD SIGNS OF DISEASE. hooping-cough. A vitiated or depraved appetite — pseudorexia or dyspepsia pica — sometimes occurs in children, often in the insane, and in pregnant, hysterical, and chlorotic women. It is generally symptomatic of altered sensibility of the nerves ; or of a disordered condition of the gastric secretions dependent upon imperfect function ; or of an irritated state of some organ related to the stomach, as the brain, uterus, ovaries, and large intestines. The desire for drink is frequently morbidly excessive — poly- dipsia — and is often present when the appetite for food is completely lost. Thirst may arise from excitement or from depression ; it accompanies most cases of inflammation and irritation, almost all diseases of the intestines, hemorrhages, and those disorders where the excretions are excessive — as diabetes, phthisis with profuse perspiration, simple and ma- lignant cholera, &c. There is often the most pressing thirst for ice or cold water in fevers as well as in all malignant forms of disease attended with great prostration ; for demulcent drinks in pulmonary affections ; for vinegar or acidulous fluids in disorders of the uterine organs ; and for alcoholic drinks in diseases of debility, and during the convalescence from fevers. In the majority of chronic maladies there is an absence of thirst. Jaundice. — Icterus or jaundice, though often spoken of as a separate disease, is in fact only a symptom of disordered action of the liver. It may be produced in two ways : 1st, by some impediment to the flow of bile into the duodenum, and the consequent absorption of the retained bile ; and, 2d, by defective secretion on the part of the liver, so that the princi- ples of the bile are not separated from the blood. The most common impediment to the flow of bile into the duodenum is the impaction of a gall-sione in the ductus com- munis choledochus. These concretions consist of inspissated bile, and chiefly perhaps of cholesterine — a peculiar sub- stance, which exists in a state of solution in healthy bile, but which, under certain circumstances, becomes released from its solvent, and assumes its natural crystalline form. In all cases the nucleus of the concretion consists of a small piece of solid biliary matter, or of inspissated bile cemented by mucus. When the obstructing stone or stones have passed into the duodenum they are voided with the faeces, and the cause of the jaundice being removed, the skin and conjunc- tivae gradually assume their natural color, the fasces become dark instead of clay-colored, and the urine — from having been of a safiron hue — returns to its natural pale yellow tint. NAUSEA AND VOMITING. 101 The other causes of jaundice from obstructed gall-ducts are, cancer of the liver or pancreas, closure of the ducts from adhe- sive inflammation of the liver, from spasm of the ducts, and from constipation — the loaded intestine pressing upon the duct, and so impeding the flow of bile. The secretion of bile may be suppressed or rendered defec- tive by congestion and inflammation of the liver ; by mental shocks, or grief, or dissipation ; by certain poisons in the blood ; and by many disorders of the stomach. Nausea and Vomiting. — Nausea commonly precedes vomiting, and may be due to improper food, or to a disordered state of the digestive organs — especially the stomach, or to disease of the brain, or to some derangement of the nervous system. Disease of the gastric or intestinal mucous mem- brane, cancer of the stomach, obstruction of the intestines, peritonitis, nephritis, metritis, and most of the exanthema- tous fevers, are common causes of vomiting; when long con- tinued, or when the vomited matters are fajcal, the prognosis is very unfavorable. Nausea and vomiting accompanying diseases of the brain or epilepsy, must be regarded as dangerous symptoms ; on the contrary, when observed in pregnancy, hysteria, or hypochondriasis, no alarm need be excited, since they are merely symptomatic of irritation transmitted by the ganglionic nervous system to the stomach. When, in cases of encephalitis, nausea and vomiting are the earliest symptoms, observation has shown we may conclude that the inflammation has commenced in the cerebral pulp rather than in the membranes of the brain : when, on the contrary, the attack comes on with a sudden fit of convulsion, the inflammation has commenced in the arachnoid or pia mater. If considerable relief follow the vomiting, if the loathing and nausea, oppression of the chest and stomach, and headache disappear, the prognosis becomes much more favorable. If, on the contrary, the phenomena which pre- ceded the vomiting increase after it, and especially if eructa- tions, hiccough, and spasms ensue, we must be prepared to find that the disease has taken a dangerous turn. The sooner the vomiting occurs after eating, the higher up in the alimen- tary canal is the disease seated. Thus when it takes place within one hour of taking food, the disease will be found in the stomach ; when after the lapse of two or three hours, in the pylorus or duodenum ; and after a longer interval, in the large intestines. For the examination of the vomited matters, see Chapter XL, Section 3. Defsecation. — The examination of the intestinal evacua- 9* 102 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. tions should but seldom be omitted in any case, and never in obstinate and severe diseases. A patient will often assert that the bowels are open daily, when the evacuation is very scanty, and quite insufficient to prevent a large fsecal accumu- lation. Besides ascertaining the existence or non-existence of constipation, the practitioner should ascertain the color of the stools, their consistence, and nature. The frequency of the evacuations will vary with the age and mode of living : children at the breast evacuate the bowels several times in the day ; adults once ] and old people, and those of sedentary habits, more rarely. Diarrhoea at the commencement of an acute inflammation of some organ not belonging to the chylopoietic system, is generally^ an unfavorable symptom, as well as when relaxation of the bowels sets in with collapse. If, however, the diarrhoea is followed by alleviation of the general symptoms, and if the strength increases, the prognosis is good. Tenesmus, or a constant desire to go to stool, with pain and inability to pass an evacuation, is a common symptom of dysentery, or of some irritation of the rectum — such as arises from worms, hemorrhoids, calculus of the bladder, retroflexion of the uterus, &c. Constipation may arise from a general morbid state of the intestinal canal, such as is often produced by the habitual use of purgatives, or from the commencement of inflammation of some part of the intestines •, from disease of the liver ; from a want of contractile power in the coats of the rectum ; from some mechanical obstruction preventing the progressive motion of the contents of the tube ; or, lastly, from organic or inflammatory disease of the brain or spinal cord, or their membranes. SECTION 3. SYMPTOMS BELONGING TO THE FUNCTION OF KESPIRATION. These symptoms are of great importance, not only in refer- ence to diseases of the organs of respiration, but also in respect to many other maladies to which the human frame is liable ; especially perhaps in regard to the diagnosis of diseases of the heart and large vessels, diseases of the brain, abdominal viscera, and certain febrile and constitutional dis- orders. I shall first make a few remarks upon the function of respiration, and then speak of the symptoms to be derived from dyspnoea, orthopnoea, the odor of the breath, the tempe- rature of the expired air, cough, hiccough, expectoration, stertor, yawning and sighing, and, lastly, sneezing. DYSPXCEA. 103 The various and highly important physical signs of pulmo- nary disease made evident by auscultation, percussion, mensu- ration, palpation, &c., will be discussed in another part of this work, when treating of the diagnosis of the special diseases of the lungs. The Respirations. — In judging of the signs derived from the character of the respirations, it must be remembered that this function is remarkably influenced or modified not only by disease, but also by age, sex, temperament, the sleeping and waking states, mental emotions, the position of the body, and the temperature and pressure of the air. Every respiration consists of an inspiration and an expiration, each occupying nearly equal spaces of time, the duration of inspiration slightly predonderatiug over that of expiration. In the healthy adult the act of respiration is performed almost automatically, about eighteen times in a minute, or once for every four beats of the heart; in women and children the respirations are quicker and louder, averaging in the latter about twenty-five in a minute. The number of respirations is also less during the sleeping than the waking state ; in the recumbent position, than in the sitting ; and in the sitting, than in the erect posture. When, however, a part of the lungs is rendered unfitted for performing its office, or when too great a quantity of blood is sent to the lungs for decar- bonization, the frequency of the respirations becomes in- creased, this frequency varying until — in very unfavorable cases — it even reaches sixty in the minute. When, from any cause, a pause of three minutes takes place in the play of the lungs, death is said to result. Dyspnoea. — This term literally signifies difficult breathing, a condition which arises when, from any cause — either de- rangement of function or change of structure — the proportion between the quantity of atmospheric air that reaches the lungs, and the quantity of blood that is sent to them from the right side of the heart to be arterialized, is altered. When the dyspnoea is permanent, the prognosis will be very unfavor- able : the greater its degree also the more there is to fear, although it is not always directly proportioned to the organic change. The conditions leading to this alteration are numerous and diversified. Thus the blood itself may be in such an un- healthy condition that its circulation becomes impeded, as in malignant cholera ; or it may become congested in the pul- monary capillaries, and so retard the circulation, and, at the same time, hinder the entrance of air into the pulmonary cells ; 104 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. or it may be sent too quickly to the lungs, as in fever and in- flammation. So also the fault may be in the air, which may be too much rarefied, or may have poisonous gases mingled with it, and be thus rendered unfit for aerating the blood. Different diseases of the lungs, giving rise to consolidation, or compression, or destruction of the pulmonary tissue, or load- ing the bronchial tubes and air-cells with liquid, will shut out the air. Pneumonia, bronchitis, pulmonary hemorrhage, phthisis, pleuritic effusion, the presence of air in the pleura, pericarditis with effusion, and aneurismal or other tumors within or pressing upon the thorax, will operate in excluding the air from portions of the lungs ; and consequently the re- spirations will be augmented, in order that the sound pul- monary tissue may counterbalance, by increased work, the loss of function in the diseased part. Constriction of the air- passages by spasm — as in asthma, or by the presence of tumors ; obstruction of the trachea by false membranes — as in croup ; or great swelling of the tonsils ; or inflammation of the glottis, will all impede the entrance of air to the lungs, and give rise to dyspnoea. The pulmonary branches of the par vagum constitute the principal and constant excitor, as the nerves that supply the muscles of respiration — the phrenic, intercostal, spinal accessory, long thoracic, and the branches of the spinal nerves supplying the abdominal muscles — are the motor links of the nervous chain by which the automatic respiratory movements are governed. Hence disease in these nerves, or in the parts of the nervous system from which they arise, produces disorder in the function they govern, of the most serious kind. The ultimate branches of the par vagum being distributed over the stomach, accounts for the connec- tion which so frequently exists between dyspnoea, dyspepsia, and functional derangement of the heart. And, lastly, disease of the muscles of respiration themselves, gives rise to dys- pnoea ; the healthy muscles being stimulated to excessive action, in order to compensate for the loss of power in those afifected. Healthy inspiration is performed with ease and freedom, and is effected by a nearly equal elevation of the ribs, a turning of their bodies outwards — by which the horizontal and antero- posterior diameters of the thoracic cavity are enlarged, and a depression of the diaphragm ; in women the respiration is more costal and less diaphragmatic than in men. Ordinary expiration is the natural return of the thoracic cavity to its size during rest, owing to the weight and elasticity of its walls ; the diaphragm becomes relaxed, and ascends into the chest ; ' ODOR OF THE BREATH. 105 the abdominal muscles, which had been protruded, return to their natural position ; and the costal cartilages, which had been rendered tense by the act of inspiration, bring their elastic properties into play, and, aided by the resiliency of the lung, combine to produce a general diminution of the thoracic cavity. In certain forms of dyspnoea, however, the respiratory exertion is more perceptible in one part than in another, and authors therefore speak of abdominal, thoracic, and cervical respiration. In ahdominal respiration the abdomen rises and falls considerably, the diaphragm being chiefly exerted, while the ribs remain motionless. It occurs when the thoracic movements are rendered painful by pleurisy, or fracture of the ribs ; and also in apoplexy, and in cases of extreme prostra- tion when an insufficient supply of blood is sent to the brain. The thoracic respiration, with suppression of the abdominal movements, indicates obstruction to the free action of the diaphragm, such as may arise from enlargement of the liver or spleen, from an over-distended stomach, ascites, ovarian dropsy, a very enlarged uterus, [&c. ; it also occurs in peri- tonitis, when each movement of the abdominal parietes in- creases the general distress and the local pain. And, lastly, the cervical respiration — when each inspiration is efiFected with considerable exertion of the superior ribs, the sterno-mastoids, and other muscles of the neck — indicates that higher grade of dffficult breathing so often seen in advanced stages of pul- monary or cardiac affections, and in obstructive disease of the larynx. Orthopncea. — Orthopnoea is said to exist when the de- rangement of the respiratory function is so great that the suf- ferer cannot lie down, but can only respire in the erect posture ; in which position greater freedom is allowed for the expansion of the chest, and all pressure upon the diaphragm by the abdominal viscera .is removed. This variety of dys- pnoea is often witnessed in asthma, in certain stages of hydro- thorax, in general dropsy, and in diseases of the abdominal viscera. In asthma, the paroxysms of difficult breathing are frequently so severe, that a person unacquainted with the nature of the disease would suppose the sufferer to be at the point of death 5 yet the attacks are seldom attended with im- mediate danger, and often rapidly pass away. The Odor of the Breath is subject to great variation, being sweet and agreeable in perfect health ; foul and un- pleasant in disorder of the digestive organs, in scurvy, malig- nant sore throat, &c. ; and generally peculiarly faint at the time of the flow of the catamenia. During the progress of the lOG SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. exanthematous, typhoid, and pestilential fevers, it is disagree- able and infectious; but in no disease is it so bad — so over- poweringly offensive — as in gangrene of the lung, which may be almost diagnosed from the putrid odor of the breath alone. The Temperature of the Expired Air.— In fevers, in sthenic inflammations of the bronchial tubes, lungs, or pleura, and in most inflammatory disorders during their early stages, the temperature of the expired air will be found raised more or less above the natural standard ; while, on the contrary, it is lowered in all malignant and depressing affections, as in the last stages of fever, in suffocative catarrh, and the collapse of cholei'a. Cough. — A common symptom in diseases of the chest is cough, which may be defined as an abrupt, loud and violent expiration, accompanied by a contraction of the glottis, tra- chea,- and larger bronchial tubes; having for its object the expulsion of a foreign body, the presence of which is irritating the air-passages. It may therefore often be regarded as con- servative — as an effort of nature to expel something from the air-passages or lungs which should not be there. This is not always the case, however ; since if, in any way, any portion of the vagus nerve above the part where the pulmonary branches are given off be irritated, cough will result. There is a great diversity in the character of the cough, which has received names corresponding with its peculiarities. Thus, we have the dry cough, so often resulting from exposure to cold, the inhalation of acrid or acid fumes and gases, the acci- dental passage of foreign substances into the trachea, the irrita- tion of the glottis by an enlarged uvula, and so on. Many hys- terical, weak, nervous women, also, suffer frequently from a dry barking cough — more painful to the bystanders than the indi- vidual who utters it — without any appreciable cause. A dry hoarse cough is often one of the earliest symptoms of severe affections of the larynx, trachea, or lungs ; of organic disease of the heart, or of the large thoracic blood-vessels ; and some- times of an irritated condition of the mucous surface of the stomach and oesophagus, of inflammation of the liver, and of obstruction of the gall-duct; in the latter case, however, the cough is generally spasmodic, recurring from time to time in severe paroxysms. The moist or humid cough may follow the preceding, or may occur primarily from any of the causes of common catarrh. In old people it is a frequent sign of chro- nic bronchitis ; and many delicate persons suffer yearly from winter cough, with excessive secretion of mucus, and relaxation of the vessels of the air-passages. EXPECTORATION. 107 According as each paroxysm consists of one cough, or of a series of them, so a different condition is denoted. The oc- currence of a single sharp cough is common in pleurisy, in the first stage of pneumonia, and in the early or crude stage of tubercular deposit. On the contrary, the cough recurs in paroxysms of some duration, in croup, hooping-cough, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema of the lungs, phthisis with tubercular cavities, diseases of the heart, and in cerebral irritation. In many of these cases, moreover, the fits of coughing come on in unequal paroxysms ; severe exacerbations being especially frequent towards the morning, and less common as the evening approaches. Hiccoug'h. — Singultus, or hiccough, may be defined as an uneasy sensation at the praecordia, with a spasmodic, rapid, but momentary contraction of the diaphragm and other respi- ratory muscles, occurring at short intervals and causing a loud, frequent, and slightly painful inspiration. It is fre- quently produced in infants, young children, and aged people, by any slight irritation of the stomach or duodenum ; mental emotions, as laughter or crying, as also uterine irritation, often give rise to it in hysterical or pregnant women ; inflammation of the liver, or diaphragm, or pancreas, or cardiac orifice of the stomach will cause it; tumors pressing upon the eighth pair of nerves may originate it ; and, lastly, it is common to- wards the fatal termination of many acute diseases, fevers, and hemorrhages, when it forms an important — because very unfavorable — symptom. Expectoration. — Expectoration is the act of discharging, by coughing, hawking, or otherwise, the secretions or fluids of the fauces and air-passages. The sputa are evacuated or ex- pectorated with ease or difficulty, according to the nature and stage of the disease, the age and strength of the patient, and the viscidity or fluidity of the expectoration. An easy expec- toration is usually regarded as favorable in all diseases of the respiratory organs. In children, the sputa are generally swal- lowed. A difficult expectoration of viscid sputa, at the commence- ment of any pulmonary affection, is of no unfavorable import; but it becomes so, in an advanced stage of disease, whether the cause be want of secretion, or too little power to discharge it when formed. In gangrene of the lung, in the chronic bronchitis of aged people, and in phthisis as death approaches, the morbid secretion accumulates, is expectorated with greater difficulty, and the weakness increasing, the functions of the lungs become impeded, and ultimately arrested. 108 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. jPor the chemical examination of the sputa, and the signs to be derived from their r/eneral appearance, d'c, see Chapter ^L, Section 2. Stertor. — Stertor, or stertorous breathing, is merely tbat form of respiration in which each inspiration is attended with deep snoring. It occurs during the insensibility following an attack of apoplexy ; in compression of the brain from fracture of the skull, and in many other cerebral diseases ; and in cases of coma, a condition in which the functions of organic life — and especially the circulation — continue in full force, while the functions of animal life — with the exception of the mixed function of respiration — are suspended. Yawning and Sighing".— These are nearly related phe- nomena, consisting of prolonged and deep inspirations, with short and strong expirations ; and indicating fatigue from nervous exhaustion and weariness, or the depression arising from ungratified mental desires. Yawning is generally a sign of mental vacuity and fatigue ; sighing, of mental depression and sorrow. Yawning is often a troublesome and, generally, an unfavorable symptom after an attack of hemiplegia ; it comes on when the first effects of the shock are subsiding, and is troublesome in proportion to the severity of the shock. Sneezing. — Sneezing — sternutatio — is produced by a deep inspiration, followed by a violent, loud, convulsive expiration, whereby the air is driven rapidly through the nasal fossae, car- rying with it the mucus and foreign bodies adhering to the Schneiderian membrane. Anything which stimulates the nasal mucous membrane will cause sneezing. It is commonly occasioned by common catarrh, or by disease of the respira- tory organs ; it is sometimes a sympathetic phenomenon in hysteria, and in irritation of the intestinal canal from worms, &c. Accompanied by vertigo and tinnitus aurium, it some- times precedes or ushers in a fit of apoplexy, or an attack of paralysis. SECTION 4. SYMPTOMS BELONGING TO THE FUNCTION OF CIRCULATION. The morbid affections of the function of the circulation are observed chiefly in palpitations of the heart and large vessels, in the pulse, in the condition of the capillaries, in certain symptoms derived from the venous system, and in the state of the blood. Palpitations of the Heart and Large Vessels.— In a state of health we are not generally sensible of the beating of THE PULSE. 109 our hearts ; but when the pulsations become much increased in force or frequency, the distressing sensation known as pal- pitation is experienced. Increased action of the heart results from many conditions, both from slight effects — as violent exertion and mental excitement, as well as from severe causes especially such as give rise in any way to obstruction of the circulation. In enlargement of the heart with thickening of its parietes, there is palpitation, and the pulsations of the carotids and other large arteries are violent, and painfully felt. So, in atrophy of the heart with thinning of its walls, this organ beats more feebly than in hypertrophy, but the pulsa- tions spread over a greater extent of surface ; the beating of the large vessels is not felt. There is also more or less palpi- tation when the circulation becomes deranged from disease of the lungs; as in pneumonia during the stage of hepatization, in severe bronchitis, in hydrothorax, pleurisy, pneumothorax, asthma, laryngitis, &c. Palpitation is a common symptom in hysteria and other nervous disorders ; and a more common symptom still, is a feeling of '' fluttering " at the heart, and in the region of the stomach, with throbbing of the temporal arteries. A sensa- tion of pulsation in the epigastric region is often connected with imperfect digestion in irritable constitutions, and gives rise to great distress. A similar pulsation is experienced in aneurism of the aorta, or when any tumor lies over this vessel. But the most extraordinary degree of palpitation and of morbid pulsation in the large arteries is observed in instances of ex- haustion from the loss of blood. In a case of flooding after parturition, which occurred in my own practice, the patient complained much of her suflerings in this respect, and stated that she could feel every artery in her body beat, until her condition was relieved by the free employment of stimuli. The Pulse. — In examining the pulse, there are a few brief practical rules which it behoves the physician to bear in mind. Thus— 1. The pulse should be felt by applying three or four fingers to the radial artery, as it lies in front of the wrist. After as- certaining the frequency and equality of the pulse, the fingers should alternately press upon the artery, and relax the pressure, so as to appreciate the degree of resistance. The pressure should be sufficient to allow of the beats of the artery being distinctly felt, yet not so forcible as to obliterate the pulse, however weak it may be. The artery at the wrist affords, in the majority of cases, the most eligible part for ascertaining the state of the pulse ; still it occasionally becomes necessary 110 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. to examine the artery near the seat of disease, as, for example, the temporal artery in cerebral affections. 2. In feeling the pulse of timid, nervous, or excitable per- sons, great caution and calmness is necessary, in order not to excite the heart to increased frequency of action. The patient should be engaged in conversation, so as to divert his attention, and the practitioner should wait until the first agitation oc- casioned by his visit has subsided. The indications afforded by the pulse cannot be relied upon immediately after bodily exercise, or mental emotion of any kind. 3. The patient should be in the sitting or horizontal position, unless it be desirable to ascertain especially the effect of standing. Both wrists should be examined, since the vessel on one side is sometimes larger than that on the other ; more- over, the artery sometimes deviates from its natural course, so that the patient may appear pulseless. Care must be taken that no pressure is exerted upon the artery in any part of its course by ligatures, tight sleeves, tumors, &c. 4. The pulse should, in acute cases, be felt more than once at each visit ; its diversities will be thus positively ascertained, and the conclusions formed by the practitioner from the first examination confirmed or corrected. The pulse is produced by the blood sent into the aorta by each systole or contraction of the left ventricle of the heart ; consequently, its nature will depend on the condition of the arteries, of the blood, and of the heart. In each pulsation the artery is slightly expanded, and perhaps laterally displaced ; it then returns to its original size and position, after which there is an interval of rest. The frequency of the pulsations, and the regularity or irregularity of their succession must depend upon the heart. The pulse at the wrist corresponds to the systole of the ventricles, making allowance for the slight interval that must elapse before the wave of blood reaches so distant a part. In the healthy adult male, the pulse may be described as regular, equal, compressible, moderately full, and swelling slowly under the finger ; in the healthy female, and in children of both sexes, it is rather smaller and quicker in the beat. In individuals of a sanguine temperament, the pulse may be de- scribed generally as full, hard, and quick ; in those of a ner- vous temperament, it is softer and slower. In old age, the pulse assumes a hardness which it would not otherwise possess, owing to the increased firmness of the arteries. The pulse has its maximum frequency in early infancy, and its minimum in robust old age. According to Quetelet,* it * Sur I'Homme, vol. ii. p. 86. THE PULSE. Ill may be estimated to range in infancy from a maximum of 165 to a minimum of 104, the mean being 135. This agrees with the conclusions of most authorities iu this country, who regard it as being — at this period of life — on the average 140. The average frequency of the pulse in 27 males and 34 females, each sex being of the mean age of 71 years, was found by MM. Leuret and Mitivie to be, in round numbers, 76.* Dr. Pennock's observations on 170 males and 203 fe- males, of the mean age of about 67 years, give as the average 75 beats iu a minute.^ A progressive decline from infancy to old age, with a slight increase during the period of decrepitude, may be stated as the true law of the pulse. This is well shown in the following table, by Dr. Guy,^ which presents the num- ber of the pulse at each quinquennial period throughout the whole of life. The averages, for the first eight periods, are founded each on fifty observations, of which half were made on males and half on females. The average for the period from seventy-six to eighty is deduced from the same number of facts similarly divided ; while, for most of the other periods, the averages are derived from forty observations — twenty on males and twenty on females. Age. Max. Min. Mean. Range. 2 to 5 128 80 105 48 5 — 10 124 72 93 52 10 — 15 120 68 88 52 15 — 20 108 56 77 52 20 — 25 124 56 78 68 25 — 30 100 53 74 47 30 — 35 94 58 73 36 35 — 40 100 56 73 44 40 — 45 104 50 75 54 45 — 50 100 49 71 51 50 — 55 88 55 74 33 55 — 60 108 48 74 60 60 — 65 100 54 72 46 65 — 70 96 52 75 44 70 — 75 104 54 74 50 75 — 80 94 50 72 44 80, and upwards, 98 63 79 35 » De la Fr6quence des Pouls. chez les Ali6n6s. • Note on the Frequency of the Pulse and Respiration of the Aged. "[American Journal of Medical Science," July, 1847. • Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology : Article, Pids€. 112 SYMPTOMS AND SIGXS OF DISEASE. The result of all these observations, and a careful examina- tion of the foregoing table, shows that the pulse may be stated, in round numbers, as being — At birth, 140. During infancy, 120 to 130. In clnldhood, 100. Youth, 90. Adult male, 70 — 75, Adult female, 75 — 80. Old age, 70. Decrepitude, 75 — 80. The pulse is modified by several circumstances besides disease. Thus posture has a very considerable influence on its rhythm or frequency, even in healthy persons ; this in- fluence being still more marked in disease, more in males than in females, and in adult age than in youth. The pulse is more frequent standing than sitting, and sitting than lying ; on the contrary, it is stronger lying than standing, so that its minimum of frequency and its maximum of strength are attained together. According to Dr. Guy' the mean numbers of the pulse, in the healthy adult male, are as follows : Standing, 79 ; sitting, 70 ; lying, 67 ; while, in the healthy adult female, the numbers run : Standing, 89 ; sitting, 82 ; lying, 80. Dr. Graves lays down as an established law that, in a debili- tated person, when a sudden change of position — as from the erect to the horizontal — makes little or no difference in the frequency of the pulse, we may conclude that the heart or at least its left ventricle, is increased in size and strength.^ Sex influences the frequency of the pulse to some degree. The female pulse difi'ers but slightly from that of the male during the earlier years of life ; but after about eight years of age, the mean pulse of the female exceeds that of the male by from six to fourteen beats, the average excess being about nine beats in aminue. The pulse is usually also more frequent and more developed during pregnancy, especially in excitable women. Muscular exertion temporarily increases the frequency of the pulse more than any other cause. This is especially the case in the early part of the day, the pulse, moreover, being always more frequent and more excitable in the morning than in the evening; the diminished frequency of the pulse towards the after part of the day probably depends on the exhaustion of *Op. cit. p. 189. ^ Lectures on Clinical Medicine. Second edition, vol. i. p. 50. THE PULSE. 113 the strength. The pulse falls during sleep, considerably in children and in irritable nervous persons, but slightly in healthy adults. The general effect of food is to excite the pulse ; warm drinks, alcoholic liquors, and tobacco especially do so. So also heat, inflammatory action, fever, extreme debility, sleeplessness, the first stage of plethora, loss of blood, and the exciting passions and emotions increase the fre- quency of the pulse, from seventy or eighty beats in a minute, up to 100, 120, or even to 200; while cold, continued rest, sleep, slight fatigue, want of food, digitalis, increased atmo- spheric pressure, and the depressing passions of the mind, diminish its frequency to sixty, fifty-five, or even forty beats per minute. Quickness of pulse differs from frequency, the latter having reference to the succession of the pulsations, the former to each beat separately. A frequent pulse is one in which the number of pulsations is greater than usual in a given time ; a quick pulse, one in which each beat occupies a less period of time than naturally, although the whole number of beats may not be materially increased. A quick pulse is generally a sign of nervous disorder, indicating irritation with debility j a frequent pulse is indicative of arterial excitement — fre- quently of inflammation, or of great depression, as just shown. The jerking pulse is characterized by a quick, rather forcible beat, followed by a sudden, abrupt cessation, as if the direc- tion of the current had suddenly changed ; it was pointed out by Dr. Hope as indicative of deficiency of the aortic valves, and consequent regurgitation into the ventricle. Somewhat allied to this is the thHlling pulse of aneurism, cardiac disease, or anaemia. Regularity of the pulse is generally a favorable sign in disease, although cases are recorded in which the pulse being uniformly irregular, or even distinctly intermittent in health, has become regular during the progress of disease, and resumed its irregularity on recovery. The intermittent pulse — that in which a pulsation is occasionally omitted — is often due to some obstruction to the circulation in the heart or lungs, to aortic aneurism, or to some cerebral disturbance, particularly inflammation and softening of the brain, apoplexy, &c.; slighter causes, however, occasionally produce it, espe- cially perhaps dyspepsia with flatulence, when occurring in the debilitated or aged. The irregular pulse is a higher degree of the intermitting, the pulsations being unequal, and continuing an indefinite time ; disturbances of the circula- 10* 114 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. tion, of the respiration, or of the functions of the brain, orive rise to it ; it is not unfrequently met with during the puerperal state, especially at the accession of puerperal fever. The volume of the pulse may be greater than usual, when it is said to be full, as in general plethora, and in the early stages of acute diseases ; or less than nsual, when it is known as small or contraded — being sometimes so small that it is said to be thread-like — as in anajmia, after severe hemorrhage, and in all cases of great prostration. When the pulse resists compression it is termed hard, firm, or resisient; when very hard and at the same time small, iciry; softness of the pulse is almost synonymous with compressibility, and generally indi- cates defective tone and loss of vital power. In fever, a dicrotous pulse — that is to say, a pulse which beats twice as fast as in health — which is at the same time hard, is a very unfavorable symptom, especially if it continue more than twenty-four hours; if, however, it is succeeded by epistaxis, and then disappears, it is more favorable. When, in fever, a hard dicrotous pulse lasts for many days, without any tendency to hemorrhage, the case — in nine out of ten — ends fatally. In haemoptysis, long-continued epistaxis, and internal inflammations, a very hard dicrotous pulse sometimes occurs, which resists all treatment, and portends a fatal issue ; no matter how much the other symptoms may improve, so long as the pulse retains this character, the patient is in immi- nent danger.' Lastly, if the pulse at both wrists be not isochronous or equal — if the beats do not occur at the same time — we must suspect disease of one or the other radial arteries, or that pressure is made upon some part of the arterial tract between the heart and wrist by a tumor, aneurism, &c. Condition of the Capillaries. — The state of the capil- lary circulation on various parts of the surface, often furnishes indications of some importance as respects vascular action and vital power, especially in the exanthematous fevers and in cachectic diseases. By pressing the finger upon the skin and noticing' the rapidity with which the blood returns into the whitened spot, we ascertain the rapidity of the circulation through the capillaries ; when the blood returns quickly into these minute vessels, the circulation is active and healthy ; when it returns immediately, and the skin is of a vivid color, there is congestion ; while if the redness at any one part remains unaffected by pressure, we may be sure that there is extravasation of blood. As old age advances the capillaries * Graves, op. cit. p. 50. STATE OF THE BLOOD. 115 become impaired in vital tone, and the skin consequently is rendered colder and paler than in adult life. The same occurs frequently from exhausting diseases, denoting a failure in the general strength of the system which demands our greatest attention. Venous SjnnptoniS. — The veins furnish signs of disease by their dilatation and over-distension, as occurs in the reins of the temples, face, and neck, in congestion of the brain ; by the slowness or rapidity of their distension when pressure is applied in their course to the heart, showing the excess or de- ficiency of blood in the system ; and by their occasional pulsa- tions. The occurrence of a venous pulse results either from a continuation of the heart's impulse through the capillaries, when the circulation is much excited ; or from an artery lying under or near a vein ; or it may be due — when felt in the jugulars — to a retrograde current, produced by inordinate contraction of the right ventricle and regurgitation of blood, owing to hypertrophy of the right ventricle with dilatation of the right auriculo-ventricular orifice and imperfect closure of the tricuspid valve. State of the Blood. — In man, as well as in the most per- fect animals, the blood during life never rests, but is constantly in active motion, running in a double circle, from the first respiration until death. Having become impure in the course of its circulation, it is purified in the lungs ; the pure blood is then sent all over the body, when a part of it becomes solid, a part is removed by the secreting organs, and the rest becom- ing venous is again returned to the lungs and heart. The supply of blood being adapted to the capacity of the vascular system, any deviation from the normal quantity will affect the whole body. Excessive fulness of blood will give rise, in proportion to the fulness, to a full, broad, and tense pulse ; to congestion of the sinuses and other vessels of the cerebro-spinal system ; to congestion of the lungs, liver, and other important viscera, as well as to spontaneous hemor- rhages. Whe7i the blood is deficient in quantity, the pulse will be found soft, weak, and very compressible, the impulse of each wave of fluid through the artery being quick and sudden : the vital powers will be found depressed to a low state, the organic nervous energy weakened, and the different functions will be feebly, if not imperfectly performed. The morbid effects of the loss of blood may be divided into the immediate and the remote. The immediate effects are syncope or fainting, from its slightest to its fatal form ; con- vulsions, most apt to occur in children, and in cases of alow 116 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. and excessive draining of blood ; delirium, as is frequently seen in flooding after parturition ; coma, the comatose condition being often as perfect as after a fit of apoplexy ; and lastly, sudden dissolution may take place from copious bloodletting. The remote effects are exhaustion with excessive reaction ; exhaustion with defective reaction; exhaustion with sinking of all the vital powers ; mania ; and coma, from which it is im- possible to recover the patient. Dr. Marshall Hall has suggested that, in cases in which it is doubtful whether the pain or other local affection be the effect of inflammation or of irritation, the doubt should be solved by placing the patient upright, and bleeding to incipient syncope ; in inflammation much blood flows, in irritation very little. As this has been considered a very important means of diagnosis, it is necessary for the reader to be acquainted with it, though I doubt very much the propriety or even the necessity of resorting to such a test. Happily, owing to our increased knowledge of disease, the use of the microscope, and the aid of chemistry, we are able, in the present day, to ascer- tain all that it is desirable to know of the nature of the blood from the examination of a very small quantity, such as a few drachms, or even less. If the quantity of blood in the system influences disease, it will readily be imagined that the quality of this fluid must do so to a very important extent ; and such is the case. There is, however, no standard analysis of blood to which all other analyses may be positively referred, since each moment the composition of this fluid, as a whole, is changing. Thus the water is always varying in amount ; the nitrogenized and un- nitrogenized substances are always changing in quantity ; even the salts, even the alkalescence of the blood is in a per- petual state of variation, being hardly the same at any two moments of the day. If this is the case in health, how much more so will it be the case in disease. That the constituents of the blood undergo various and important alterations in their amount, in different constitutional affections, will be readily seen by the table on p. 117, which presents roughly the most striking variations.* The facts which have been satisfactorily made out concern- ing the morbid conditions of the human blood are not very numerous, and much remains to be accomplished. Amongst the chief diseases, however, in which a pathognomonic condition of this fluid has been discovered, I may mention inflammatory affections, characterized by the constant increase in the amount • See Lecture on Animal Chemistry, by Dr. Bonce Jones, Lancet, 26th January, 1860. STATE OF THE BLOOD. 117 of the fibrin ; anaemia, by a decrease in the red corpuscles ; certain renal afifections, by the diminution of the solids of the serum, and frequently by an accumulation of urea ; gout, by the existence of uric acid, as has been so ably demonstrated by Dr. Garrod ; diabetes, by the presence of sugar; jaundice, by the existence of the coloring principle of the bile 5 insanity — more than two-thirds of the cases of madness being the result of some alteration in the blood — (Romberg) ; and cho- lera, in -which there is a diminution of the water — causing the blood to become thicker, tar-like, and less coagulable, an in- crease in the solid portions of the serum— especially the albu- men, and a retention of urea. Constituents of the Blood. a H § B s .a 1 1 < il ^6 £5 Fibrin, 3 lOi to 1 10 •9 3-5 2-7 3-2 Globules, . . . 127 185 " 21 101 931 38-5 162-3 820 Solids of Serum, 80 114 " 57 90 86-0 89-0 1050 64-8 Water, 800 915 " 725 799 820-0 8690 7400 8500 1000 1000 1000- 1000- 1000- |iooo- A few years since Dr. Garrod discovered a substance in the blood which crystallizes in microscopic, octahedral crystals, and which he regards as oxalate of lime.' And, more recently, a very curious disease has been described by Virchow and Dr. Hughes Bennett, named by the latter leucocythemia, from x«/*!c, white, xwTcf, a cell, and */.«*, the blood; literally, white- cell blood. On examining the blood microscopically, under a magnifjring power of 250 diameters, in a case of leucocythemia, the yellow and colorless corpuscles are at first seen rolling to- gether, the excess in the number of the latter being at once recognizable, and becoming more evident as the colored bodies became aggregated together in rolls, leaving clear spaces be- tween them filled with the colorless globules. A drop of blood taken from a prick in the finger is sufficient for examination. The chief symptoms presented by a person suffering from leu- cocythemia are great pallor, with gradually increasing emacia- tion and debility. It will probably be found, as we learn more of this affection, to be associated with enlargement of some or all of the following glands — the liver, spleen, thyroid, thymus, supra-renal capsules, and lymphatics. ' Medic o-Chirurgical Transactions, 1849. 118 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. For an account of the chemical and microscopical examina- tion of the blood, see Chapter XI. Section 1. SECTION 6. SYMPTOMS CONNECTED WITH THE URINARY AND SEXUAL ORGANS. The symptoms furnished by the urinary organs divide them- selves into two classes, i. e., into those to be gathered from a chemical and microscopical examination of the urine, for the purpose of discovering those morbid conditions of this secre- tion "which may be produced by local disease of the renal organs, by various constitutional conditions, and by disease of the brain or spinal cord ; and those which depend on the modes of voiding this secretion. The former will be fully considered in Chapter XI., Section 4 ; the latter will now be treated of. The Excretion of the Urine may be difficult, or painful, or changed, or arrested. With respect to the difficulty of void- ing the firine, three grades have been distinguished : dysuria — Jvc, with difficulty, and ovpoy, the urine — in which the urine is voided with trouble or effort, pain, and a sensation of heat in some part of the urethra 5 strangury — a-TpoLyyuv, to squeeze, and oupov — in which the difficulty is extreme, the urine issuing drop by drop, and being accompanied by heat, pain, and tenesmus at the neck of the bladder ; and ischuria — tirx^t I arrest, and ovfiov — in which no urine at all can be passed. The first two species — dysuria and strangury — should always attract attention, since they cause great suffering, and lead to conditions by no means devoid of risk, more particu- larly in aged persons. They may proceed — either from dis- ease of the urinary organs or passages, as, stricture, or inflam- mation of the urethra ; hypertrophy of the middle lobe of the prostate ; spasm, catarrh, inflammation, or ulceration of the bladder j and fungous or polypoid growths ; — from morbid states of the urine, as, the admixture of pus, blood, mucus, gravel, &c. ; or from this secretion being too irritating ; or from the existence of one or more calculi in the bladder or urinary passages : — or from disease of the adjoining viscera, as in instances of dysentery, disease of the liver or spleen, tumors of the abdomen, and uterine or ovarian affections. Ischuria — in which no urine at all can be passed — is divided into that of suppression, and that of retention. Suppression of urine — sometimes called ischuria renalis, in which no urine is secreted — is a most dangerous symptom, since the injurious, effete, and poisonous materials which should be excreted by INCONTINENCE OF URINE. 119 the functions of the kidneys, accumulate in and vitiate the blood, and in a few days poison the sufferer. It maybe caused by inflammation, suppuration, or other structural changes in the kidneys themselves ; or by congestions occurring in the course of the exanthematous or other fevers ; or by disease of the blood, as is seen in malignant cholera and other pesti- lences ; or by organic or other affections of the brain, spinal cord, or their membranes. Retention of urine — ischuria vesi- calis — may depend upon two sets of causes ; either upon some obstruction to the flow of the secretion, as a calculus, tumor, inflammation, &c., situated either at the outlet of the pelvis of one or both kidneys, or in the course of the ureter, in which case none of the urine will reach the bladder, but accumulate behind the seat of obstruction ; or, the urine entering the bladder, there may be inability to discharge it, from — first, paralysis of the coats of this viscus consequent upon disease of the brain or spinal cord, or upon congestion of the nervou3 centres and paralysis of the bladder — as occurs in the course of low fevers, or from paralysis of the bladder from over-dis- tension ; or, second, the bladder being healthy, there may be some obstruction in the neck of this organ or in the passage of the urethra, the obstructing cause consisting either of an impacted calculus, or of a spasmodic or structural stricture. It must also be borne in mind that nervous ansemic women, and those who practise masturbation, often suffer temporarily from hysterical retention of urine, sometimes necessitating the use of the catheter for many days : recovery takes place as the general health improves, and the bad habits are discon- tinued. Incontinence of Urine. — Inability to retain the urine — incontinentia urinse, vel enuresis — presents different grades, varying from very frequent and irresistible calls to micturate to a constant dribbling. A frequent desire to pass water is experiened in most inflammatory affections of the urinary organs, especially those affecting the bladder ; in disease of the neck of the bladder, as well as in cases in which foreign bodies are present in this viscus — as calculi, clots of blood, fungoid growths, &c.; and in many nervous affections, hysterical women especially often suffering from it. The most frequent cause of a constant dribbling of the urine is paralysis of the neck of the bladder through general debility, as in aged persons ; or paralysis of the lower half of the body — paraplegia ; or over-distension of the bladder, producing com- plete loss of contractile power in the coats of this organ, so that the urine accumulating literally overflows. This latter 120 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. condition is readily recognized by the dull sound elicited on practising percussion immediately over the pubes, by the pain complained of in the same situation, and by the sense of ful- ness communicated to the touch. Symptoms from the Sexual Organs. — The symptoms derived from the sexual organs in the male have not received much attention. In health the penis and testes are well developed, the scrotum firm and contracted, and the testes drawn upwards by the contraction of the cremaster muscles. Extraordinary size of the penis is a sign of sexual excess, and in boys of onanism 5 irritation at the end of this organ, with continued erections — priapism — is often symptomatic of the presence of a calculus in the bladder. In low fevers, in dia- betes, at the commencement of all acute disorders, and in all cases of vital depression or of nervous exhaustion, the dartos is no longer corrugated, and the scrotum therefore hangs loose and flabby ; the cremasters do not contract, and the testicles, con- sequently, hang low down ; and there is a want of the power of erection, with loss or imperfection of the sexual desires. It is perhaps remarkable that in chronic diseases of the lungs and heart, and especially in pulmonary phthisis, the sexual powers are seldom much impaired. The influence exerted on the mind and body of women by the wonderful nature of the uterine system, and the extraordi- nary functions performed by it, is very remarkable. The reci- procal relation existing between the uterine organs and the nervous and sanguineous systems and the organs of nutrition, is very much closer than that between the sexual system and the same organs in man. The regularity or irregularity of the menstrual flow, for example, affects the whole circle of mental and corporeal actions ; the derangements of menstrua- tion being in some instances causes, in others results, of almost the entire class of female disorders. Amenorrhoea, leucorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, and menorrhagia are in general merely symptoms of many opposite constitutional states ; and to look upon or treat them as local diseases is, as a rule, to commit a most pernicious error. The amount of sympathetic irritation excited in the breasts, in the stomach and bowels, and in the nervous system by pregnancy, is always very considerable. M. Nauche states that pregnancy in general increases acute diseases, especially those involving the uterus ; chronic diseases are rendered slower in their progress and sometimes cured, and a temporary benefit is experienced in phthisis.^ Dr. Montgomery believes that ' Mai des Femmes, Part ii. p. 690. PAIX. 121 pregnancy acts in a great degree as a protection against the reception of disease, on the well-known common principle that the continuance of any one very active operation in the system renders it less liable to be invaded or acted upon by another.' SECTION 6. SIGNS DERIVED FROM THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. The signs derived from the nervous system, which it is necessary here to consider, are not very numerous. They consist chiefly of those derived from derangements of general sensation, as pain, &c., from paralysis, from spasm, from delirium, and from coma. Pain. — General sensation may be deranged in two ways : it may be either morbidly keen or morbidly obtuse. When morbidly keen, it constitutes various kinds of uneasiness, which may all be classed together under the head of pain. Pain has various sources. Irritation or excessive excitement of the nervous structures or functions -will produce it ; so will inflammation, depression and debility, cold ; and in diseases generally, the sensibility of the nerves being exalted, pain will be caused by ordinary agents, which in health would excite no sensation. A definition of pain is unnecessary, since all have suffered from it at one time or another. It is a most important sensation, since it often indicates the seat and nature of disease. It differs exceedingly in degree, in its duration and mode of recurrence, and in its character. Thus in its different grades it is spoken of as slight^ moderate, severe, violent, excruciating, intense, or agonizing. As regards its recurrence, it may be/w^«Yii-e or persistent, icandering or Jixed, intermittent, remittent, or continued. In character pain may be dull, or obtuse, or Jieavg, or aching, as it usually is in con- nection with congestions and chronic inflammations, or in acute inflammations of parenchymatous organs ; or it may be gnawing or lacerating, as is the pain of rheumatism and gout, and of periostitis ; or it may be of a cutting, lancinating character, as occurs in scirrhus, and in inflammation of the nerves ; or it may be griping, or tioisting and spasmodic, as accompanies dysentery, ileus, gastralgia, enteralgia, and obstruction of the intestines. When pain is attended with a beating, throbbing sensation, consequent upon the heart's action, it is Q2.Wq<\ pulsating ; when with a feeling of tightness, tensive; when with heat, burning. From this it is apparent • Signs of Pregnancy, p. 25. n 122 SYXIPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. that not only are different kinds of morbid action accompanied by different varieties of pain, but that the same kind of morbid action — inflammation, for example — produces different modi- fications of suffering, according as it affects different parts. Thus in inflammation of the serous and synovial membranes, the pain is often very severe, and sharp or acute ; in the mucous membranes and parenchyma of the viscera, it is dull or heavy ; while in the skin it is apt to be burning, tingling, &c. So again pain often takes place, not in the organ really affected, but in some distant part. How commonly does inflammation of the liver almost first show itself by the pain it produces in the right shoulder ; stone in the bladder, by pain at the end of the urethra ; chronic ovaritis, by pain down the leg of the affected side ; inflammation of the hip-joint, by pain in the knee ; and disease of the heart, by pain down the left arm. If pain be experienced only in a part when it is touched — when pressure is made upon it, the part is said to be tender. A part may, however, be both painful and tender. Increased pain on pressure indicates vascular congestion, inflammation, or some organic change the result of inflammation. Pain is diminished by pressure in colic, in chronic rheumatism, and in pure neuralgia, unless there be inflammation of the nerve or its sheath. In forming an opinion as to the nature and degree of pain in any particular case, we must not allow ourselves to be mis- led by the statements of the patient. Many people are so prone to exaggerate the nature of their sufferings, and to use strong expressions in order to impress the importance of their symptoms upon the practitioner, that, to avoid being misled, it is necessary to be guided more by the expression of the countenance and the general appearance, rather than by what is said. If a person, for instance, tells us in a calm tone of voice, and with a composed countenance, that he is suffering the most excruciating tortures, we shall be justified in esti- mating the severity of the pains to be greatly less than the terms "excruciating tortures*' would imply. Diminished Sensibility. — This may vary from slight numbness, or from local or partial loss of sensation, to total loss of sensibility — anaesthesia. The sensibility is diminished or lost in certain forms of cerebral disease — especially apoplexy, epilepsy, catalepsy, and ramoUissement or softening of the brain ; in certain varieties of low fever, as typhus and typhoid ; and in that peculiar stupor — almost amounting to coma — which often succeeds certain forms of delirium. Pressure PARALYSIS. 123 upon tlie nerve of a limb will cause anaesthesia in the parts below the seat of pressure. It is very rarely found that the sensibility of a part is so completely lost as to be insensible to severe kinds of injury; in general, there is only a numbness of the skin. Paralysis of motion is often unattended by loss of sensibility ; but when otherwise, it will generally be found that anaesthesia more commonly precedes loss of motion of the lower than of the upper extremities, and that in any instance it rarely follows paralysis of motion. Paralysis. — The functions of the brain and nerves may be said to consist of sensation, thought, volition, and the power of originating motion. The faculties of sensation, of thought, and of the will belong to the brain, and probably to the cere- brum alone 5 motive power resides in the spinal cord. Disease of the brain or spinal cord involving the extremities of cer- tain nerves there organized will necessarily be followed by effects in the structures to which such nerves are distributed, and of which indeed they form an integral and necessary part. A common result of such disease is paralysis or palsy, by which is meant a local or partial loss of sensibility, or of motion, or of both, in one or more parts of the body. All paralytic affections may be divided into two classes — the first including those in which both motion and sensibility are affected ; the second, those in which the one or the other only is lost or diminished. The former is called perfect, the latter imperfect paralysis. Imperfect paralysis is divided into acinesia — paralysis of motion ; and ancesiJiesia — paralysis of sensibility. Again, the paralysis may be general or partial, as it affects the whole body or only a portion of it. General paralysis, or complete loss of sensation and motion of the whole system, cannot take place without death immediately resulting. But this expression is usually applied to palsy affecting the four extremities, whether any of the other parts of the body are implicated or not. Partial paralysis is divided into hemipleyia when it is limited to the lateral half, and paraplegia when it is confined to the inferior half of the body. The term local paralysis is used when only a small portion of the body is aS'ected, as the face, a limb, a foot, &c. Paralysis of the eye, or loss of sensibility of the retina to the rays of light, is called amaurosis ; paralysis of the superior branch of the third nerve supplying the levator palpebras superioris muscle, causing the upper eyelid to fall over the eye, is termed ptosis palpehrce ; insensiliility to the impression of sounds (deafness), cophosis; insensibility to odors (loss of smell), anosmia; loss of taste, ageustia. 124 SYMPTOMS AND SIGXS OF DISEASE. There are also certain forms of paralysis arising from the use of metallic poisons, as mercurial palst/, and saturnine or lead palsy ; and lastly, there is a peculiar aflfection known as paralysis agiians.^ Spasm. — Under the terra spasm, Sauvages arranged all involuntary muscular contractions, and divided them into two classes, ionic and clonic. This division is still generally adopted. Tonic spasm — called by Cullen spastic rigidity — is charac- terized by a long-continued contraction of the affected muscles, alternating with relaxation, the relaxation taking place slowly and after some time, and being quickly followed again by contraction. A very familiar example of tonic spasm is the common cramp of the leg. So also is the principal symptom of trismus, tetanus, and catalepsy. In clonic spasm, the con- tractions of the affected muscles take place repeatedly, forcibly, and in quick succession ; and the relaxation is, of course, as sudden and frequent. Illustrations of clonic spasm are found in convulsions, in the rapid convulsive movements of epilepsy, of hysteria, chorea, &c. Occasionally we see the two forms of spasmodic action occurring in the same individual at the same time, some muscles being convulsed or affected with chronic spasms, while others are affected with rigidity or tonic spasm. The exciting causes of spasm are chiefly influences affecting the nervous centres, the mind, the senses, the digestive viscera, and the urinary or sexual organs. The immediate cause was supposed to be irritation of the nerves supplying the affected muscles, either at their origins, or in some part of their course, or at their terminations; or else a sympathetic affection of these nerves propagated from distant but related parts. "Within the last few years, however, the doctrine of Sprengel has been revived, who regarded spasm as the result of an alteration of the polarization of the terminations of the nerves in relation to the muscular fibres. Delirium. — Delirium has been divided into the acute and the chronic ; the former consisting of various morbid states of the brain, attended by mental disturbance and fever — the latter of mental alienation, unattended by fever or active bodily disorder. Chronic delirium, therefore, comprises those states of disordered mental manifestation known as insanity .^ Acute delirium is more common in the severe affections of the young than of the old, and in diseases occurring in individuals of a ' See the Author's Manual of the Practice of Medicine. Second edition, page 148. « See Copland's Medical Dictionary: Kx\\c\e Ddirmm. COMA. 125 nervous temperament rather than in those of the sanguine. It is said to be active or passive 5 the former — as a rule having many exceptions — being characteristic of the existence of in fiammatory action ; the latter — under the same circumstances — resulting from exhausted nervous and vital power. The active differs greatly in degree, being sometimes mild, some- times violent or furious : in the mild form there is generally mental aberration without any disposition to action; in the furious grade, there is violence of manner, voice, and language In passive delirium the mind appears to be wandering ; the patient mutters sentences without meaning, but will answer questions coherently and correctly if roused, or if the circula- tion be quickened by a stimulant : the low muttering wander- ing of typhus is a good example of this form of delirium. In inflammation of the brain the raving is often very violent. Cases of encephalitis, characterized by early and fierce dehriura, are generally those in which the inflammatory action has invaded the whole of the encephalon, cerebral sub- stance, and the meninges simultaneously. When delirium occurs during the progress of a case of pneumonia, it is a very ugly symptom, since it generally denotes that the pulmo- nary affection is largely interfering with the due arterializa- tion of the blood. Delirium tremens is generally character- ized by a busy, but not angry or violent delirium ; the patient is constantly talking or muttering, his hands tremble, and his manner is eager and excited. If you question him, he answers rationally, though in an agitated manner, but he soon relapses, and his mind wanders from the scene around him. His thoughts usually appear to be distressing, and he is full of anxiety, either as to his business or family, or the supposed devices of some enemy determined to injure him. He looks about him suspiciously, distrusts those near him, imagines that vermin or various animals are running over his bed, or that strangers are in his room to hurt him. These fancies are often driven away by a sound refreshing sleep, which, however, there is usually great difficulty in obtaining. In all cases, the aphorism of Hippocrates is true, — ''When sleep puts an end to delirium it is a good symptom." Coma. — Coma is that condition of complete insensibility in which the functions of animal life are suspended, with the exception of the mixed function of respiration ; while the functions of organic life, and especially of the circulation, continue in action. There is neither thought, nor the power of voluntary motion, nor sensation ; but the pulmonary branches of the par vagum continue to excite, through the 11- 120 SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF DISEASE. medulla oblongata, the involuntary movements of the thorax. When this upper part of the cranio-spinal axis becomes involved in the disease, and its reflex power ceases, the breathing stops also, and the patient is presently dead.* On being called to a case of deep coma there will often be experienced great difficulty in deciding whether this condition is due to apoplexy, or to a large dose of opium, or to a poison- ous quantity of alcohol. All physicians engaged in hospital practice have seen cases in which they have l)een placed in this dilemma, — a most unhappy one, since the life of the sufferer may depend upon the correctness of the diagnosis. The points which will assist the practitioner in forming an opinion are, — the history of the patient, his general appear- ance, and such other circumstances as can be gleaned from his friends, or those persons who picked him up in the street ; the smell of his breath, — the odor of tobacco, of spirits, or of wine, being often easily detected ; his condition in life ; and the state of his mind for the previous few days. In cases of poisoning by opium, however, the pupils are almost invariably contracted, sometimes to the size of a pin's point 5 in deep intoxication they are often dilated, but sometimes contracted ; and so in apoplexy. When house physician to King's College Hospital I saw more than one case of profound coma caused by dead-drunkenness, which was quickly relieved by having recourse to the stomach-pump, administering two or three ounces of the liquor ammoniac acetatis, and afterwards employing cold affusion. The diagnosis of intoxication is often difficult, for though the odor of the breath is one of the best means of throwing light on the case, yet it must be remembered that a fit of apoplexy or epilepsy is very likely to occur in a plethoric predisposed person after a glass or two of spirits. * Dr. Watson, op. cit. vol. i. p. 481. XATUKAL A\D FEIGNED DISEASE. 12] CHAPTER VI. OX THE DIAGNOSIS OF NATURAL FROM FEIGNED DISEASE. Ix every age and in every country disease has been simu- lated by all classes of society. Numerous examples to prove the truth of this assertion might be quoted from the Scriptures as well as from ancient and modern history, but such instances ■would prove more entertaining than useful. Suffice it to say that the monarch, the statesman, the priest, the soldier, and the criminal have alike feigned mental and bodily infirmities for the advancement of their own ambitious or nefarious designs. In the present day the majority of these impostors are found amongst persons suspected of crime, vagrants, sailors, soldiers — a soldier feigning illness is said to be malingering — members of benefit societies, children, and such hysterical and capricious women as, having no healthy occupation, amuse themselves by simulating cardiac, pulmonary, spinal, or uterine disease. In the investigation of this class of cases great discrimina- tion and ingenuity will be required, since the actors in these deceits generally play their parts with considerable skill, and often with a total disregard to trouble or even physical suffer- ing. There are four modes in which disease may be said to be simulated : — 1. Disease may be altogether feigned, the person being in a state of health. 2. It may be exaggerated; that is to say, there being a certain amount of disease, the patient may pretend that it exists in a greater degree and causes more disturbance and suffering than it truly does. 3. Disease may be artificially excited, sickness being actually produced either by the patient, or with his concurrence.' And, 4. Disease may be artificially increased or aggravated during its course. The acompanying table exhibits the diseases which are most frequently simulated, the mode in which they are feigned, and the means to be adopted for their detection. * Robertson, in his History of Charles the Fifth (Book xi.), telis us of Pope Julius III., who l"eigned sickness to avoid holding a consistory, and, in order to give greater color to his imposture, conhned himself to his apartment, and changed his usual diet and manner of life. So effectually, however, did he play his ridiculon? part, thai lip contracted a real disease, of which he di^d in n few davn. 128 FEIGNED DISEASES. "5— MS §2.5 8 ^ fs 2 « S2 a B S2 -Si - • fe-S « 2 >»««^ ■7 » « o P a ^ « «s S fl S 3-^ a I § 1 O ^ «3 =" o « "^ o - ._ S fcS ® MO. 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'^ I- 5 to - X B a "S iJ ; s I- ar 35 rt > -^ Zi 1? "3 ■" ^ a 3j X X o 5 >« o s s « 2 c o a .o^ ■3=^5 1 a --^ ^a-3 -^ ^ 5 * ^* S — -±»> ^ ^ -n « O e3 II I Hi 11 o a a tD ? — a ^ to 'i '^-^ I --^ ^ "I "3 -I 2 -3 " -5 g g ' o a g g P.S - "C >» 2 J3 rf.3-S 111! ' o S 9 ■•2.2 3' >>g S P X <« a-a X .i"25 .2 3 =2 a. a ' §.^a o 0*5 it a-a §^°a . == x-2 -3 a ci a a 2 -t-> ej u a ■C 2 -tS to « = O t- fl (3 a, o *3 _, r> o rv^ C-g ^ o o cips 5ti^ 2 c3 =•• ^^ S3 5*t.= |S) O r/. C "^ >.0 a en's i'2 " »-■ 6 . s a 12* loS PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. In considering the facts narrated in the foregoing table we find much to excite our wonder and regret ; and without indulging in any morbid or sentimental feelings, I think it impossible not to come to the conclusion that many, especially in civil life, who practise the deceptions detailed, at least do so from folly and imbecility, as much as from vicious and wicked motives. In treating such cases, therefore, it is not for us at once to condemn or assume too harshly the characters of judges. The constant practice of our profession makes us acquainted with so much that is morally blamable, and teaches us so forcibly the weakness of man and the proneness of the best of us to err and trespass — for there is no '' happy valley" where sin and sorrow are unknown, save in the fiction of Rasselas — that we cannot but pity those who come under our care Irom diseases self-inflicted or even simulated. Although, consequently, the conscientious practitioner will not allow himself to be imposed upon, yet he must not rest satisfied with merely discovering the deceit 5 but remembering that the quality of mercy is such, that it " blesseth him that gives and him that takes,*' and bearing in mind how much we all stand in need of a merciful interpretation of our daily conduct, he will readily learn to make allowances for those who have succumbed to temptation ; and by kindness, gentle reasoning, and attempting, as far as in him lies, to smooth their path of life, endeavor to lead them to a more healthy tone of thought, and to teach them that however exalted or however humble their occupation, still if they do their duty in it to the best of their abilities, they must prove useful and valuable members of society, and will be rewarded accordingly. CHAPTER VII. ON THE PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. The existence of disease involves the presence of physical or anatomical change, sometimes confined to the part originally affected, but often extending to the adjoining structures. ''The anatomical changes thus arising," says Dr. Walshe, ''may or may not be capable of accurate discrimination during life. When they can be so discriminated, experience has shown that their detection is not so much accomplished by means of CEREBRAL DISEASES. 139 the vital functional derangements of the organs implicated, as by the aid of various alterations in the physical properties of those organs, — as, for example, their density, their faculty of generating and of conducting sound, &c. So invariably do these alterations bear a certain and fixed relation to the phvsical nature of the anatomical conditions with which they are associated, that the discovery of the former is conclusive as to the existence of the latter. And not only the physical nature, but the precise limits and the precise degree of these conditions are disclosed by the alterations referred to, which, for these reasons, constitute their j^hi/sical si/jns. Interpreted by the observer, and not by the patient, — incapable, except in the rarest instances, of being feigned, dissembled, or even modified at will, — estimable in degree and extent with almost mathematical precision, — susceptible of indefinite refine- ment, — physical signs, like the whole class of objective pheno- mena of disease, are Of immeasurably greater diagnostic, greater general clinical value than its subjective symptoms. Physical signs are, in fact, the true indices of the physical nature, extent, and degree of textural changes, and may be regarded as instruments of pursuing morbid anatomy on the living body. But just as their significance is sure and pre- cise, so is the difficulty of mastering their theory and practice positive and great; and hence it is that physical diagnosis has gradually acquired for itself the importance of a special art.'"' SECTION 1. THE PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF CEREBRAL DISEASES. A few years since Dr. John Fisher and Dr. "Whitney, of the United States, published some observations on Cerebral Aus- cultation,^ which, though they do not appear to have attracted as much attention as they merit, are yet deserving of our notice, since the diseases of the brain are generally so obscure, and their diagnosis — resting solely upon the plausibility of physiological and pathological induction — is beset with so many difficulties, notwithstanding the great advances which have been made in the study of the nervous system, that any attempt to increase the knowledge of this class of affections is welcome, and deserving of careful consideration. That ' A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Lun^s and Heart. Second edition, p. 2. • American Journal of Medical Science, vol. xxii.p. 277. and vol. sxxii. p. 283. 140 PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISK ASK. practitioners should attempt by auscultation to ascertain the various conditions of the parts within the thick-walled skull under the influence of disease might naturally be expected, especially when so much was daily being learnt — by the same means — of pulmonary and cardiac affections. Neither does it seem at all improbable at first sight that, e. g., in the case of aneurisms of the cerebral arteries — the internal carotid, the vertebral, or the basilar — the careful use of the stethoscope might reveal the existence of a bellows-murmur, and so very materially facilitate their diagnosis. In practising cerebral auscultation, the person to be ex- amined should be in a horizontal position, with his head sup- ported by a pillow ; if it be a child, the examination can be most satisfactorily made while it is asleep. In auscultating the heads of healthy children, four different and perfectly distinct bruits are heard passing through the brain, consisting of the sounds produced by the acts of respiration and of deglutition, and by the impulse of the heart and the voice. The first which attracts attention is the ceplialic sound of respiration, commencing and terminating with the respiratory act, and produced " by the impinging of the air against the wall of the nasal cavities during the act of respiration." The second sound is that of the heart, the impulse which strikes the ear seeming to be transmitted from a distance: it has been called the cephalic sound of the heart. The sharp, piercing, and vibratory sounds which accompany the act of crying or speaking, and which can be heard over every part of the skull, is termed the cephalic sound of the voice; while the remaining one of the normal sounds of the head is a peculiar, dull, massive, liquid sound, attending the act of deglutition, and known as the cephalic sound of deglutition. As age advances, and the density of the brain and cranium increases, these sounds become modified and somewhat indistinct, while in disease they become remarkably altered, as we shall now see. The auscultic phenomena which have been described by Drs. Fisher and Whitney as characteristic of particular pathological states of the encephalon are four, — i. e., 1, the cephalic bellows-sound ; 2, the encephalic or cerebral oego- phony; 3, the fremissement de cataire, or purring thrill; and, 4, the bruit de poussin, a cooing or musical sound. The chief of these, the cephalic bellows-sound , can be most distinctly heard in cei'tain of the cerebral affections of chil- dren, by placing the stethoscope over the anterior fontanelle. It has its seat and origin in the arteries, and proba])lyin those CEREBRAL AUSCULTATION. 141 situated at the base of the brain. In raost cases it seems to be due to compression of these vessels, but any cause which narrows the artery, as inflammation, ossification, &c., or in- deed any condition which produces an inequality or dispropor- tion between the size of the vessel and the quantity of fluid to pass through it, will give rise to it. The sound is loud, coarse, abrupt, and rasp-like ; it is synchronous with the pulsations and impulse of the heart and large arteries, and with the pul- satory motions of the fontanelle ; compression of carotids renders it feeble and indistinct : and nothing resembling it can be heard in the arteries of any other part of the body. The cephalic bellows-sound is not a phenomenon of health. It cannot be detected in the heads of children or adults who are free from disease, but it has been discovered in cases of cerebral congestion, acute inflammation of the encephalon, hydrocephalus, induration of the brain, and ossification of the cerebral arteries. To discover this murmur is said to be in many instances a matter of no small difficulty, and hence may be explained the fact that many observers have failed to detect it, even after repeated examinations. The second sound — the encephalic or cerebral oegophony — has been noticed only in those cases of cerebral disease which are accompanied with eff"usion and extravasation of fluid over the surface of the brain. "In every instance," says Dr. Whit- ney, " in which I have noticed this hitherto undescribed cephalic phenomenon, it has been connected, and existed only, with a state of effusion and extravasation of fluid over the surface ofthehrain. I have never been able to detect this change in the character of the voice, in simple effusion into the ventricles, nor in any acute or chronic lesion of the brain, except accompanied with effusion and extravasation : conse- quently I have been led to consider an extravasation of fluid over the surface of the brain as a prerequisite to the develop- ment of this phenomenon. Such a state of the brain, more- over, accords with a similar state, which is known to accom- pany a similar phenomenon of the lungs. It is owing, therefore, to the natural resonance of the voice being rendered more shrill and brazen by its transmission through a thin layer of fluid in a state of vibration.''^ The third sound — thefremissement cataire, or purring ihriUj has been heard only in one case of aneurism of the basilar artery, and was supposed to be due to the disease of the arte- rial tunics. Lastly, the fowiJi sound — the bruit de poussin, or cooing or ' Op. cit. p.326. 142 PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF PISEASR. musical sound, may be considered simply as a modification of the bellows murmur, seated in the arteries, and occurring in cases of anaemia where the supply of blood to the brain is imperfect or deficient. The foregoing remarks contain all that is important in the writings of Drs. Fisher and Whitney on cerebral auscultation, as well as all that I can glean from other sources. The reader will perceive that although much has not yet been accom- plished, still something has been done, and it is certainly as well that he should be acquainted with the attempts that have been made. With regard to the results said to have been ob- tained from the practice of percussion in cerebral disease I hold the opinion of Zehetmayer, that percussion will undoubt- edly inform us of the thickness of the skull, but up to the pre- sent time, thick and hollow heads have been detected with toler- able certainty without the necessity of percussing the cranium.* SECTION 2. THE PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART. Introductory Remarks on the Structure of the Lung's- The lungs — the organs of respiration — are con- tained in the ca\aty of the thorax, one on either side of the spiue. They are irregular conoid bodies, the bases of which rest upon the diaphragm, while the apices project upwards, extending slightly above the level of the clavicles. Between the fourth and fifth ribs, near the left edge of the sternum, a small oval-shaped space is left between the two lungs, where part of the pericardium remains uncovered, the remainder of the pericardium and heart being received into a depression in the inner surface of the left lung. The right lung, somewhat broader but shorter than the left, owing to the position of the liver, is divided into three lobes ; the left into two. The lungs are formed of — 1, bronchial tubes — composed of cartilaginous rings, muscular fibres, and of mucous membrane covered with vibrating ciliated epithelium — which commence at the bifurcation of the trachea, divide and ramify through the lungs, and terminate in — 2, the bronchial interceUular passages, which, according to Mr. Rainey, are simply passages running between, and communicating in all directions with — 8, the air-cells, or lung-vesicles. These air-cells are small, generally four-sided cavities, communicating either directly with the intercellular passages and bronchial tubes by large circular apertures, or indirectly through the medium of other * Grundziige der Percuss, und Aiiscult., p, 41. FO.SITIUX OP THE PATIENT. 143 cells; the cells in the central parts of the lungs are smaller but more vascular than in the peripheral portions. The pul- monary membrane forming the cells and supporting the capil- lary plexus of vessels is thin, transparent, composed of fibres having no resemblance to muscular fibre either of the striped or unstriped kind, unprovided with epithelium, and quite dis- tinct from the membrane lining the bronchial tubes. 4. The pkxuses of the capiUary vessels entering into the minute struc- ture of the lungs are situated immediately beneath the pulmo- nary membrane forming the air-cells, so that the most delicate structure alone intervenes between the blood in the vessels and the atmospheric air in the cells. Moreover, the capilla- ries between the cells are aerated on both sides, being enclosed in the fold of membrane forming the sides of contiguous cells.' Lastly, each lung is invested by the pleura, a fine serous membrane, which, being reflected from the pulmonary surface over the internal parietes of the chest, forms a shut sac. From the foregoing it may be concluded that the lungs are merely expansions of a delicate memljrane, upon the op- posite sides of which blood and air are situated ; the latter, by its chemical action upon the former, converting the impure venous blood of the pulmonary artery into the pure, arterial, bright red blood of the pulmonary veins. Position of the Patient. — In the investigation of pulmo- nary or cardiac affections some care is necessary to place the patient in such a position that the parietes of the chest may be rendered firm and tense without affecting his ease or com- fort, and without being inconvenient to the examiner. When the fore part of the chest is to be examined, and the patient is able to sit up, the best position of all will be sitting upon a chair in the middle of the room, opposite to a good light, with the arms hanging loosely down by the sides, the head thrown back, and the upper part of the body uncovered. To examine either lateral region, place the patient's hand of the side to be examined upon the back of his head, and make him lean a little to the opposite side. To percuss or auscultate the back, let him lean well forwards, hold down his head, and fold his arms across the breast. The chest may also be very carefully explored while the sufferer sits up, or even while lying down in bed, being turned to either side as may be necessary, and as far as his strength will admit. The surrounding bed-curtains and furniture have * See Mr. Rainey's excellent paper on the Minute Structure of the Lungs, in the "Mtdico-Chirurgical Transactions," vol. xxviii. p. 581, 144: PHYSICAL DIAOXOSIS OF DISEASE. little or uo effect in deadening the sound educed by percussion, although some practitioners have thought otherwise. It is of importance, however, that the room in which the examination is being made should be as quiet as possible, and the examiner should also take care that no part of his own or the patient's dress rubs against the stethoscope. Regions of the Thorax. — Before proceeding to the con- sideration of the various methods of physical diagnosis, it is necessary to notice that the sin-face of the chest has been arti- ficially mapped out into regions, for the purpose of localizing the physical signs as accurately as possible. In dividing the thorax into regions, different observers adopt different bounda- ries. The plan proposed by Dr. Sibson is certainly the most philosophical ; but the following arrangement has the merit of simplicity, and is that most frequently followed : Ecgions. Sub-Regio7is. 1. The two clavicular. 2. The two subclavian. . ^ . \ 3 The two mamnmry. Antenor.s i tu ^ ■ c 4. Ihe two uifra-mammary. 6. The sternal: j f ' The upper sternal. (_ 0. i he lower sternal. The two axillary. b. Lateral. { 8. The two lateral. The two lower lateral. 10. The two acromial. C 7. 1 ]8. 'I (9. 1 Ti ^ ■ 11. The two scapular. c. Posterior. < , -> rr., . • . i I 12. Ihe two inter-scapular. (l3. The two dorsal. The first sub-region — fJie clamcular — one on each side, cor- responds in outline with that portion of the clavicle behind which the apices of the lungs lie, being nearly the inner half of the bone. On percussion the sound should be very clear, the resonance diminishing from the sternal to the acromial end of the clavicle, until it becomes quite dull in the latter part. The second sub-region — the subclavian — comprises that part of the thorax between the clavicle and upper part of the fourth rib, bounded outside by the deltoid, inside by the edge of the sternum ; beneath it lies the upper lobe of the lung, and to- wards the sternum the main bronchial tube. On the right side also, close to the sternum, lie the superior vena cava, and a portion of the arch of the aorta ; while on the left is the edge of the pulmonary artery. The resonance afforded by percus- sion should be very clear. REGIONS OF THK THORAX. 145 A little lower down is the third or mammary sub-region, ex- tendiug from the fourth to the seventh rib on each side, bounded externally by a line drawn vertically about an inch and a half external "to the nipple, and internally by the sternum. On the right side the lung lies throughout immediately under the sur- face, the sound educed by percussion being clear, except at the lower part, where the right wing of the diaphragm and the liver begin to mount : on the left side we find the heart, partly uncovered by lung at the lower part of this region, and con- sequently there is some degree of dulness. The fourth, or infra-mammary svb-region, is bounded above by the seventh rib, below by the edges of the cartilages of the false ribs, externally by a continuation of the line of the mam- mary region, and internally by the margin of the lower fourth of the sternum. On the right side the liver — covered at its upper part by the thin margin of the lower lobe of the lung — occupies this region ; while on the left is found the stomach, the anterior edge of the spleen, and generally towards its inner part a small portion of the left lobe of the liver. The sound elicited by percussion will be dull, unless the stomach be tym- panitic, when it will be preternaturally resonant. The ffth and sixth sub-regions, or the vpper and lower sternal, comprise the sternum, and are the only single regions. In the upper sternal portion, corresponding to that part of the sternum above the lower border of the third rib, are found the left vena inominata ; the ascending portion of the arch of the aorta ; the aortic valves — near the lower border of the third left carti- lage, and a little higher and just at the left edge of the sternum, the pulmonary ; and the trachea with its bifurcation — on the level of the second ribs : the inner edges of the lungs almost unite over these parts down the centre of the region. The sound on percussion should be moderately clear. The respi- ratory murmur is heard mixed with true bronchial breathing, and there will be resonance of voice. In the loicer sternal portion, corresponding to the remainder of the sternum, is the right ventricle ; and inferiorly a part of the liver, and often of the stomach-, the tricuspid and mitral valves lie opposite the upper edge of this region at mid-sternum. The eighth sub-region, the axillary, consists of the axilla, above the fourth rib, on each side. The ninth, or lateral, is just below, between the fourth and seventh ribs ; while still lower is the tentJi, or loicer lateral. In the first two the per- cussion-sound is clear ; in the last it is dull on the right side, owing to the position of the liver, and often tympanitic on the left over the stomach. 13 146 PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASE. The posterior region includes the acromial sub-region, which affords but little information on percussion, the sound being dull; the scapular sub-region, corresponding to the middle lobes of the lungs, but which gives a dull sound, owing to the thickness of the bones and then* muscles ; the inter-scapular, occupying the space between the inner edge of the scapula and the spines of the dorsal vertebra from the second to the sixth, and being resonant on percussion ; and lastly, the thirteenth, or dorsal sub-region, answering to the base of the lung, and giving at its upper part a clear sound ; but at its lower, on the right side, a dull one, owing to the position of the liver; and a tym- panitic one on the left, owing to the position of the stomach. Another mode of dividing the chest into regions, with which the reader should be acquainted, has been proposed by Dr. Sibson, who defines the outlines of the regions by the anatomi- cal boundaries of the subjacent organs. These regions con- sist of: C The right pulmonic. The simple. < The left pulmonic. I The cardiac. r The pulmo-hepatic. I The puhno-gastric. The compound. -| The right puhno-cardiac. I The left pulmo-cardiac. \_The pulmo-vasal. Of the simple regions, tJie right pulmonic is bounded above by the apex of the right lung ; below by an imaginary line drawn through the right convexity of the diaphragm or the fifth intercostal space in front, and the articulation of the eighth rib behind ; and internally, by a line drawn down the centre of the sternum. The left pulmonic has the apex of the left lung above ; an imaginary line resting upon the left convexity of the diaphragm — which is an inch lower than on the right side, below ; and internally the imaginary line drawn down the centre of the sternum, except between the lower margin of the fourth and the upper part of the seventh ribs, where the lungs form a curve externally, leaving the pericar- dium uncovered. The cardiac region corresponds to the heart. Of the compound regions, the pulmo-hepatic is over that layer of lung which caps the upper portion of the liver on the right side ; the pidmo- gastric, over that covering a part of the liver, stomach, and spleen ; the pulmo-cardiac — right and left — corresponds to the portions of the lungs overlapping the FORM. 147 right and left sides of the heart ; while ihe pulmo-vasal cor- responds to the layer of lung between the sternum and great vessels, extending upwards along the sternum from the third sterno-costal articulations. Description of the Methods of Physical Diagnosis. — The various means by which the physical signs of pulmonary and cardiac affections are elicited, are termed methods of physical diagnosis, and these methods consist of: 1. Inspection. 2. Palpation, or the application of the hand. 3. Mensuration. 4. Succussion. 5. Spirometry. 6. Percussion. 7. Auscultation. The general mode of practising these methods, and the signs to be deduced from the examination, have now to be described and considered. 1. INSPECTION. By inspection or ocular examination of the external surface of the chest, we learn the general form of the framework, the shape of the sternum and rib cartilages, the size of the cavity, and the movements of its walls. The patient should be placed in an easy, comfortable position ; sitting, if possible, opposite a good light, and with the surface of the chest exposed. Inspection should be practised anteriorly, posteri- orly, and laterally, and the action of the two sides of the chest should be closely compared ; since pulmonary diseases are in the majority of cases limited to one side, and impede proportionally the costal movements of one-half of the chest only. Form. — Regularly formed chests, presenting to the eye a cone, having its narrow end uppermost, its two sides symme- trical, and its transverse diameter exceeding the antero-poste- rior, are much more rarely found than is commonly supposed, certain marked deviations of form, which are quite compatible with a perfect state of local and general health, being very common. M. Woillez, who has paid much attention to this matter, states indeed that the regularly formed chest exists in scarcely more than twenty per cent, of adult males taken indiscriminately; and he has divided the irregularities or heteromorphisms — ^«T«pof, other, and («op, or crab-louse, which attaches itself to the hair about the pubes and anus ; the pediculus corporis, or body louse, often found in the clothes ; and,\sist\j,i\\c pediculus cili- orum, or louse of the eyelash, which is very rare. CHAPTER XI. ON THE CHEMICAL AND MICROSCOPICAL EXAMI- NATION OF THE BLOOD, EXPECTORATION, VO- MITED MATTERS, AND URINE. It was my original intention to devote this chapter to a full consideration of all the secretions and excretions of the human body ; but want of space compels me to limit myself to the examination of the blood, sputa, vomited matters, and urine. I may, however, observe that the chief excretions consist of the watery vapor and carbonic acid exhaled by the lungs ; the sweat, excreted by the skin, consisting chiefly of watery vapor, lactic acid, a small quantity of carbonic acid, a little oily matter, and a small proportion of the same animal and saline matters as are contained in the blood ; the excretions from the bowels, * Wilson, on " Diseases of Ihe Skin," p. 466. THE BLOOD. 227 including the bile ; and, lastly, the most complex of all the excretions — the urine. The retention of any of these excre- tions in the body is most injurious, and often fatal, since the peculiar matters characterizing them are not formed from the blood, but actually separated from it, at the parts where they appear ; allow, therefore, these excrementitious matters to ac- cumulate in the circulating fluid, and general constitutional disturbance must result. This is well seen when the principles of the bile remain unseparated from the blood, owing to de- fective secretion on the part of the liver, and jaundice results; or, to take another example, when, owing to severe renal disease, the urea, instead of being removed by the kidneys from the circulating fluid, accumulates in it, and actually poi- sons the suflerer. SECTION 1. THE BLOOD. The general appearance of the blood is familiar to every one : it is slightly alkaline ; has a faint odor ; a saline, disa- greeable taste ; and a higher specific gravity than any other animal fluid — averaging 1050 or 1055. When circulating in the vessels, blood is composed of a nearly colorless, transparent liquid — the liquor sanguinis — in which numberless minute disc-shaped bodies or corpuscles are sus- pended or floating. The liquor sanguinis consists of water, fibrin, serum holding albumen in solution, certain extractive and fatty matters, and fixed saline matters. The blood-cor- puscles — usually forming about 130 parts in every 1000 of healthy blood — are of two kinds : the red corpuscles, by far the most numerous, to which the red color of the blood is due, about the ^^noir^^ of an inch in diameter, consist of mem- branous vesicles filled with red fluid, which fluid is composed of coloring matter containing iron — termed haematin, and of a protein compound, somewhat analogous to albumen, called globulin ; and the wTiite corpuscles, somewhat larger than the red ones, about the ^^Viyth of an inch in diameter, irregular in form, slightly granular on the surface, and apparently identical with the peculiar corpuscles found in the lymph and chyle. On removing blood from the vessels, and allowing it to repose for a short time, it coagulates — that is to say, the liquor sanguinis separates into two portions : the colored clot or crassamentum — consisting of the fibrin and blood-corpus- cles, — and the fluid portion, consisting of the serum holding the albuminous and saline matters in solution. The forma- tion of the clot is owing to the solidification of the fibrin, which, while becoming solid, entangles the red and white 228 EXAMINATIOX OF THE BLOOD, ETC. blood-corpuscles in its meshes. In certain states of the system, when the fibrin coagulates more slowly, or when the corpuscles sink more rapidly than in healthy blood, the upper surface of the clot will be colorless, presenting an appearance known as "the bufify coat," which was formerly thought to be indicative of inflammation. Occasionally this buffy coat, when the blood is rich in fibrin, is depressed in its centre, and the blood is then said to be "cupped and buffed." Chemical Comi)osition of Human Blood. — To make a complete quantitative analysis of the blood, including the separation from each other and estimation of all the ingre- dients, is a complicated and difficult task, and requires the person undertaking it to be a good chemist. Such an analysis is, however, quite unnecessary for clinical purposes, although it is as well that the result of such an examination should be roughly remembered. I shall therefore quote the following table by Dumas : 130 Clot, Analysis of Healthy Venous Blood. Fibrin, Globules, {^^^"^^"' :,i 3 2 125 790 70 Globulin, ' Water, Albumen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbonic Acid, Extractive matter, * "* Phosphorized fat, Cholesterin, 870 Serum,<( Serolin, Oleic and margaric acids, Chlorides of sodium and potassium, . . Muriate of ammonia, Carbonates of soda, lime, and magnesia, Phosphates of soda, lime, and magnesia, Sulphate of potash, Lactate of soda, Salts of the fatty acids, 1000 [^Yellow coloring-matter, _ Arterial blood merely differs from venous in containing less solid matter, less albumen, less salts, and in being of a bright scarlet color, which latter is probably due to the influence of the oxygen of the air. In anaemia and chlorosis the water is sometimes increased to 900 parts in 1000, and the globules diminished even to as low as 21 in 1000. In fever the glo- bules have been known to amount to 185 in 1000; while in 10 1000 URIC ACID IX THE BLOOD. 229 many iuflammatory diseases the quantity of fibrin appears to be increased. In diabetes, sugar may usually be detected in the blood ; while in jaundice the presence of bile may be demonstrated. Microscopic Examinatioa of the Blood.— If a drop of blood be placed under the microscope, and examined with a quarter of an inch object-glass, the red globules will be seen as a multitude of pale, red, round, bi-concave discs, having a tendency to turn upon their edges, and to arrange themselves in rolls like rouleaux of coins ; a very few white corpuscles, irregular in form, granular on the surface, and rather larger than the red globules, will also be readily distinguished. Long maceration in serum or in water will frequently cause the red globules to diminish to half their size in bulk, and to present a perfectly spherical slightly colored body. Strong acetic acid dissolves them rapidly. Acetic acid renders the external cell-wall of the colorless corpuscles very transparent, and also brings the nucleus into view, consisting of one or two round granules. In leucocythemia — as described by Dr. Hughes Bennett — the colorless corpuscles become much increased in quantity, so that, instead of two or three being seen in the field of the microscope at the same time, some thirty, forty, or more become visible. To Examine Stains of Blood. — To discover whether a certain stain consists of blood, it must be moistened with some fluid having a specific gravity of 1040 or 1050 — white of egg will answer very well — scraped ofi" the material holding it, and examined microscopically with a quarter of an inch object-glass ; blood-corpuscles will be rendered distinctly visible if the stain consists of blood. Dr. Garrod's Plan of ascertaining* the Presence of an Abnormal Quantity of Uric Acid in the Serum of the Blood. — From the researches of Dr. Garrod, I entertain but little doubt that the presence of an abnormal quantity of uric acid in the blood — such a quantity as is capable of being demonstrated — is a pathognomonic sign of gout ; and that, consequently, where the diagnosis rests between gout and rheumatism, the presence or absence of this acid from the cir- culating fluid will decide the question. Take from one to two fluid drachms of the serum of the blood, and put it into a flattened glass-dish or capsule ; to this add the strong acetic acid of the London Pharmacopoeia, in the proportion of about six minims to each fluid-drachm of the serum. A few bubbles of gas are generally evolved at first ; but when the fluids are well mixed, two or three fine . 20 230 EXAMINATION OF THE EXPECTORATION. threads, or one or two ultimate fibres from a piece of unwashed huckaback, are to be introduced. The glass is then to be put aside in a moderately warm place — as on the mantelpiece in a room of ordinary temperature — until the serum is quite set and almost dry, the time required varying from eighteen to forty-eight hours. If the cotton fibres be then removed and examined microscopically with an inch object-glass, they will be found covered with crystals of uric acid, if this agent be present in abnormal quantity in the serum. The crystals form on the thread, somewhat like the crystals of sugar-candy on string. When it is undesirable to remove even a few drachms of blood, we may examine the fluid effused by the application of a blister, since the uric-acid thread experiment may be as readily employed for the discovery of uric acid in blister- serum as in blood-serum. It is only necessary to observe the precautions alluded to in examining the blood-serum, and also to be careful not to apply the blister to an inflamed part, since the existence of inflammation appears to have the power of preventing the appearance of uric acid in the effused serum.' SECTION 2. THE EXPECTORATION. The character of the expectoration often furnishes us with instructive signs. The basis of all kinds of expectoration is the natural secretion of the mucous membrane of the air- tubes, which is a transparent, colorless, glutinous liquid, con- sisting chiefly of water, mucus, and saline matter. In simple catarrh the natural secretion is merely increased in quantity ; in bronchitis the sputa are often glairy — like white of egg — and streaked with blood ; in haemoptysis the expectoration may consist entirely of blood ; in phthisis, purulent fluid and por- tions of softened tubercle are expectorated, occasionally with cretaceous or calcareous masses of phosphate and carbonate of lime ; while in pneumonia, at the outset, there is merely expectoration of bronchial mucus, but in two or three days the sputa assume a very characteristic appearance, being transparent, tawny or rust-colored, and united into a jelly-like mass of great viscidity. To examine the sputa microscopically, they should be thrown into water, when the lighter portions will float on the surface, while the more dense sink. These latter can be broken up, and small particles placed on a glass slide for examination. The matters usually found consist of epithelium, portions of food — as muscular fibre, oil-globules, starch-granules, &c. — 'Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xxxvii. p. 51. VOMITED MATTERS. 231 and occasionally of vegetable fungi, whicli are often present about the fauces. In phthisis, a number of small, round, oval, or triangular-shaped bodies — tubercle corpuscles — are frequently found, containing granules in their interior, and mingled with granular matter. Occasionally fine molecular fibres, which have been separated from the areolar and elastic tissue of the air-cells of the lung, are also seen, showing that •ulceration or sloughing of the pulmonary texture is going on. Schroeder van der Kolk states that these fragments may be found before the physical signs of ulceration of the lung are well marked ; but Dr. Hughes Bennett — a great authority on this subject— disputes the assertion, though he allows that in doubtful cases, especially where — from chronic pleurisy or pneumonia — there is dulness on percussion, whilst the other physical signs are more or less obscure, the presence of these fragments will confirm a previous suspicion of existing phthi- sis.* In pneumonia, fibrinous casts of the minute bronchi may often be observed, sometimes infiltrated with pus-corpus- cles. And, lastly, the dirty green or black inspissated sputum, so commonly expectorated in the morning by residents in cities, consists of mucus and epithelial cells containing carbon, probably derived from the smoky atmosphere. SECTION 3. VOMITED MATTERS. But little attention has been paid to the microscopic exami- nation of these matters, and but little therefore is known of them. The chief substances found are epithelium, starch- granules, torulse and other varieties of vegetable fungi — re- sembling the yeast plant, vibriones, and sarcinje. The Sarcince Ventriculi — first described by Goodsir — consist of square bundles, divided by vertical and horizontal lines into four parts, and each ha\-ing a resemblance to a woolpack — whence its name ; they are seen either singly or aggregated into masses. These vegetable parasites are found in the vo- mit when it is very acid, and when it resembles yeast in ap- pearance. Dr. Todd has found the sarcinae in ulceration and enlarge- ment of the stomach with contraction of the pylorus, and he suggests that these vegetable organisms result from the long detention of food in the stomach. There is but little doubt that this explanation is correct ; but it is also probable that the intensely acid fluid in which the sarcinas are found may itself irritate and close the pylorus spasmodically ; in such cases consequently, if we check the formation of these growths we shall cure the disease. » Op. cit., p. 92. 232 EXAMINATION OF THE URINE. Sarcinse have also been found in the urine, faeces, and in the fluid of the ventricles of the brain. SECTION 4. THE URINE. Healthy human urine is a limpid, pale, amber-colored fluid, free from any deposit, of acid reaction, unaffected by heat, nitric acid, liquor potassse, &c., and having an average spe- cific gravity of 1018. Dr. Prout estimates the normal quanti- ty of urine secreted in the twenty-four hours to be from thirty ounces in the summer, to forty in the winter. A distinction is usually drawn between the urina jyoius, or that passed shortly after taking fluids 5 the urina cht/Ii, or that evacuated soon after the digestion of a full meal ; and the urina sanguinis, or that which is voided on first awaking in the morning, and which may generally be taken as a fair specimen of the renal secretion. The solid matters in the urine may be said to con- sist of urea, uric acid, hippuric acid, vesical mucus and epithe- lium, ammoniacal salts, fixed alkaline salts, earthy salts, and animal extractive. Solid Contents. — To estimate the solid contents as well as the weight of an ounce of urine, of any specific gravity be- tween 1010 and 1040, the late Dr. Golding Bird constructed the following very useful table : Weight Weight Specific of one Solids in Specific of one Solids in Gravity. fluid ounce. one ounce. Grayity fluid ounce. one ounce. Grains. Grains. 1010 441-8 10-283 1025 448-4 26-119 lOll 442-3 11-336 1026 448-8 27-188 1012 442-7 1-2-377 1027 449-3 28-265 1013 443-1 13 421 1028 449-7 29-338 1014 443-6 14-470 1029 450-1 30-413 1015 444- 15-517 1030 450-6 31-496 1016 444-5 16570 1031 451- 32-575 1017 4449 17-622 1032 451-5 33-663 1018 445-3 18-671 1033 451-9 35-746 1019 445-8 19-735 1034 452-3 36-831 1020 446-2 20-792 1035 45-2-8 37-925 1021 446-6 21-852 1036 453-2 38-014 1022 447-1 22-918 1037 453-6 39-104 1023 147-5 23 981 1038 454-1 40-206 1024 448- 25051 1039 454-5 41-300 REACTION OF THE URINE TO TEST-PAPERS. 233 Clinical Examination of Urine. — On making a clinical examination of the urine, we should first ascertain the quan- tity passed in the twenty-four hours ; its acidity or alkalinity, by the use of litmus and turmeric papers ; its specific gravity, by means of the urinometer ; and its behavior on the applica- tion of heat, nitric acid, and liquor potass^. To examine it microscopiaily, a portion should be placed in a conical glass, and allowed to stand for some hours ; a few drops of the de- posit at the bottom of the glass are then to be placed by means of a pipette on a glass slide, and covered with thin glass. Crystals of uric acid, deposits of urate of soda, and deposits of phosphates, will be readily distinguished with a good half- inch achromatic object-glass ; oxalate of lime, carbonate of lime, cystine, blood-corpuscles, casts of tubes, pus, mucus, epithelium, and certain fungi, as torulae, &c., will require a quarter-inch object-glass ; while spermatozoa and vibriones can only be distinctly examined with the one-eighth of an inch glass. An Increased Flow of Urine, or diuresis, may be tem- porary, and merely dependent on the large quantities of fluid taken ; or it may be permanent for a time and associated with disease, as it very constantly is in diabetes, and in those states of the system connected with a peculiar state of nervous irritability — as hysteria, &c. A Deficiency of Urine may also be the temporary result of abstinence from fluids, unusual cutaneous activity, &c. ; or it may be permanently associated with certain constitutional and local afl"ections, as with inflammatory states of the system generally. Reaction of the Urine to Litmus and Turmeric Test- papers. — In many diseases — as gout, rheumatic fever, &c. — we find the urine unusually acid, which may be owing to an excess of acid, or it may be caused by the presence of oxalic acid. On the other hand, this secretion may be alkalme, though it is very doubtful if the urine is ever so secreted. It generally happens thus : — a patient is unable completely to empty his bladder, and therefore, after each attempt to do so, a small quantity of urine is left which soon becomes alkaline ; this suffices to contaminate the acid urine as it drops guttatim from the ureters. Of course, as a rule, the vital endowments of the bladder are sufficient to preserve its contents from under- going that change which so readily takes place out of the body, viz., decomposition. But this preservative power depends upon the integrity of the spinal nerves and branches from the or- ganic system supplying this viscus; if, therefore, any injury 20* 284 EXAMINATION OF THE URINE. be inflicted upon these nerves, directly or indirectly, the result will be diminution of vital power, and the urine will undergo certain changes, as it would out of the body. One of these changes is the union of urea with the elements of water, and the formation of carbonate of ammonia. Ammoniacal urine inflames the mucous membrane of the bladder, and gives rise to the secretion of mucus of a viscid character ; the mucus be- comes puriform when the alkaline urine has kept up the in- flammation for a certain time. TTrine depositing* Uric Acid — is very acid ; of a reddish- brown color; generally of a specific gravity above 1020 ; and on cooling deposits crystals of uric acid, resembling a yellow crystalline sand. This deposit does not dissolve on the appli- cation of heat 5 but if — as often happens — the urine contains an excess of urates, this excess will be dissolved, and hence the crystals of uric acid will become more distinct. Nitric acid dissolves the deposit, while hydrochloric and acetic acids have no action ; heated with liquor potassa?, the uric-acid crystals dissolve, from the formation of urate of potass, which is readily soluble in alkaline fluid. Examined microscopically, large rhomboidal crystals are seen 5 occasionally lozenge-shaped and square crystals are present. Urine containing an Excess of Urea— may be known by its high specific gravity — 1020 to 1030 — and by crystals of nitrate of urea forming on adding nitric acid to a portion of the urine in a test-tube. If the urea be only slightly in excess, the urine should be concentrated, by evaporation to about one- third its l)ulk, before adding the acid. Urine containing an Excess of Urate (or Lithate) of Lime, Soda, &C., will be distinguished by its high color, in- creased density, and turbid appearance when cold — somewhat resembling pea-soup. On applying heat with a spirit-lamp, it immediately becomes bright and clear. Examined by the microscope, an abundant amorphous precipitate is seen. These deposits were formerly regarded as consisting of lithate of ammonia. It has, however, been lately shown that they have a variable constitution, being made up of urates of lime, potash, soda, with only very small quantities of ammonia. Even this last is probably derived from the decomposition of urea. Urine containing anExcess of Ammoniacal and Fixed Alkaline Salts — is generally of a pale color, and rather low specific gravity. On the application of heat, a deposit is pro- duced resembling albumen, from which it is distinguished, however, by its being dissolved on the addition of a few drops OXALATE OP LIMK. 235 of nitric acid. Sometimes, when the quantity of albumen present is small, the cloudiness produced by heat will be dis- solved by a drop or two of nitric acid, but will reappear on continuing to add more of this agent 5 but the phosphatic cloud remains permanently dissolved. Liquor potassae and liquor ammonias also produce deposits of phosphates. Ex- amined with the microscope, crystals presenting the form of triangular prisms, sometimes truncated, at others having ter- minal facets, are readily distinguished ; occasionally they pre- sent a star-like or foliaceous appearance. Urine containing' Purpurine. — Purpurine never occurs as a deposit unless the urates are in excess, when it gives them a beautiful tint, varying from a pale flesh color to a deep carmine. The presence of an excess of purpurine appears to depend on some imperfection in the excretion of carbon by the organs destined to eliminate this element from the blood, as the liver and lungs. Cystine. — This substance never occurs in healthy urine, and rarely in diseased ; it has been found especially in the re- nal secretion of scrofulous patients. It forms a fawn-colored deposit, somewhat resembling the urates, but which is un- changed by heat, and slowly dissolves on the addition of nitric or hydrochloric acid ; it is readily soluble in liquor ammonise. A greasy-looking pellicle, consisting of crystals of cystine and ammonio-phosphate of magnesia, soon forms on cystic urine. When a few drops of ammoniacal solution of cystine are allowed to evaporate spontaneously on a piece of glass, crystals in the form of six-sided laminae will be seen by the micro- scope ; they are probably short hexagonal prisms. Oxalate of Lime. — Oxalate of lime is often present in the urine, and is a constituent of one of the most annoying forms of calculi. The urine is generally of a fine dark amber hue, of a specific gravity varying from 1015 to 1025, natural in quantity, and free from any precipitate — unless there be also an excess of urates. Examined by the microscope, crystals, in the form of transparent octahedra with sharply-defined edges and angles will be detected ; if the light be bright, these crystals generally resemble cubes marked with a cross. Very rarely, the crystals are shaped like dumb-bells, or like two kidneys with their concavities opposed. Dr. Golding Bird was of opinion, however, that these crystals consisted of oxa- lurate of lime, a salt differing from oxalate of lime in ultimate constitution only in the presence of the elements of urea and absence of the constituents of water.' » Urinary Deposits, fourth edition, p. 219. 236 EXAMINATION OF THE URIXE. Gravel in the Urine. — When a patient discharges gritty powder, or sand, or small calculi, with the urine, he is com- monly said to have " a fit of the gravel." The most common forms of gravel are the urates of lime, potash, and soda, with a small quantity of ammonia, often called lithate or urate of ammonia. Next in frequency we find lithic or uric acid, or red sand ; then a deposit, consisting mainly of the triple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia, mixed with amorphous phosphate of lime ; next, a deposit of oxalate of lime ; and, lastly, one of cystic oxide. Urinary calculi are composed of either urate of lime and potash, &c. ; or of uric acid ; cystic oxide; carbonate of lime ; oxalate of lime ; triple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia ; phosphate of lime ; or of silica. Mode of Testing for Albumen in the Urine. — Two tests must be employed — heat and nitric acid. On applying heat — the most delicate of the two tests — to albuminous urine in a clean test-tube, the albumen coagulates and produces a cloud varying in density. This only happens, however, when the urine is acid ; alkaline urine may be loaded with albumen, yet heat will produce no deposit. In such a case the urine must be rendered acid by the addition of a drop or two of acetic or nitric acid, and heat then applied. So, also, urine containing an excess of earthy phosphates, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, will become cloudy on the application of heat : for this reason therefore we employ nitric acid, which dissolves the phosphates, but renders the albuminous deposit perma- nent. Nitric acid alone will coagulate albuminous urine, but it must not be trusted to, since it also often produces a whitish amorphous precipitate of uric acid, Avhen the urine contains a large quantity of urates ; this precipitate, which might be mis- taken for albumen, is distinguished by its not being produced by heat. When, therefore, we obtain a deposit by both heat and acetic or nitric acid, we may be sure that it consists of albumen. Mode of Testing Purulent Urine. — On adding liquor potassae to urine containing pus, it is rendered viscid, so that the mixture can hardly be poured from one test-tube to another. By the microscope numerous globular corpuscles, about the jo'iJ^T^b o^ an inch in diameter, with smooth margins and granular surfaces, are seen floating in the liquor puris ; each corpuscle generally contains one or more round or oval nuclei. On adding strong acetic acid, the cell- wall is dis- solved and the nuclei liberated. Urine containing Sugar. — Diabetic sugar differs from URINE COXTAIXIXG SUGAR. 237 cane-sugar ; it has the same chemical composition as that contained in most kinds of fruit, commonly known as grape- sugar, or glucose. Diabetes can hardly be called a disease of the kidneys, since in it the sugar is likew-ise found in the blood and in the faeces. From the researches of Bernard we learn that the blood from the hepatic vein always contains sugar 5 that it is the result of the digestion of food, for if an animal be starved it disappears ; it is found also independently of the nature of the aliment taken. Section of both pneumogastric nerves, as well as any violent shock to the nervous system, destroys the power of the liver to form sugar. Irritation of the root of the pueumogastrics in the fourth ventricle of the brain increases the formation of sugar, and causes it so to abound in the blood that it is secreted with the urine — in short, artificial diabetes is produced. When the respiratory function is violently stimu- lated, sugar appears in the urine ; or when ether or chloroform is given, a temporary diabetes is often produced. Diabetic urine has a sweetish taste and odor, is generally of a pale color, is secreted in very large quantity — sometimes forty, fifty, or more ounces — and is of a high specific gravity, varying from 1025 to 1050 ; the worse the disorder, the higher will be the specific gravity. It was at one time thought that torulie were developed only in saccharine urine ; Dr. Bence Jones and others have proved the incorrectness of this view, and taught us that though often formed in acid diabetic urine, yet that they are not peculiar to it, being especially frequent in acid albuminous urine, or even in healthy acid urine after exposure to the air. Dr. HassalP has also shown that the so-called torute are identical with the Penicilium glaucum, the fungus which imparts the mildewed appearance so com- mon to decaying vegetable and animal substances. Dr. Has- sall has succeeded in proving, however, that a distinct species of microscopic fungus, identical with the yeast plant, is de- veloped in saccharine urine, and in this urine only, when it is acid, is fireely exposed to the air, and is kept at a moderate temperature. The presence of this sugar-fungus indicates the vinous fermentation, its development being accompanied by the disengagement of carbonic acid and the formation of alcohol. The Penicilium glaucum and the yeast-fungus not unfrequently exist together in diabetic urine 5 but the latter — it must be remembered — is alone peculiar to it, and may be found when the quantity of sugar is too small for detection by the potash and copper tests. * Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xixvi. 238 EXAMINATION OF THE URINE. Several tests have been proposed for the detection of sugar in urine. Moore's Test. — Add to the suspected urine, in a test-tube, about half its volume of liquor potassae, and boil the mixture gently for a few minutes. If sugar be present, the liquid will assume a dark brown tint. If, on the contrary, the urine be healthy, it will only be very slightly darkened. Care must be taken — as Dr. Owen Rees has pointed out — that the liquor potassjB does not contain lead, as it often will if it has been kept in a white glass bottle. When it does so, the sulphur in the urine produces a dark color with the lead, which might lead to an incorrect diagnosis. The test-solution should be kept in a green glass bottle, free from lead. Fermentation Test — Mix a few drops of fresh yeast, or a little of the dried German yeast, with the suspected urine, and then fill a test-tube with the mixture. Put some of the urine also into a saucer, and then invert the tube and stand it upright in this vessel, taking care that the tube is full and free from bubbles of air; set aside in a warm place, having a tempera- ture of 70° F., for twenty-four hours. If sugar be present, it begins very shortly to undergo the vinous fermentation, by which it becomes converted into carbonic acid and alcohol ; which change will be recognized by the bubbles of carbonic acid causing gentle effervescence, and afterwards collecting in the upper part of the tube. If the' urine is free from sugar, no gas will be formed. Troj7imer^s Test. — A little of the suspected urine is to be placed in a test-tube, and a drop or two of a solution of sul- phate of copper added, so as to give the mixture a slight blue tint. A solution of potash is now added, in quantity equal to about half the volume of urine employed ; this will throw down a pale hlue precipitate of hydrated oxide of copper, which, if there be any sugar, will immediately redissolve, forming a purplish-blue solution. We must then cautiously warm the whole over a spirit-lamp, without boiling it ; when, if sugar be present, a yellowish-brown precipitate of sub-oxide of copper will be deposited. If there is no sugar, a black precipitate of the common oxide of copper will be thrown down. This test is very delicate, and will detect very small quantities of sugar. Kiestein. — This is a peculiar principle said to exist in the urine of pregnant women, and to become visible — when the secretion is allowed to repose in a cylindrical glass — in the form of a cotton-like cloud, which, after four or five days, be- comes resolved into a number of minute opaque bodies, which IODIDE OF POTASSIUM IN THE URINE. 239 rise to the surface and form a fat-like scum, remaining perma- nent for three or four days. In these cases the urine has a peculiar cheesy odor, and remains faintly acid until the scum or pellicle breaks up. Dr. Kane says that, in eighty-five cases of pregnancy, he obtained a well-marked pellicle in sixty- eight, a modified but recognizable one in eleven, while six gave no pellicle.' I may mention that I have failed to obtain it when the urine contained an excess of lithates. It has been found before the second period of suspended menstrua- tion. Its presence is undoubtedly connected with the lacteal secretion, for when the lacteal elements are secreted without a free discharge at the mammae, it may be found. Dr. Kane remarked that it continued in the urine for a short time after labor, until the mother began to suckle fi-eely. Often women, eight exhibited it at the period of weaning. I entertain a high opinion of the importance of kiestein, as diagnostic of pregnancy, having repeatedly tested its value ; still I should hardly rely upon it alone. Casts of Tubes, Epithelium, Blood-globules, &c.— On examining the urine microscopically in acute and chronic desquamative nephritis, in fatty degeneration of the kidney, &c., numerous fibrinous casts of the uriniferous tubes are seen, occasionally containing large quantities of oil-globules. So, numerous blood-corpuscles and epithelial scales are found in the same diseases, which latter, in fatty degeneration of the kidney, are often loaded with oil-globules. In most of these cases the urine will also be albuminous. Bile in the Urine. — The coloring matter of the bile, when it exists in the urine, is readily detected, by the dark yellow color it gives to the secretion, by the yellow color it communi- cates to a piece of white linen dipped in it, or by the dark green and afterwards purple color which the urine assumes when a sufficient quantity of sulphuric acid is added to it in a test-tube, or on a white plate. Iodide of Potassium in the Urine — may be detected by adding, first, starch to the cold secretion, and then a few drops of nitric acid (or solution of chlorine) ; the blue iodide of starch will be formed, if an iodide be present. » American Journal of Medical Science, July, 1842. 240 CODE OF ETHICS OF CODE OF ETHICS OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ADOPTED MAY, 1847. OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO THEIR PATIENTS AND OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF PATIENTS TO THEIE PHYSICIANS. Art. I. — Duties of physicians to their patients. § 1. A physician should not only be ever ready to obey the calls of the sick, but his mind ought also to be imbued with the greatness of his mission, and the responsibility he habitually in- curs in its discharge. Those obligations are the more deep and enduring, because there is no tribunal other than his own con- science to adjudge penalties for carelessness or neglect. Physi- cians should, therefore, minister to the sick with due impressions of the importance of their office; reflecting that the ease, the health, and the lives of those committed to their charge, depend on their skill, attention and fidelity. They should study, also, in their deportment, so to unite tenderness with firmness and conde- scensio7i with authority, as to inspire the minds of their patients with gratitude, respect, and confidence. § 2. Every case committed to the charge of a physician should be treated with attention, steadiness, and humanity. Rea- sonable indulgence should be granted to the mental imbecility and caprices of the sick. Secrecy and delicacy, when required by peculiar circumstances, should be strictly observed ; and the fa- miliar and confidential intercourse to which physicians are ad- mitted in their professional visits, should be used with discretion, and with the most scrupulous regard to fidelity and honor. The THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 241 obligation of secrecy extends beyond the period of professional services; — none of the privacies of personal and domestic life, no infirmity of disposition or flaw of character observed during pro- fessional attendance, should ever be divulged by the physician, except when he is imperatively required to do so. The force and necessity of this obligation are indeed so great, that professional men have, under certain circumstances, been protected in their observance of secrecy by courts of justice. § 3. Frequent visits to the sick are, in general, requisite, since they enable the physician to arrive at a more perfect knowledge of the disease — to meet promptly every change which may occur, and also tend to preserve the confidence of the patient. But un- necessary visits are to be avoided, as they give useless anxiety to the patient, tend to diminish the authority of the physician, and render him liable to be suspected of interested motives. § 4. A physician should not be forward to make gloomy prognostications, because they savor of empiricism, by magnifying the importance of his services in the treatment or cure of the disease. But he should not fail, on proper occasions, to give to the friends of the patient timely notice of danger when it really occurs ; and even to the patient himself, if absolutely necessary. This office, however, is so peculiarly alarming when executed by him, that it ought to be declined whenever it can be assigned to any other person of sufficient judgment and delicacy. For, the physi- cian should be the minister of hope and comfort to the sick ; that, by such cordials to the drooping spirit, he may smooth the bed of death, revive expiring life, and counteract the depressing influ- ence of those maladies which often disturb the tranquillity of the most resigned in their last moments. The life of a sick person can be shortened not only by the acts, but also by the words or the manner of a physician. It is, therefore, a sacred duty to guard himself carefully in this respect, and to avoid all things which have a tendency to discourage the patient and to depress his spirits. § 5. A physician ought not to abandon a patient because the case is deemed incurable ; for his attendance may continue to be highly useful to the patient, and comforting to the relatives around him, even in the last period of a fatal malady, by alleviating pain and other symptoms, and by soothing mental anguish. To decline attendance, under such circumstances, would be sacrificing to fanciful delicacy and mistaken liberality, that moral duty, which is independent of, and far superior to, all pecuniary consideration. § 6. Consultations should be promoted in difficult or protracted cases, as they give rise to confidence, energy, and more enlarged views in practice. § 7. The opportunity which a physician not unfrequently enjoys of promoting and strengthening the good resolutions of his 21 242 CODE OF KTHICS OF patients, suffering under the consequences of vicious conduct, ought never to be neglected. His counsels, or even remonstrances^ will give satisfaction, not offence, if they be profJered with polite- ness, and evince a genuine love of virtue, accompanied by a sin- cere interest in the welfare of the person to whom they are ad- dressed. Art. II.— Obligations of patients to their physicians. § 1. The members of the medical profession, upon whom is enjoined the performance of so many important and arduous duties towards the community, and who are required to make so many sacrifices of comfort, ease, and health, for the welfare of those who avail themselves of their services, certainly have a right to expect and require, that their patients should entertain a just sense of the duties which they owe to their medical attendants. § 2. The first duty of a patient is, to select as his medical adviser one who has received a regular professional education. In no trade or occupation, do mankind rely on the skill of an un- taught artist ; and in medicine, confessedly the most difficult and intricate of the sciences, the world ought not to suppose that knowledge is intuitive. § 3. Patients should prefer a physician whose habits of life are regular, and who is not devoted to company, pleasure, or to any pursuit incompatible with his professional obligations. A patient should, also, confide the care of himself and family, as much as possible, to one physician ; for a medical man who has become acquainted with the peculiarities of constitution, habits, and predispositions of those he attends, is more likely to be suc- cessful in his treatment than one who does not possess that knowledge. A patient who has thus selected his physician, should always apply for advice in what may appear to him trivial cases, for the most fatal results often supervene on the slightest accidents. It is of still more importance that he should apply for assistance in the forming stage of violent diseases ; it is to a neglect of this precept that medicine owes much of the uncertainty and imper- fection with which it has been reproached. § 4. Patients should faithfully and unreservedly communicate to their physician the supposed cause of their disease. This is the more important, as many diseases of a mental origin simulate those depending on external causes, and are only to be cured by ministering to the mind diseased. A patient should never be afraid of thus making his physician his friend and adviser ; he should always bear in mind that a medical man is under the strongest obligations of secrecy. Even the female sex should THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATIOX. 243 never allow feelings of shame or delicacy to prevent their dis- closing the seat, symptoms, and causes of complaints peculiar to them. However commendable a modest reserve may be in the common occurrences of life, its strict observance in medicine is often attended with the most serious consequences, and a patient may sink under a painful and loathsome disease, which might have been readily prevented had timely intimation been given to the physician. § 5. A patient should never weary his physician with a tedious detail of events or matters not appertaining to his disease. Even as relates to his actual symptoms, he will convey much more real information by giving clear answers to interrogatories, than by the most minute account of his own framing. Neitlier should he obtrude on his physician the details of his business nor the history of his family concerns. § 6. The obedience of a patient to tlie prescriptions of his physician should be prompt and implicit. He should never permit his own crude opinions as to their fitness, to influence his attention to them. A failure in one particular may render an otherwise judicious treatment dangerous, and even fatal. This remark is equally applicable to diet, drink, and exercise. As patients become convalescent, they are very apt to suppose that the rules prescribed for them may be disregarded, and the con- sequence, but too often, is a relapse. Patients should never allow tliemselves to be persuaded to take any medicine, whatever, that may be recommended to them by the self-constituted doctors and doctresses, who are so frequently met with, and who pretend to possess infallible remedies for the cure of every disease. How- ever simple some of their prescriptions may appear to be, it often happens that they are productive of much mischief, and in all cases they are injurious, by contravening the plan of treat- ment adopted by the physician. § 7. A patient should, if possible, avoid even the friendly visits of a physician who is not attending him — and when he does receive them, he should never converse on the subject of his dis- ease, as an observation may be made, without any intention of interference, which may destroy his confidence in the course he is pursuing, and induce him to neglect the directions prescribed to him. A patient should never send for a consulting physician without the express consent of his own medical attendant. It is of great importance that physicians should act in concert; for, although their modes of treatment may be attended with equal success when employed singly, yet conjointly they are very likely to be productive of disastrous results. § 8. When a patient wishes to dismiss his physician, justice and common courtesy require that he should declare his reasons for so doing. 244 CODE OF ETHICS OF § 9. Patients should always, when practicable, send for their physician in the morning, before his usual hour of going out ; for, by being early aware of the visits he has to pay during the day, the physician is able to apportion his time in such a manner as to prevent an interference of engagements. Patients should also avoid calling on their medical adviser unnecessarily during the hours devoted to meals or sleep. They should always be in readiness to receive the visits of their physician, as the detention of a few minutes is often of serious inconvenience to him. § 10. A patient should, after his recovery, entertain a just and enduring sense of the value of the services rendered him by his physician ; for these are of such a character, that no mere pecu- niary acknowledgment can repay or cancel them. OF THE DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS TO EACH OTHER, AND TO THE PROFESSION AT LARGE. Art. I. — Duties for the support of professional character. § 1. Every individual, on entering the profession, as he becomes thereby entitled to all its privileges and immunities, incurs an obligation to exert his best abilities to maintain its dignity and honor, to exalt its standing, and to extend the bounds of its usefulness. He should, therefore, observe strictly, such laws as are instituted for the government of its members ; — should avoid all contumelious and sarcastic remarks relative to the faculty, as a body; and while, by unwearied diligence, he resorts to every honorable means of enriching the science, he should entertain a due respect for his seniors, who have, by their labors, brought it to the elevated condition in which he finds it. § 2. There is no profession, from the members of which greater purity of character, and a higher standard of moral excellence are required, than the medical 5 and to attain such eminence, is a duty every physician owes alike to his profession and to his patients. It is due to the latter, as without it he can- not command their respect and confidence, and to both, because no scientific attainments can compensate for the want of correct moral principles. It is also incumbent upon the faculty to be temperate in all things, for the practice of physic requires the unremitting exercise of a clear and vigorous understanding ; and, on emergencies, for which no professional man should be unpre- pared, a steady hand, an acute eye, and an unclouded head may be essential to the well-being, and even to the life, of a fellow- creature, § 3. It is derogatory to the dignity of the profession to resort to public advertisements, or private cards, or handbills, inviting the THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 245 attention of individuals affected with particular diseases — pub- licly offering advice and medicine to the poor gratis, or promising radical cures ; or to publish cases and operations in the daily prints, or suffer such publications to be made ; to invite laymen to be present at operations, to boast of cures and remedies, to ad- duce certificates of skill and success, or to perform any other similar acts. These are the ordinary practices of empirics, and are highly reprehensible in a regular physician. § 4. Equally derogatory to professional character is it, for a physician to hold a patent for any surgical instrument or medi- cine ; or to dispense a secret nostrum, whether it be the composi- tion or exclusive property of himself or of others. For, if such nostrum be of real efficacy, any concealment regarding it is in- consistent with beneficence and professional liberality ; and, if mystery alone give it value and importance, such craft implies either disgraceful ignorance or fraudulent avarice. It is also re- prehensible for physicians to give certificates attesting the efl[i- cacy of patent or secret medicines, or in any way to promote the use of them. Art. II.— Professional services of physicians to each other. § 1. All practitioners of medicine, their wives, and their chil- dren while under the paternal care, are entitled to the gratuitous services of any one or more of the faculty residing near them, whose assistance may be desired. A physician afflicted with disease is usually an incompetent judge of his own case ; and the natural anxiety and solicitude which he experiences at the sick- ness of a wife, a child, or any one who, by the ties of consan- guinity, is rendered pecuharly dear to him, tend to obscure his judgment, and produce timidity and irresolution in his practice. Under such circumstances, medical men are peculiarly dependent upon each other, and kind offices and professional aid should always be cheerfully and gratuitously afforded. Visits ought not, however, to be obtruded officiously ; as such unasked civility may give rise to embarrassment, or interfere with that choice on which confidence depends. But, if a distant member of the faculty, whose circumstances are affluent, request attendance, and an honorarium be offered, it should not be declined ; for no pecu- niary obligation ought to be imposed, which the party receiving it would wish not to incur. Art. III.— Of the duties of Physicians as respects vicarious offices. § 1. The affairs of life, the pursuit of health, and the various accidents and contingencies to which a medical man is peculiarly 21* 246 CODE OF ETHICS OF exposed, sometimes require him temporarily to withdraw from his duties to his patients, and to request some of his professional brethren to officiate for him. Compliance with this request is an act of courtesy, which- should always be performed with the utmost consideration for the interest and character of the family physician, and when exercised for a short period, all the pecu- niary obligations for such service should be awarded to him. But if a member of the profession neglect his business in quest of pleasure and amusement, he cannot be considered as entitled to the advantages of the frequent and long-continued exercise of this fraternal courtesy, without awarding to the physician who offi- ciates the fees arising from the discharge of his professional duties. In obstetrical and important surgical cases, which give rise to unusual fatigue, anxiety, and responsibility, it is just that the fees accruing therefrom should be awarded to the physician who officiates. Art. IV.— Of the duties of physicians in regard to consultations. § 1, A regular medical education furnishes the only presump- tive evidence of professional abilities and acquirements, and ought to be the only acknowledged right of an individual to the exercise and honors of his profession. Nevertheless, as in con- sultations the good of the patient is the sole object in view, and this is often dependent on personal confidence, no intelligent re- gular practitioner, who has a license to practice from some medi- cal board of known and acknowledged respectability, recognized by this association, and who is in good moral and professional standing in the place in which he resides, should be fastidiously excluded from fellowship, or his aid refused in consultation, when it is" requested by the patient. But no one can be considered as a regular practitioner or a fit associate in consultation, whose practice is based on an exclusive dogma, to the rejection of the accumulated experience of the profession, and of the aids ac- tually furnished by anatomy, physiology, pathology, and organic chemistry. § 2. In consultations, no rivalship or jealousy should be in- dulged ; candor, probity, and all due respect should be exercised towards the physician having charge of the case, § 3. In consultations, the attending physician should be the first to propose the necessary questions to the sick ; after which the consulting physician should have the opportunity to make such farther inquiries of the patient as may be necessary to satisfy him of the true character of the case. Both physicians should then retire to a private place for deliberation ; and the one THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 24t first in attendance should communicate the directions agreed upon to the patient or his friends, as well as any opinions which it may be thought proper to express. But no statement or discus- sion of it should take place before the patient or his friends, ex- cept in the presence of all the faculty attending, and by their common consent; and no opinions or prognostications should be delivered, wliich are not the result of previous deliberation and concurrence. § 4. In consultations, the physician in attendance should deliver his opinion first ; and when there are several consulting, they should deliver their opinions in the order in which they have been called in. No decision, however, should restrain the attending physician from making such variations in the mode of treatment, as any subsequent unexpected change in the character of the case may demand. But such variation, and the reasons for it, ought to be carefully detailed at the next meeting in consultation. The same privilege belongs also to the consulting physician if he is sent for in an emergency, when the regular attendant is out of the way, and similar explanations must be made by him at the next consultation. § 5. The utmost punctuality should be observed in the visits of physicians when they are to hold consultations together, and this is generally practicable, for society has been considerate enough to allow the plea of a professional engagement to take precedence of all others, and to be an ample reason for the relinquishment of any present occupation. But, as professional engagements may sometimes interfere, and delay one of the parties, the physician who first arrives should wait for his associate a reasonable period, after which the consultation should be considered as postponed to a new appointment. If it be the attending physician who is pre- sent, he will of course see the patient and prescribe; but if it be tlie consulting one, he should retire, except in case of emergency, or when he has been called from a considerable distance, in which latter case he may examine the patient, and give his opinion in writings and under seal, to be delivered to his associate. § 6. In consultations, theoretical discussions should be avoided, as occasioning perplexity and loss of time. For there may be much diversity of opinion concerning speculative points, with perfect agreement in those modes of practice which are founded, not on hypothesis, but on experience and observation. § 7. All discussions in consultation should be held as secret and confidential. Neither by words nor manner should any of the parties to a consultation assert or insinuate, that any part of the treatment pursued did not receive his assent. The responsibility must be equally divided between the medical attendants — they must equally share the credit of success as well as the blame of failure, 248 CODE OF ETHICS OF § 8. Should an irreconcilable diversity of opinion occur when several physicians are called upon to consult together, the opinion of the majority should be considered as decisive ; but if the numbers be equal on each side, then the decision should rest with the attending physician. It may, moreover, sometimes happen, that two physicians cannot agree in their views of the nature of a case, and the treatment to be pursued. This is a circumstance much to be deplored, and should always by avoided, if possible, by mutual concessions, as far as they can be justified by a con- scientious regard for the dictates of judgment. But, in the event of its occurrence, a third physician should, if practicable, be called to act as umpire ; and if circumstances prevent the adoption of this course, it must be left to the patient to select the physician in whom he is most wiUing to confide. But, as every physician relies upon the rectitude of his judgment, he should, when left in the minority, politely and consistently retire from any farther deliberation in the consultation, or participation in the management of the case, § 9. As circumstances sometimes occur to render a special con- sultation desirable, when the continued attendance of two physi- cians might be objectionable to the patient, the member of the faculty whose assistance is required in such cases, should sedu- lously guard against all future unsolicited attendance. As such consultations require an extraordinary portion of both time and attention, at least a double honorarium may be reasonably expected. § 10. A physician who is called upon to consult, should observe the most honorable and scrupulous regard for the character and standing of the practitioner in attendance ; the practice of the latter, if necessary, should be justified as far as it can be, con- sistently with a conscientious regard for truth, and no hint or in- sinuation should be thrown out which could impair the confi- dence reposed in him, or affect his reputation. The consulting physician should also carefully refrain from any of those extra- ordinary attentions or assiduities, which are too often practised by the dishonest for the base purpose of gaining applause, or in- gratiating themselves into the favor of families and individuals. Art. V. — Duties of Physicians in cases of interference. § 1. Medicine is a liberal profession, and those admitted into its ranks should found their expectations of practice upon the ex- tent of their qualifications, not on intrigue or artifice. § 2. A physician, in his intercourse with a patient under the care of another practitioner, should observe the strictest caution and reserve. No meddling inquiries should be made — no disin- genuous hints given relative to the nature and treatment of his THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 249 disorder ; nor any course of conduct pursued that may directly or indirectly tend to diminish the trust reposed in the physician employed. § 3. The same circumspection and reserve should be observed when, from motives of business or friendship, a physician is prompted to visit an individual who is under the direction of another practitioner. Indeed, such visits should be avoided, ex- cept under peculiar circumstances ; and when they are made, no particular inquiries should be instituted relative to the nature of the disease, or the remedies employed, but the topics of the con- versation should be as foreign to the case as circumstances will admit. § 4. A physician ought not to take charge of or prescribe for a patient who has been recently under the care of another mem- ber of the faculty in the same illness, except in cases of sudden emergency, or in consultation with the physician previously in attendance, or when the latter has relinquished the case, or been regularly notified that his services are no longer desired. Under such circumstances no unjust and illiberal insinuations should be thrown out in relation to the conduct or practice previously pur- sued, which should be justified as far as candor and regard for truth and probity will permit ; for it often happens that patients become dissatisfied when they do not experience immediate relief, and, as many diseases are naturally protracted, the want of suc- cess, in the first stage of treatment, affords no evidence of a lack of professional knowledge and skill. § 5. When a physician is called to an urgent case, because the family attendant is not at hand, he ought, unless his assistance in consuhation be desired, to resign the care of the patient to the latter immediately on his arrival. § 6. It often happens, in cases of sudden illness, or of recent accidents and injuries, owing to the alarm and anxiety of friends, that a number of physicians are simultaneously sent for. Under these circumstances, courtesy should assign the patient to the first who arrives, who should select from those present, any additional assistance that he may deem necessary. In all such cases, how- ever, the practitioner who officiates should request the family physician, if there be one, to be called, and, unless his farther attendance be requested, should resign the case to the latter on his arrival. § 7, When a physician is called to the patient of another prac- titioner, in consequence of the sickness or absence of the latter, he ought, on the return or recovery of the regular attendant, and with the consent of the patient, to surrender the case. § 8. A physician, when visiting a sick person in the country, may be desired to see a neighboring patient who is under the regular direction of another physician, in consequence of some 250 CODE OF ETHICS OF sudden change or aggravation of symptoms. The conduct to be pursued on such an occasion is to give advice adapted to present circumstances; to interfere no farther than is absolutely necessary vi^ith the general plan of treatment; to assume no future direction, unless it be expressly desired; and, in this last case, to request an immediate consultation with the practitioner previously em- ployed. § 9. A wealthy physician should not give advice gratis to the affluent; because his doing so is an injury to his professional bre- thren. The office of a physician can never be supported as an exclusively beneficent one ; and it is defrauding, in some degree, the common funds for its support, when fees are dispensed which might justly be claimed. § 10. When a physician who has been engaged to attend a case of midwifery is absent, and another is sent for, if delivery is accomplished during the attendance of the latter, he is entitled to the fee, but should resign the patient to the practitioner first engaged. Art. VI.— Of differences between physicians. § 1. Diversity of opinion and opposition of interest, may, in the medical as in other professions, sometimes occasion contro- versy and even contention. Whenever such cases unfortunately occur, and cannot be immediately terminated, they should be re- ferred to the arbitration of a sufficient number of physicians, or a court-medical. § 2. As peculiar reserve must be maintained by physicians to- wards the public, in regard to professional matters, and as there exist numerous points in medical ethics and etiquette through which the feelings of medical men may be painfully assailed in their intercourse with each other, and which cannot be under- stood or appreciated by general society, neither the subject-matter of such ditferences nor the adjudication of the arbitrators should be made public, as publicity in a case of this nature may be per- sonally injurious to the individuals concerned, and can hardly fail to bring discredit on the faculty. Art. VII.— Of pecuniary acknowledgments. Some general rules should be adopted by the faculty, in every town or district, relative to pecuniary acknowledgments from their patients ; and it should be deemed a point of honor to adhere to these rules with as much uniformity as varying circumstances will admit. THE AMERITAX MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 251 OF THE DUTIES OF THE PROFESSION TO THE PUBLIC, AND OF THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE PUBLIC TO THE PROFESSION. Art. I.— Duties of the profession to the public. § 1. As good citizens, it is the duty of physicians to be ever vigilant for the welfare of the community, and to bear their part in sustaining its institutions and burdens ; they should also be ever ready to give counsel to the public in relation to matters es- pecially appertaining to their profession, as on subjects of medical police, public hygiene, and legal medicine. It is their province to enlighten the public in regard to quarantine regulations — the location, arrangement, and dietaries of hospitals, asylums, schools, prisons, and similar instimtions — in relation to the medical police of towns, as drainage, ventilation, &c. — and in regard to mea- sures for the prevention of epidemic and contagious diseases; and when pestilence prevails, it is their duty to face the danger, and to continue their labors for the alleviation of the suffering even at the jeopardy of their own lives. § 2, Medical men should also be always ready, when called on by the legally constituted authorities, to enlighten coroners' inquests, and courts of justice, on subjects strictly medical — such as involve questions relating to sanity, legitimacy, murder by poisons or other violent means, and in regard to the various other subjects embraced in the science of Medical Jurisprudence. But in these cases, and especially where they are required to make a post-morteni examination, it is just, in consequence of the time, labor, and skill required, and the responsibility and risk they incur, that the public should award them a proper honorarium. § 3. There is no profession, by the members of which eleemo- synary services are more liberally dispensed than the medical, but justice requires that some limits should be placed to the per- formance of such good offices. Poverty, professional brotherhood, and certain of the public duties referred to in the first section of this article, should always be recognized as presenting valid claims for gratuitous services ; but neither institutions endowed by the public or by rich individuals, societies for mutual benefit, for the insurance of lives or for analogous purposes, nor any pro- fession or occupation, can be admitted to possess such privilege. Nor can it be justly expected of physicians to furnish certificates of inability to serve on juries, to perform militia duty, or to testify to the state of health of persons wishing to insure their lives, ob- tain pensions, or the like, without a pecuniary acknowledgment. But to individuals in indigent circumstances, such professionai. services should always be cheerfully and freely accorded. 252 CODE OF ETHICS, ETC. § 4. It is the duty of physicians, who are frequent witnesses of the enormities committed by quackery, and the injury to health and even destruction of life caused by the use of quack medicines, to enlighten the public on these subjects, to expose the injuries sustained by the unwary from the devices and pre- tensions of artful empirics and impostors. Physicians ought to use all the influence which they may possess, as professors in Colleges of Pharmacy, and by exercising their option in regard to the shops to which their prescriptions shall be sent, to dis- courage druggists and apothecaries from vending quack or secret medicines, or from being in any way engaged in their manufac- ture and sale. Art. II.— Obligations of the public to physicians. § 1, The benefits accruing to the public, directly and indi- rectly, from the active and unwearied beneficence of the profes- sion, are so numerous and important, that physicians are justly entitled to the utmost consideration and respect from the com- munity. The public ought likewise to entertain a just apprecia- tion of medical qualifications; to make a proper discrimination between true science and the assumptions of ignorance and empiricism — to afford every encouragement and facility for the acquisition of medical education — and no longer to allow the statute-books to exhibit the anomaly of exacting knowledge from physicians, under a liability to heavy penalties, and of making them obnoxious to punishment for resorting to the only means of obtaining it. 3 1158 00761 3549