A Treatise on Diphtheria (Electronic book text)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3DIPHTHERIA. DEFINITION.HISTORY. Diphtheria is a specific, infectious, general disease, transmissible by inhalation, by contact and probably by inoculation, the principle characteristic of which is the production upon the mucous membranes, or upon the deep layer of the epidermis, of fibrinous exudations commonly called false-membranes. Known from the most remote antiquity but differently understood by numerous authors who have observed it, it has received in the course of the ages names which recall either one of its principal symptoms, or the idea which has been formed of its nature, or the country in which it has prevailed. Hence, the names textit{ulcus Syriacum, ulcus Egyptiacum, garrotillo, morbus suffocans, morbus or affectus strangulatorius, pestilentis gutturis affectio,pedancho maligna, angina maligna, anginosa passio, mat de gorge gangreneux, ulc'ere gangreneux, angina polyposa, croup, angine maligne, up to the time when Bretonneau gave it that of textit{diphtherite, then textit{diphtheria, derived from the greek word textit{StyOipa. membrane. Diphtheria, a disease unique and specific, will be described in accordance with the method ordinarily applied to well- defined pathological types. The treatise will form several chapters in which will be reviewed the history from the most remote periods, the pathological anatomy, symptoms, diagnosis, etiology, nature of the. disease, prognosis and treatment. By pursuing the annals of science one may assure himself that diphtheria is not a new disease and that the different forms observed in our day existed already in antiquity. The Jews fasted, it is said, the fourth day of the week for the sake of children succumbing suddenly under an attack of (33) angina. It is believed that the proof is found in the works of Hippocrates, that dipht...