Zoonomia Volume Ii Part 2

M. M. Mucilage, as isingla.s.s, hartshorn jelly, gum arabic. Ten grains of rhubarb every night. Callico or flannel shift, opium, balsams. See Cla.s.s I.

2. 3. 7.

12. _Haemorrhois alba._ White piles. An increased discharge of mucus from the r.e.c.t.u.m frequently mistaken for matter; is said to continue a few weeks, and recur like the bleeding piles; and to obey lunar influence. See Cla.s.s I. 2. 1. 6.

M. M. Abstinence from vinous spirit. Balsam of copaiva. Spice swallowed in large fragments, as ten or fifteen black pepper-corns cut in half, and taken after dinner and supper. Ward's paste, consisting of black pepper and the powdered root of Helenium Enula.

13. _Serum e vesicatorio._ Discharge from a blister. The excretory ducts of glands terminate in membranes, and are endued with great irritability, and many of them with sensibility; the latter perhaps in consequence of their facility of being excitable into great action; instances of this are the terminations of the gall-duct in the duodenum, and of the salivary and lachrymal glands in the mouth and eye; which produce a greater secretion of their adapted fluids, when the ends of their excretory ducts are stimulated.

The external skin consists of the excretory ducts of the capillaries, with the mouths of the absorbents; when these are stimulated by the application of cantharides, or by a slice of the fresh root of bryonia alba bound on it, the capillary glands pour an increased quant.i.ty of fluid upon the skin by their increased action; and the absorbent vessels imbibe a greater quant.i.ty of the more fluid and saline part of it; whence a thick mucous or serous fluid is deposited between the skin and cuticle.

14. _Perspiratio foetida._ Fetid perspiration. The uses of the perspirable matter are to keep the skin soft and pliant, for the purposes of its easier flexibility during the activity of our limbs in locomotion, and for the preservation of the accuracy of the sense of touch, which is diffused under the whole surface of it to guard us against the injuries of external bodies; in the same manner as the secretion of tears is designed to preserve the cornea of the eye moist, and in consequence transparent; yet has this cutaneous mucus been believed by many to be an excrement; and I know not how many fanciful theories have been built on its supposed obstruction. Such as the origin of catarrhs, coughs, inflammations, erysypelas, and herpes.

To all these it may be sufficient to answer, that the antient Grecians oiled themselves all over; that some nations have painted themselves all over, as the Picts of this island; that the Hottentots smear themselves all over with grease. And lastly, that many of our own heads at this day are covered with the flour of wheat and the fat of hogs, according to the tyranny of a filthy and wasteful fashion, and all this without inconvenience. To this must be added the strict a.n.a.logy between the use of the perspirable matter and the mucous fluids, which are poured for similar purposes upon all the internal membranes of the body; and besides its being in its natural state inodorous; which is not so with the other excretions of feces, or of urine.

In some const.i.tutions the perspirable matter of the lungs acquires a disagreeable odour; in others the axilla, and in others the feet, emit disgustful effluvia; like the secretions of those glands, which have been called odoriferae; as those, which contain the castor in the beaver, and those within the r.e.c.t.u.m of dogs, the mucus of which has been supposed to guard them against the great costiveness, which they are liable to in hot summers; and which has been thought to occasion canine madness, but which, like their white excrement, is more probably owing to the deficient secretion of bile. Whether these odoriferous particles attend the perspirable matter in consequence of the increased action of the capillary glands, and can properly be called excrement.i.tous; that is, whether any thing is eliminated, which could be hurtful if retained; or whether they may only contain some of the essential oil of the animal; like the smell, which adheres to one's hand on stroking the hides of some dogs; or like the effluvia, which is left upon the ground, from the feet of men and other creatures; and is perceptible by the nicer organs of the dogs, which hunt them, may admit of doubt.

M. M. Wash the parts twice a day with soap and water; with lime water; cover the feet with oiled silk socks, which must be washed night and morning. Cover them with charcoal recently made red hot, and beaten into fine powder and sifted, as soon as cold, and kept well corked in a bottle, to be warned off and renewed twice a day. Internally rhubarb grains vi. or viii. every night, so as to procure a stool or two extraordinary every day, and thus by increasing one evacuation to decrease another. Cool dress, diluting liquids?

15. _Crines novi._ New hairs. The black points on the faces of some people consist of mucus, which is become viscid, and which adheres in the excretory ducts of the glands of the skin; as described in Cla.s.s I. 2. 2.

9. and which may be pressed out by the fingers, and resembles little worms.

Similar to this would seem the fabrication of silk, and of cobweb by the silk worm and spider; which is a secreted matter pressed through holes, which are the excretory ducts of glands. And it is probable, that the production of hair on many parts of the body, and at different periods of life, may be effected by a similar process; and more especially as every hair may be considered as a slender flexible horn, and is an appendage of the skin. See Sect. x.x.xIX. 3. 2. Now as there is a sensitive sympathy between the glands, which secrete the s.e.m.e.n, and the throat, as appears in the mumps; see Hydrophobia, Cla.s.s IV. 1. 2. 7. and Parot.i.tis, Cla.s.s IV. 1.

2. 19. The growth of the beard at p.u.b.erty seems to be caused by the greater action of the cutaneous glands about the chin and p.u.b.es in consequence of their sympathy with those of the testes. But this does not occur to the female s.e.x at their time of p.u.b.erty, because the sensitive sympathy in them seems to exist between the submaxillary glands, and the pectoral ones; which secrete the milk, and afford pleasure both by that secretion, and by the erection of the mamulae, or nipples; and by delivering the milk into the mouth of the child; this sensitive sympathy of the pectoral and submaxillary glands in women is also observable in the Parot.i.tis, or mumps, as above referred to.

When hairs grow on the face or arms so as to be disagreeable, they may be thus readily removed without pain or any ill consequence. Warm the ends of a pair of nippers or forceps, and stick on them a little rosin, or burgundy pitch; by these means each single hair may be taken fast hold of; and if it be then plucked off slowly, it gives pain; but if plucked off suddenly, it gives no pain at all; because the vis inertiae of the part of the skin, to which it adheres, is not overcome; and it is not in consequence separated from the cellular membrane under it. Some of the hairs may return, which are thus plucked off, or others may be induced to grow near them; but in a little time they may be thus safely destroyed; which is much to be preferred to the methods said to be used in Turkey to eradicate hair; such as a mixture of orpiment and quick lime; or of liver of sulphur in solution; which injure the skin, if they are not very nicely managed; and the hair is liable to grow again as after shaving; or to become white, if the roots of it have been much inflamed by the causticity of the application. See Cla.s.s I. 2. 2. 11. on grey hairs.

ORDO I.

_Increased Irritation._

GENUS III.

_With increased Actions of the Absorbent System._

These are not attended with so great increase of heat as in the former genus, because the fluids probably undergo less chemical change in the glands of the absorbent system; nor are the glands of the absorbent vessels so numerous or so extensive as those of the secerning ones. Yet that some heat is produced by the increased action of the absorbents appears from the greater general warmth of the skin and extremities of feeble patients after the exhibition of the peruvian bark, and other medicines of the article Sorbentia.

SPECIES.

1. _Lingua arida._ Dry tongue occurs in those fevers, where the expired air is warmer than natural; and happens to all those, who sleep with their mouths open; the currents of air in respiration increasing the evaporation.

There is also a dryness in the mouth from the increased action of the absorbent vessels, when a sloe or a crab-apple are masticated; and after the perforation has been much increased by eating salt or spice, or after other copious secretions; as after drunkenness, cathartics, or fever fits, the mucus of the mouth becomes viscid, and in small quant.i.ty, from the increased absorption, adhering to the tongue like a white slough. In the diabaetes, where the thirst is very great, this slough adheres more pertinaciously, and becomes black or brown, being coloured after a few days by our aliment or drink. The insp.i.s.sated mucus on the tongue of those, who sleep with their mouths open, is sometimes reddened as if mixed with blood, and sometimes a little blood follows the expuition of it from the fauces owing to its great adhesion. When this mucus adheres long to the papillae of the tongue, the saliva, which it contains in its interstices, like a sponge, is liable to become putrid, and to acquire a bitter taste, like other putrid animal substances; which is generally mistaken for an indication of the presence of bile.

M. M. Warm subacid liquids. See Cla.s.s I. 2. 5. 8.

2. _Fauces aridae._ Dry throat. The expuition of a frothy mucus with great and perpetual hawking occurs in hydrophobia, and is very distressing to the patient; which may be owing to the increased irritability or sensibility of the upper part of the oesophagus, which will not permit any fluid to rest on it.

It affects some people after intoxication, when the lungs remain slightly inflamed, and by the greater heat of the air in expiration the mucus becomes too hastily evaporated, and is expectorated with difficulty in the state of white froth.

I knew a person, who for twenty years always waked with his tongue and throat quite dry; so that he was necessitated to take a spoonful of water, as soon as he awoke; otherwise a little blood always followed the forcible expuition of the indurated mucus from his fauces. See Cla.s.s II. 1. 3. 17.

M. M. Steel-springs fixed to the night-cap so as to suspend the lower jaw and keep it closed; or springs of elastic gum. Or a pot of water suspended over the bed, with a piece of list, or woollen cloth, depending from it, and held in the mouth; which will act like a syphon, and slowly supply moisture, or barley water should be frequently syringed into the mouth of the patient.

3. _Nares aridi._ Dry nostrils with the mucus hardening upon their internal surface, so as to cover them with a kind of skin or scale, owing to the increased action of the absorbents of this membrane; or to the too great dryness of the air, which pa.s.ses into the lungs; or too great heat of it in its expiration.

When air is so dry as to lose its transparency; as when a tremulous motion of it can be seen over corn fields in a hot summer's day; or when a dry mist, or want of transparency of the air, is visible in very hot weather; the sense of smell is at the same time imperfect from the dryness of the membrane, beneath which it is spread.

4. _Expectoratio solida._ Solid expectoration. The mucus of the lungs becomes hardened by the increased absorption, so that it adheres and forms a kind of lining in the air-cells, and is sometimes spit up in the form of branching vessels, which are called polypi of the lungs. See Transact. of the College, London. There is a rattling or weezing of the breath, but it is not at first attended with inflammation.

The Cynanche trachealis, or Croup, of Dr. Cullen, or Angina polyposa of Michaelis, if they differ from the peripneumony of infants, seem to belong to this genus. When the difficulty of respiration is great, venesection is immediately necessary, and then an emetic, and a blister. And the child should be kept nearly upright in bed as much as may be. See Tonsillitis, Cla.s.s II. 1. 3. 3.

M. M. Diluents, emetics, essence of antimony, foetid gums, onions, warm bath for half an hour every day for a month. Inhaling the steam of water, with or without volatile alcali. Soap.

5. _Constipatio alvi._ Costiveness from increased action of the intestinal absorbents. The feces are hardened in lumps called scybala; which are sometimes obliged to be extracted from the r.e.c.t.u.m with a kind of marrow spoon. This is said to have happened from the patient having taken much rust of iron. The mucus is also hardened so as to line the intestines, and to come away in skins, rolled up as they pa.s.s along, so as to resemble worms, for which they are frequently mistaken; and sometimes it is evacuated in still larger pieces, so as to counterfeit the form of the intestines, and has been mistaken for a portion of them. b.a.l.l.s of this kind, nearly as heavy as marble, and considerably hard, from two inches to five in diameter, are frequently found in the bowels of horses. Similar b.a.l.l.s found in goats have been called Bezoar.

M. M. Cathartics, Diluents, fruit, oil, soap, sulphur, warm bath.

Sprinkling with cold water, cool clothing. See Cla.s.s I. 2. 4. 18.

6. _Cutis arida._ Dry skin. This dry skin is not attended with coldness as in the beginning of fever-fits. Where this cutaneous absorption is great, and the secreted material upon it viscid, as on the hairy scalp, the skin becomes covered with hardened mucus; which adheres so as not to be easily removed, as the scurf on the head; but is not attended with inflammation like the Tinea, or Lepra. The moisture, which appears on the skin beneath resinous or oily plasters, or which is seen to adhere to such plasters, is owing to their preventing the exhalation of the perspirable matter, and not to their increasing the production of it, as some have idly imagined.

M. M. Warm bathing, oil externally, oil-skin gloves, resinous plasters.

Wax.

7. _Urina parca colorata._ Diminished urine, which is high coloured, and deposits an earthy sediment, when cold, is owing to the great action of the urinary absorbents. See Cla.s.s I. 1. 2. 4. In some dropsies the cutaneous absorbents are paralytic, as well as those opening into the cellular membrane; and hence, no moisture being acquired from the atmosphere, or from the cellular membrane, great thirst is excited; and great absorption from all parts, where the absorbents are still capable of action. Hence the urine is in very small quant.i.ty, and of deep colour, with copious sediment; and the kidneys are erroneously blamed for not doing their office; stimulant diuretic medicines are given in vain; and very frequently the unhappy patient is restrained from quenching his thirst, and dies a martyr to false theory.

M. M. Diluent liquids, and warm bathing, are the natural cure of this symptom; but it generally attends those dropsies, which are seldom curable; as they are owing to a paralysis both of the cutaneous and cellular lymphatics.

8. _Calculus felleus._ Gall-stone. From the too hasty absorption of the thinner parts of the bile, the remainder is left too viscid, and crystallizes into lumps; which, if too large to pa.s.s, obstruct the ductus choledochus, producing pain at the pit of the stomach, and jaundice. When the indurated bile is not harder than a boiled pea, it may pa.s.s through the bile-duct with difficulty by changing its form; and thus gives those pains, which have been called spasms of the stomach; and yet these viscid lumps of bile may afterwards dissolve, and not be visible among the feces.

In two instances I have seen from thirty to fifty gall-stones voided after taking an oil vomit as below. They were about the size of peas, and distinguishable when dry by their being inflammable like bad wax, when put into the flame of a candle. For other causes of jaundice, see Cla.s.s I. 2.

4. 19.

M. M. Diluents, daily warm bathing. Ether mixed with yolk of egg and water.

Unboiled acrid vegetables, as lettice, cabbage, mustard, and cresses. When in violent pain, four ounces of oil of olives, or of almonds, should be swallowed; and as much more in a quarter of an hour, whether it stays or not. The patient should lie on the circ.u.mference of a large barrel, first on one side, and then on the other. Electric shocks through the gall-duct.

Fact.i.tious Selter's water made by dissolving one dram of Sal Soda in a pint of water; to half a pint of which made luke-warm add ten drops of marine acid; to be drank as soon as mixed, twice a day for some months. Opium must be used to quiet the pain, if the oil does not succeed, as two grains, and another grain in half an hour if necessary. See Cla.s.s IV. 2. 2. 4.

9. _Calculus renis._ Stone of the kidney. The pain in the loins and along the course of the ureter from a stone is attended with retraction of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e in men, and numbness on the inside of the thigh in women. It is distinguished from the lumbago or sciatica, as these latter are seldom attended with vomiting, and have pain on the outside of the thigh, sometimes quite down to the ankle or heel. See Herpes and Nephritis.

Where the absorption of the thinner parts of the secretion takes place too hastily in the kidnies, the hardened mucus, and consequent calculous concretions, sometimes totally stop up the tubuli uriniferi; and no urine is secreted. Of this many die, who have drank much vinous spirit, and some of them recover by voiding a quant.i.ty of white mucus, like chalk and water; and others by voiding a great quant.i.ty of sand, or small calculi. This hardened mucus frequently becomes the nucleus of a stone in the bladder.

The salts of the urine, called microcosmic salt, are often mistaken for gravel, but are distinguishable both by their angles of crystallization, their adhesion to the sides or bottom of the pot, and by their not being formed till the urine cools. Whereas the particles of gravel are generally without angles, and always drop to the bottom of the vessel, immediately as the water is voided.

Though the proximate cause of the formation of the calculous concretions of the kidneys, and of chalk-stones in the gout, and of the insoluble concretions of coagulable lymph, which are found on membranes, which have been inflamed in peripneumony, or rheumatism, consists in the too great action of the absorbent vessels of those parts; yet the remote cause in these cases is probably owing to the inflammation of the membranes; which at that time are believed to secrete a material more liable to coagulate or concrete, than they would otherwise produce by increased action alone without the production of new vessels, which const.i.tutes inflammation. As defined in Cla.s.s II. 1. 2.

The fluids secreted from the mucous membranes of animals are of various kinds and consistencies. Hair, silk, scales, horns, fingernails, are owing to natural processes. Gall-stones, stones found in the intestines of horses, scurf of the skin in leprosy, stones of the kidnies and bladder, the callus from the inflamed periosteum, which unites broken bones, the calcareous cement, which repairs the injured sh.e.l.ls of snails, the calcareous crust on the eggs of birds, the annually renewed sh.e.l.ls of crabs, are all instances of productions from mucous membranes, afterwards indurated by absorption of their thinner parts.

All these concretions contain phosphoric acid, mucus, and calcareous earth in different proportions; and are probably so far a.n.a.logous in respect to their component parts as well as their mode of formation. Some calcareous earth has been discovered after putrefaction in the coagulable lymph of animals. Fordyce's Elements of Practice. A little calcareous earth was detected by Scheel or Bergman in the calculus of the bladder with much phosphoric acid, and a great quant.i.ty of phosphoric acid is shewn to exist in oyster-sh.e.l.ls by their becoming luminous on exposing them a while to the sun's light after calcination; as in the experiments of Wilson. Botanic Garden, P. 1. Canto 1. l. 182, note. The exchange of which phosphoric acid for carbonic acid, or fixed air, converts sh.e.l.ls into limestone, producing mountains of marble, or calcareous strata.

Now as the hard lumps of calcareous matter, termed crabs' eyes, which are found in the stomachs of those animals previous to the annual renewal of their sh.e.l.ls, are redissolved, probably by their gastric acid, and again deposited for that purpose; may it not be concluded, that the stone of the bladder might be dissolved by the gastric juice of fish of prey, as of crabs, or pike; or of voracious young birds, as young rooks or hawks, or even of calves? Could not these experiments be tried by collecting the gastric juice by putting bits of sponge down the throats of young crows, and retracting them by a string in the manner of Spallanzani? or putting pieces of calculus down the throat of a living crow, or pike, and observing if they become digested? and lastly could not gastric juice, if it should appear to be a solvent, be injected and born in the bladder without injury by means of catheters of elastic resin, or caoutchouc?

M. M. Diluents. Cool dress. Frequent change of posture. Frequent horizontal rest in the day. Bathe the loins every morning with a sponge and cold water. Aerated alcaline water internally. Abstinence from all fermented or spirituous liquors. Whatever increases perspiration injures these patients, as it dissipates the aqueous particles, which ought to dilute the urine.