One is apt to feel weak, when anything
whatever is the matter. This may arise
from loss of blood, from excessive fatigue,
from continued illness, or from a severe
shock to the system from any cause. Either
of these may cause depression or prostration ,
of which the extremest degree is called
collapse.
In the beginning of all such affections,
the weakness is that of oppression. The
organs of the body are clogged, so to speak ;
skin, kidneys, bowels i etc., are, for the time,
hindered in their action, and the loaded
blood fails to stimulate aright the various
functions,
It is important, in treating debility, to
distinguish of what kind it is. Exhaustion,
as after long illness, is to be recovered from,
with time, under nourishing food, rest, pure
air, etc. Depression, or prostration, as from
a severe shock, by warmth, rest, and stimu-
lation, according to the nature and degree of
the case. Oppressio7i of the organs, at the
onset of a disease, is best relieved by unload-
ing the system with purgative medicines,
and those which promote the action of the
skin and kidneys ; sometimes, in an early
stage, by the withdrawal of blood from the
arm, or by leeches or cups from a central
part.
Ansemia and Plethora.
Poverty of blood may result from various
diseases, or from loss of blood, too long
nursing, etc. Weakness accompanies it, of
the kind above called exhaustion. An
anaemic person is usually pale (though per-
haps easily flushed by excitement), rather
thin, and "nervous." There is a form of
this disorder called progressive pernicious
anaemia, which cannot be accounted for by
ordinary causes, and which it is almost or
quite impossible to cure by any treatment.
Plethora is the opposite of anaemia. In
it, the red corpuscles of the blood are too
numerous, and the blood itself is redundant
in amount. A plethoric person is round and
plump (not necessarily/a/), with full blood-
vessels and a high color. Such an one is
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lO
THE FAMIL Y DOCTOR
more liable than others, in early life, to acute
iuflanwiations and active hemorrhages ; after
middle age to apoplexy.
Cachexia or Diathesis.
By this is meant some abnormal con-
dition of the constitution.
Leiikcsmia (or leucocythsemia) is a dis-
ease in which there is an excess of white or
colorless corpuscles in the blood.
Another cachexia is scurvy (scorbutus) ;
brought on by deficiency of fresh food ; es-
pecially of vegetable food.
Another is goitre or bronchocele^ whose
main feature is a swelling in the neck, in-
volving the thyroid gland.
Chlorosis, or "green sickness," is a ca-
chexia sometimes met with in girls or young
women ; the name is given because of a pe-
culiar sallowness of complexion belonging
to it.
Rickets occur tolerably often among the
ill-fed poor in the cities of Europe ; much
more seldom in this country. Those having
it are feeble from childhood, with defective
development especially of the bones ; which
are easily broken and subject to decay.
Page 130
Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
One is apt to feel weak, when anything whatever is the matter. This may arise from loss of blood, from excessive fatigue, from continued illness, or from a severe shock to the system from any cause. Either of these may cause depression or prostration , of which the extremest degree is called collapse.
In the beginning of all such affections, the weakness is that of oppression. The organs of the body are clogged, so to speak ; skin, kidneys, bowels i etc., are, for the time, hindered in their action, and the loaded blood fails to stimulate aright the various functions,
It is important, in treating debility, to distinguish of what kind it is. Exhaustion, as after long illness, is to be recovered from, with time, under nourishing food, rest, pure air, etc. Depression, or prostration, as from a severe shock, by warmth, rest, and stimulation, according to the nature and degree of
the case. Oppression of the organs, at the onset of a disease, is best relieved by unloading the system with purgative medicines, and those which promote the action of the skin and kidneys ; sometimes, in an early stage, by the withdrawal of blood from the arm, or by leeches or cups from a central part.
Anaemia and Plethora.
Poverty of blood may result from various diseases, or from loss of blood, too long nursing, etc. Weakness accompanies it, of the kind above called exhaustion. An anaemic person is usually pale (though perhaps easily flushed by excitement), rather thin, and "nervous." There is a form of this disorder called progressive pernicious anaemia, which cannot be accounted for by ordinary causes, and which it is almost or quite impossible to cure by any treatment.
Plethora is the opposite of anaemia. In it, the red corpuscles of the blood are too numerous, and the blood itself is redundant in amount. A plethoric person is round and plump (not necessarily fat), with full bloodvessels and a high color. Such an one is
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more liable than others, in early life, to acute inflammations and active hemorrhages ; after middle age to apoplexy.
Cachexia or Diathesis.
By this is meant some abnormal condition of the constitution.
Leukaemia (or leucocythaemia) is a disease in which there is an excess of white or colorless corpuscles in the blood.
Another cachexia is scurvy (scorbutus) ; brought on by deficiency of fresh food ; especially of vegetable food.
Another is goitre or bronchocele, whose main feature is a swelling in the neck, involving the thyroid gland.
Chlorosis, or "green sickness," is a cachexia sometimes met with in girls or young women ; the name is given because of a peculiar sallowness of complexion belonging to it.
Rickets occur tolerably often among the ill-fed poor in the cities of Europe ; much more seldom in this country. Those having it are feeble from childhood, with defective development especially of the bones ; which are easily broken and subject to decay.