Consumption curable : the manner in which nature and remedial art operate in effecting a healing process in cases of consumption, and by which the development of tubercles may be prevented / by Francis Hopkins Ramadge.

  • Ramadge, Francis Hopkins, 1793-1867.
Date:
[1839?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Consumption curable : the manner in which nature and remedial art operate in effecting a healing process in cases of consumption, and by which the development of tubercles may be prevented / by Francis Hopkins Ramadge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Capable of affording, are for several reasons unsuspected by the gener- ality of practitioners. First, because the period, during which persona are directed to inhale, is generally too short to produce either a ca- tarrhal or an enlarged state of the lungs, one of which conditions is ab- solutely necessary in order to suspend, or cure consumption : and, secondly, the apparatuses employed for this purpose are not constructed scientifically, so as to facilitate those physical changes which it is de- sirable the chest should undergo. Proper inhalers ought to be so ar- ranged, as to offer some slight impediment to free expiration ; which can be effected by having the vessels which are to contain the mate- rials to be inhaled, large enough to hold about two quarts of liquid, and with covers perforated by two apertures ; one of very small size, serving as an air-vent, the other furnished with a flexible or straight tube of narrow diameter, and at least five feet long. For the end of the tube destined to be received between the lips, we may have mouth- pieces formed of ivory or bone, each of them having an aperture of a different size. The length of the tube will save the patient's counte- nance from being heated by too close an approximation to the body of the apparatus, when filled with warm water; besides, it contributes, together with the small air-vent, to retard the free egress of air from the lungs, which, I shall presently show, constitutes in no small degree the great virtue of inhalation. An extraordinary, but most undeserved reputation is bestowed on various substances, mechanically received into the lungs in a state of vapor. Among these I may mention tar, iodine, chlorine, hemlock, turpentine, and many other articles of a stimulating, or sedative nature. I attach little or no importance to any of them. If benefit is derived, it is, in almost every instance, in consequence of some such effects as the following :—Pulmonary expansion, to a degree sufficient to exert an influence in bringing into contact the surfaces of those early cavities which are almost invariably formed in the summit of the lungs;—pul- monary catarrh, or its common consequence, a vesicular emphysema- in both of which the lungs acquire an unusual magnitude ; in the lat- ter more especially. Neither perfect recovery, nor indeed exemption from the danger of relapse into a consumtive state, is found to occur, except in very rare instances, unless the pulmonary organs become naturally, or artificially, voluminous ; which not unfrequently happens by the supervention of some catarrhal state of the larynx, trachea, or bronchial tubes. It is a most fortunate circumstance for some affection of this kind to occur early, as it never fails permanently to arrest this most fatal disorder. When the lower lobes of the lungs are entirely free from tuberculous matter, (which is often indisputably the case for a considerable period, unless there be strong hereditary predisposition) and though there exist at the same time, cavities in the superior part of one or both lungs', clearly indicated by perfect pectonloquism, there is almost a