A treatise on the management of female complaints, and of children in early infancy / by Alexander Hamilton, M.D. ... ; revised and enlarged by his son, Dr. James Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Alexander, 1739-1802.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the management of female complaints, and of children in early infancy / by Alexander Hamilton, M.D. ... ; revised and enlarged by his son, Dr. James Hamilton. 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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    Chyle.—The chyle is a white, milky-like, sweetish fluid, without smell or any active-sensible quality. By it the blood, which is continually wasting, is supplied. On a due proportion, therefore, of the chyle, the nourishment of the body must depend. Blood.—The common appearance of blood is fami- liar to every one. When taken from a living person, as in the common operation of blood-letting, it appears at first of an uniform consistence ; but after having re- mained for some time at rest, it spontaneously sepa- rates into two parts, a thin yellowish water, and a thick red jelly. The former is of a saltish taste, and can be jellied by heat; the latter is composed of red parts, and a substance which jellies whenever it is placed at rest. The proportion of these parts to each other differs in different persons, and in the same person, according to the state of health. From the blood all the fluids of the body (except the chyle) are prepared. Fluids prepared from the Blood.—These are pre- pared from the blood in two ways : either by simple separation, or by a certain power of the preparing or- gans, which cannot be referred to mechanical prin- ciples. These fluids differ materially from one another. Some are watery, some slimy, and others coagulable, or oily. They may all be comprehended under the five following classes. I. Watery Fluids.—Some of these fluids are thrown off from the body, as being useless or hurtful; and some of them arc necessary for diluting the food and drink : the former are the Urine and Perspirable mat- ter ; the latter are, the saliva or spittle, and the fluid prepared by one of the bowels, called Pancreas. To the watery fluids may also be referred the Tears. II. Slimy Fluids.—The slimy or mucous fluids dif- fer from the watery ones in being more viscid, and