The Therapeutic Gazette, 1899, Vol. 23

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Therapeutic Gazette, 1899, Vol. 23: A Monthly Journal of General, Special, and Physiological Therapeutics In chronic gastric catarrh, brought on by errors of diet or alcoholic habits, frequent lavage of the stomach and a regulated regimen have afiorded great relief in more than one instance to the frequency and intensity of asthmatic seizures. In some instances in which the total acidity of the stomachal con tents, taken after a test meal, would seem to indicate, when allied with severe, repeated attacks of gastralgia, a possible beginning of ulcer of the stomach, I have little doubt that a prolonged use of Vichy or Vals water, with an occasional mercurial purgative, not only afiorded relief to the stomachal condition, but also lessened the seriousness of the asthma. We now come to a consideration of what, after all, are the large number of asthmatics we are likely to see. They are the bronchitic cases - cases in which there is also more or less development of emphysema. Taking cold, as it is said, apart from every other consideration, is what seems to the patient the essential cause of his asthma. He will get along peacefully for weeks without any evident pulmonary distress, and then, owing to slight atmospheric changes, wet feet, sit ting in a draught, going from an overheated room to the outside atmosphere, very soon he will notice more or less oppressed breath ing and all the usual asthmatic phenomena. In very many of these cases, although they may claim that between the periodic attacks they feel perfectly well, yet when they are questioned closely we shall find almost in variably that upon slight exertion they suffer from short breath and cardiac palpitations. If we examine the chest carefully the percus sion note, as well as ascultation, shows here and there patches of pronounced vesicular emphysema. The latter may have developed slowly and insidiously; nevertheless, when we watch our patients closely, we shall find that the emphysema extends and involves more lung tissue with the recurrence of each asthmatic attack. The development of the emphysema in its initial stage is not, however. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.