The American household book of medicine, or, Every one's guide in sickness: containing directions on the diseases of men, women, and children; on bathing, diet ...

Front matter

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THE AMERIOAH

HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF MEDICINE,

Preface

In offering this work to the public, we can not forbear a few remarks on its great importance to the health and happiness of the mass who are removed from easy access to physicians, and, therefore, exposed to disease, without any protection except such strength of constitution as a kind Providence may have given them. Frequently, no hardiness of constitution, unaided, can resist the attacks of disease, while delicate persons, with judicious management, may long survive their robust but careless or ignorant neighbors. In the absence of a medical attendant, it is of vital importance to have at hand such a work as this is believed to be, which gives, in a clear and popular style, the practical result of the experience and learning of preceding ages, as applied to the treatment of ordinary diseases, the management of the sick, and the prevention of " the ills which flesh is heir to."

It is not pretended that this work will or should supersede proper medical advice. On the co.ntrary, it is merely an assistant to be relied upon in cases where but little is needed, or where a physician can not be procured. We leave to quacks and quack books such absurd professions and such injurious advice as lead people to trust in specifics, nostrums, and all manner of patent medicines, to the exclusion of treatment at the hands of scientific physicians of the regular school, and such medicines as long experience and patient investigation have proven to be useful in the prevention or cure of disease. This book rejects quackery in whatever guise

VI PREFACE.

it may appear. It recognizes nothing but charlatanism in every effort to cast aside the results of science, as developed by ages of study, for the whimsicalities of so-called reformers, which spring fully armed from the heads of their authors, like the fabled Minerva from the head of Jupiter. Only inspiration can afford to ignore past experience, and this work is published in the belief that the age of miracles is gone.

Acting on this theory, we profess to offer but little that is new or original. We merely add a combined observation, covering half a century, to the result of the toil of a thousand years. We hope and believe that in doing this humble work we shall be in some measure assisting to stem the tide of quackery which, at times, seems to be on the point of overflowing the whole country, and washing away, with its foul isms, every landmark of science and every light-house of experience. We confidently appeal to physicians of the regular school throughout the country to examine the book carefully, and, if it be what we profess it is, to use their influence to secure its circulation among the people ; and we have no hesitation in saying that they will be aiding in the propagation of valuable knowledge, in the preservation of human life, and in the eradication of quackery.

This work treats of nearly every phase of disease, and of sanitary matters in general. It begins with the prevention of disease, as being the most natural method of treating the subject of health. Under this head it treats of the noxious agents which produce disease, of atmospheric air, of the effect of the rays of the sun, of vitiated air, of respiration, of fire-places and ventilation, of endemic and epidemic influences, of malaria and the effects of miasms. It then proceeds to the consideration of mental affections, and, in this connection, of sleep and its effects. Next, it treats of exercise, with some directions as to the kind and quantity of it best adapted to the promotion of health. It then takes up the subject of the secretions, which are explained in a clear manner. Under this head the matter of baths and bathing

PREFACE Vil

is fully discussed, showing wherein a proper use of water is a preventive of many ills of the body, and wherein we should beware of its excessive use to the exclusion of proper remedies, as is practiced by one class of quacks. This is followed by an article on food and diet, with a discussion of the matter of eating with reference to health.

Chapter II is devoted to an elaborate article on the Climatology of the United States, in which much interesting and useful information is imparted touching the healthfulness or unhealthfulness of nearly every portion of the country. To travelers, and those desiring to emigrate, this article must be of great value, as it condenses and popularizes a vast amount of knowledge on the subject. No person can safely venture to break up his home connections, to seek another dwelling-place for himself and family, without studying the climate of the country he desires to reside in, and it is very difficult to find this subject fully treated of in any accessible form.

Mineral waters are next taken up. and discussed in a manner which must be useful to any one desiring to seek health by resorting to places of gayety, either in this country or Europe.

The reader will next find a chapter devoted to diseases in general, in which nearly every possible affection, not mentioned elsewhere, is treated of.

We next come to Diseases of Women, to which is devoted a long chapter, and one that is second to none in importance. The diseases which affect a female are frequently such as delicacy prevents her from disclosing, and the consequence often is that she goes on from year to year, and finally dies for want of proper treatment. Could she have had this work to consult, in all probability she would have discovered what afi'ected her, and its remedies ; or else would have seen the absolute necessity of procuring proper medical treatment, and might have been long spared to enjoy life herself, or to contribute to the happiness of her family and friends.

Viii PREFACE.

Next only in importance to this chapter on Diseases of Women is the one which follows it, on Diseases of Children. When we contemplate the fearful mortality among children, growing out of the ignorance of parents, the heart sickens. There is no reason why disease should be so fatal to children, except that parents have not at hand the proper books. Such a work as this, which designs to popularize science, is a vade mecum in every household, for the safety of young as well as old.

The work gives one chapter to Physiology and the Laws of Life, and another to Gymnastics and Physical Training, both interesting subjects. '

We can not permit this book to go to press without calling especial attention to the article on Cholera, in chapter IV. Now that this terrible disease is already among us, every one should be posted upon the subject. It is a disease which requires prompt, decided, and judicious treatmeiit. No time can safely be lost, even in waiting for a physician. To be safely treated it must be taken in its incipient stages, before the dreadful rice-water discharges and the collapse set in. When these are present but little can be looked for, though careful and decided treatment may, even then, accomplish much. This article on Cholera is from the pen of a physician who has had most extensive and varied experience in the treatment of the disease. His practice extended through the epidemics of 1832-33, and 1849-50, and was very large.

A marked and exclusive feature of this work is its Guide to Diagnosis, or Index of Symptoms, by which the reader can find the treatment prescribed for his symptoms with perfect ease and certainty. It merely carries out the idea of an index to its proper conclusions ; that is, making it so complete that any information to be had in the book can be got at without delay.

CHAPTER I. — Prevention of Disease

Prevention of disease. — Noxious agents — Conservative powers — Atmosphere and air as causes of disease — Calorific and colorific rays of the sun — Composition of air — Vitiation of air by the respiration — Arterial blood — Purification of blood — Quantity of oxygen and of air necessary to life — Components of animal matter — Too much carbon poisonous — Fire-places — Heated air — Contrivances for ventilation — The temperature of the air — Efi'ects of high and low temperature of air — Humidity of atmosphere — Influence of light on animals — Atmospheric impurities, and their causes — Propositions for -due ventilation — Electric variations — Endemic and epidemic influences — Malaria — Agues endemic — Effects of miasms : laws regulating their origin — Advice respecting malaria — Jeffrey's respirator.

Mental affections, as causes of disease. — Three conditions necessary for healthy brain — Effects of too much and too little exercise of the intellect — Education of children and young growing persons — Examples of over-study and of precocious intellect — Teaching at schools — Imaginative faculty to be less cultivated than it is.

On sleep,— Quantity necessary; too much disposes to apoplexy; too little to exhaustion of powers — Bedrooms, what they should be.

Exercise. — Exercise essential; to be properly regulated — Effects of pressure of too tight corsets on muscles of the body — Wasp-waists condemned — Children chicken-breasted — Mothers should nurse their own children — Muscular exercise ; its effects — Hours for exercise — Walking exercise preferable.

The secretions. — Cruveilhier's index of health — Waste and supply — Secreting vessels — Absorbents — Mesenteric glands — Thoracic duct — The chyle — Atrophy — Effete or waste matters — Superabundance of carbon poisonous — Bile, its atomic composition — Purifying organs; quantity daily removed from the human body; how remedied — Ingesta and egesta, or incomings and outgoings — Bile,, and its purposes — The chyme, when acid, when alkaline — Fat — Theory of Bernard — Uses of bile — Bilious disorders, their kinds, causes, and treatment — English cholera — Liver disease in tropical climates — The skin — Perspiratory pores described — Necessity of attention to the skin — Matters thrown off in perspiration — Fat, its use — The surface of body not to be chilled — Cold feet — Baths — Temperature of baths — The cold bath; the tepid and warm baths — Rules — A simple portable warm bath — The hot bath; the vapor bath; the shower bath, and mode of managing it ; the hip bath ; the foot bath — The nitromuriatic acid (ix)

X CONTENTS.

bath in liver complaints — hot douche bath — Imitation of bath of Aix in Sayoy — Uses of hot douche — Air-pump vapor bath — Shower bath — Cold bathing, and cold water drank ; when dangerous — Advice to fashionable party-goers — Tepid baths — Warm baths — Hydropathy — Quackery — Perkins' metallic tractors — Homeopathy — Law of vicarious action — Baths of hydropathists : the sudorific, the shallow bath, the wet sheet, the sitz bath, douche, foot bath, wet spinal friction, etc.; wet sheet packing lauded; umschlags — Rationale of action by hydropathists — Hydropathy useful as an auxiliary — Opponents of doctors and drugs obliged to seek advice and help from doctors — Hydropathy not attainable by the poor man.

On food and diet. — Vital action, accompanied by waste of structures — Supply necessary — Two vital processes going on always — Nitrogenized and non-nitrogenous articles of food — Albumen, fibrine, and caseine — Nutrition of the animal tissues, through absorption of albumen, and its conversion into fibrine — Means to ends — Cookery of food — Salting, smoking, pickling — Sausages, etc., poisonous; why, not known — Boiling, its effects on meat — Roasting, broiling, baking, frying — Advice to dyspeptics.

Times op eating. — Breakfast, luncheon, dinner, tea, supper — Rules as to eating — Quantity of food — Vitellius' gluttony — Old age may be delayed in its oncoming, but can not be protracted — Annual consumption of meat of certain nations — Disorders of repletion, infesting middle life, fatal to many — Instances of death from indulgence ; directions to such persons — Animal and vegetable food contrasted in certain respects — Vegetables — Soups — Fat of the body — Acidity of stomach, causes of — Unfermented bread — Moldy bread — Rich cakes, etc., bad; all pastry, some puddings — Butcher's meat, order of digestibility — Pork, venison, and game; birds, fish, potatoes, peas, beans, nuts, grapes, pears, oranges — Drink proper for indigestion and dyspeptics — Condiments condemned.

Vegetarians and drinks. — Vegetable diet, exclusive use of, opposed — Such a diet is not the cause of peaceable dispositions — Carnivorous beasts of prey — A mixed diet proper for man — Cautions as to vegetarianism, especially to pregnant women — Drinks, alcoholic and others — Ales, porter — Wines of different countries; effects of time on them — Sugary wines — Acid in wines — Beer — Use of wines contrasted with spirit drinking — Wines proper for the dyspeptic, for the gouty — Port wine — Madeira — Champagne — Johannisberger — Schartzberger — Claret wines — Burgundy — Ardent spirits — Proof of alcohol — Brandy — Cordial mixture in typhus, etc. — Rum — Gin — Whisky — Arrack — Ratafias — Kirschwassers — Maraschino — Curacoa — Effects of alcohol — When to be drank.

Spontaneous combustion — Improbability and impossibility of it in the human body.

Cookery por the sick and convalescent. — Boiling — Roasting — Baking — Frying — Cookery for the sick-room — Arrowroot — Mucilage — Tons les mois — Sago — Tapioca — Salep — Grit gruel — Oatmeal gruel — Iceland moss — Irish moss, or carrageen — Rice — Ground rice — Milk — Bread panada.

Animal preparations. — Hartshorn jelly — Beef tea — Chicken tea — Veal tea — Mutton tea — Turtle soup — Toast water — Apple tea — Lemon-peel water — Orgeat — Raspberry vinegar water — Lemonade — Simple barley water, compound ditto- Almond emulsion — Marsh-mallow tea — Linseed tea — Rennet whey — Vinegar and tamarind wheys — White wine whey — Mustard whey — Artificial goats' milk — Artificial asses' milk — Milk and soda-water — Buttermilk — Sago posset.

Cookery fob the convalescent. — Boiled flour and milk — Arrowroot pud-

CONTENTS. XI

ding — Anon-root blanc-mange — Milk or beef tea arrowroot mucilage — Flummery or SGwans — Oatmeal porridge — Rice and apples, or snowballg — Boiled bread pudding — Simple rice ditto — Macaroni or vermicelli ditto — Batter ditto — Tapioca ditto — Mashed carrots and turnips — Plain boiled vegetables.

Animal preparations. — Soup of rice, vermicelli, or macaroni — Chicken broth — Chicken panada — Rice gravy — Gloucester jelly — Sago milk — Mutton broth with vegetables — Tripe — Sweetbread — Fowl with rice — Water souchy — Broiled whiting — Aromatic barley wine — Mulled wine.

CHAPTEE II. — Climatology op United States.

Great variety or climate in United States. — Range of thermometer- Influence of winds — Amount of rain and snow — Malaria — Influence of swamps, lagoons, marsh lands, alluviums — Great range of thermometer in States east of Rocky Mountains — Winter in Maine — Variations of thermometer greater near mountains, tropical variations, isothermal lines — Controlling circumstances — Oceans, seas, lakes, plains, plateaus, and great mountain ranges — Isothermal of 55° — Gradual elevations of plains — Isothermal lines in Rocky Mountains — Variations of isothermal on globe's surface — Range of thermometer greater on continents than on islands — Western coast, or "cold water coast," of North America — Variations of temperature on Pacific coast — Equable climate of Pacific coast — Influence of winds lost in crossing western coast range of mountains — Valleys of Sacramento and San Joaquin — Maize does not come to perfection on Pacific coast — September at San Francisco — Climate of Sierra Nevada Mountains — Mercury at Holton, Maine — At New Bedford, Mass. — At New York city — At Philadelphia — At Baltimore and Washington — At Charleston, S. C. — In Florida — At Cincinnati — At St. Louis — At St, Paul, Minn. — At Chicago — Great interior plains of North America — At South Pass— Extremes of cold — At Holton, Maine — At New Bedford, Mass. — At New York city — At Albany — At Philadelphia — At Washington, Baltimore, and Alexandria — At Charleston, S. C. — At New Orleans and Baton Rouge — At Cincinnati — At St. Louis — At Fort Snelling — At Fort Brown, Texas — At Fort Kearney — At Fort Alamo — Fall of rain — Snow — Influence of quantity of rain on climate, health, and disease — Warm countries with little or no rain — Ditto with much rain — Temperate climate with much rain — Fall of rain on eastern slope of Alleghanies — On western slope — Of lake region — West of line drawn from mouth of Rio del Norte fo western shores of Lake Superior along Rocky Mountain range — Valley of great Colorado River — Great Salt Lake — West of Sierra Nevada range — Amount of rain during spring — During summer — In autumnal months — During winter.

Surface of United States. — Great interior valley of North America — Influence of surface on health and disease — Low districts of South Atlantic States — Autumnal fevers — Dry and elevated portions of the country — Ague and fever — Regions not subject to malarious diseases — Influence of winds — Heat — Storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes — Northers — Snow — Lake storms — Where invalids feel best — California as a resort for invalids in summer.

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.— Mineral Waters

Mineral waters. — Alkaline — Acidulous — Chalybeate — Aluminous chalybeate — Sulphurous — Saline — Purging saline — Lime or calcareous — AlkaliBe — Disorders they are respectively beneficial in.

CHAPTER IY.—On Diseases.

Diseases. — Fever — Inflammatory — Mixed — Typhus — 'Bilious fevers — Kemittent — Yellow fever.

Inflammation. — Inflammation of brain — Ophthalmia — Inflamed tongue — Of tonsils — Mumps — Inflamed larynx — Croup — Catarrh — Bronchitis — Influenza — Inflamed lungs — Inflamed pleura^ — Inflamed stomach — Bowels — Peritonaeum — Kidney — Liver — Chronic ditto — Bladder inflamed — Urethra ditto — Rheumatism — Chronic ditto — Gout — Dysentery — Erysipelas — Small-pox — Scarlet fever— Disinfecting clothes — Plague — Vesicular fever — Nettle rash — Shingles- Blood from nose — From stomach — From bladder and kidneys — Apoplexy — Palsy — Partial ditto — Indigestion — Vomiting — -Flatulence — Water brash — Vapors — Epilepsy — -Tetanus — Hiccup — Angina pectoris, or breast pang — Giddiness — Asthma — Hydrophobia — Colic — Iliac passion — Worms ; parasite upon parasite, tape-worm, etc. — Guinea worm — Lead colic — Sea-sickness — Cholera — Diarrhea— Diabetes — Consumption — Spitting of blood — Windy swellings — Tympany — Dropsy.

Skin diseases.— Chicken pox — Rose rash — Rupia — Tetter, or herpes — Humid scall — Chronic eczema — Miliary eruption — Impetigo — Ecthyma — Lichen — Prurigo — Leprosy — Dry tetter, or baker's or washerwoman's itch — Dandruff — Itch — Fish skin — Corns — Warts — Scurvy, land and sea — Itching, or pruritus — Grubs — Acne, or copper-nose — Baldness — Hair — Embrocation, etc. — Jaundice — Gallstones — Deaf and dumb — Caniftie appetite — Human rumination — Costiveness — Stricture of lower bowel — Gutta serena — Immoderate flow of urine — Strangury — Suppression of urine — Granular disease of kidney — Inflamed kidney — Gravel — ■ Stone — Cancer — Derbyshire neck — Headache — Toothache, faceache, or tic doloreux — Sprains — Scalds and burns — Cold, frost-bites, chilblains — Palpitation — Angina pectoris — Inflammation of pericardium— Water in ditto — Inflammation of heart-j-Diseased valves of ditto — Enlarged heart — Dilated ditto — The blue disease — Aneurism — Inflamed veins — Stricture of rectum — Fissure of ditto — Prolapse of ditto — Fistula in ano — Gonorrhea — Lues venerea — Enlarged prostate gland.

CHAPTER y.— Diseases of Women.

Diseases op women. — Cancer of breast and womb — Falling down of bladder — Ditto of womb — Whites, or fluor albus — Menstruation — Too much, too little- Green sickness — Painful periods — Polypus of womb — Cauliflower excrescence of womb — Corroding ulcer of womb — Watery discharges from womb — Hydatids—

CONTENTS. Xlll

Spinal curvature — Cooper chair-T-Spinal irritation — Hysteria — Asafetida clyster — Cold douche — Sterility — Inflammation of womb -Chronic ditto — Irritable womb — Pregnancy — Longings — Costiveness, exercise, and bathing — The nipples and breasts — Signs of pregnancy — Prevention and relief of diseases in pregnancy — Heartburn — Costiveness — Diarrhea — Palpitations and fainting fits — Piles — Enlarged veins — Toothache — Salivation — Cramps — Violent movements of the child — Distended skin — The bladder — Whites — Pain in side — Headache — Miscarriage — Calculation as to labor— Sore nipples after delivery — Excessive flow of milk-^Milk abscess — After pains — Weaning — Drying up of milk — Inflammation of peritonseum — Puerperal fever — Intestinal irritation — False inflammation of abdomen — Milk fever.

CHAPTER VI.— Diseases of Children.

Diseases op children. — General observations — Doses of medicines — Effects of some medicines on children, and formula — Teething — Scrofula in the neck — Treatment of childhood — Iodine baths — Scrofulous ear — Rickets — Atrophy — Disease of brain and convulsions — Distinction between water in the head and worm fever — Alarming symptoms — The fontanelles — Chronic water in the head — The thrush, or inflamed mouth — Diphtheria — Canker of mouth — Mercurial mouth — Infantile indigestion — Cholera infantum — Diarrhea — Prolapse of lower bowel — Croup — Measles — Cow-pox and vaccination — Ringworm — Still-born children — Deformities-^Tongue-tied — Harelip — Blue disease — Trismus — Erysipelas — Abscesses — Induration of cellular tissue — Jaundice, or yellow gum — Purulent opthalmia — Red gum — Swelling of breast — Whooping-cough — Sets of teeth.

CHAPTER YII. — Poisons, Accidents, Forms of Medicines, and Advice to Emigrants,

Poisoning by strong acids. — By strong alkalies — By antimony — By iodine — Arsenic — Mercury — Copper — Tin — Zinc — Silver — Nitre — Liver of sulphur — Baryta — Phosphorus — Cantharides — Glass — Lead — Acrid plants — Narcotic poisons — Prussic acid — Mushrooms — Nux vomica — Hemlock, etc. — Alcohol — Putrefying poisons, as putrid meat, serpents, etc. — Accidents — Death from charcoal vapor — Fever caused by it — Coal gas, or carbureted hydrogen — Sulphureted hydrogen — Drowning — Strangling or hanging — Substances falling into the air-pipe — Lightning stroke — Intense cold — Apparent death in new-born infants — Substances, etc., in the eyes — Ditto in the ears — Burns and scalds — Sprains-r- Bruises or contusions — Cuts and wounds — Dislocations — Ruptures — Fainting fits — Lotions — Liniments — Ointments — Mustard poultice — Crotonoil — Blisters — Poultices — Aneurisms— Fomentations — Stupes — Antacids — Worm medicines — Laxatives and cathartics — Emetics — Cordials, stimulants, and tonics — ^Diluents — Diuretics — Diaphoretics and sudorifics — Alteratives — Narcotics and anodynes: — Antispasmodics — Astringents — Directions and advice to emigrants — Climates for emigrants — Delirium tremens, or drunkard's mania — Medicines to betaken.

XIV COxVTENTS.

CHAPTER YIII.— Specific Diseases.

(Page 611-626.) Milk sickness, or sick stomach. — Dr. Drake's views — Observations on the nature of the disease — Its origin — Where prevalent — At what seasons — Views of Prof. Dickson as to treatment — Chronic cases and their treatment — Phlegmasia dolens, or milk leg — Causes — Symptoms — Cure — Ulcers about the nails — Felon, or whitlow — Different varieties of trichina spiralis — History — Description — Symptoms — Treatment — Accounts of cases.

CHAPTER IX.— How to Nurse the Sick.

(Page 627-653.) Elements of good nursing little understood. — ^Importance of pure air for the sick — Ventilation — Pure water — Efiicient drainage — Cleanliness — Light — Effects of noises — Reading to the sick — Effect of beautiful objects on the sick — Food for the sick — Manner of preparing — When to give — How much to give — Changing the food — Importance of punctuality in administering food — Nutritive power of different articles of food for the sick — Beds and bedding — Careful observance of the varying conditions of the sick.

CHAPTER X. — Physical Training and GtYmnastics.

(Page 654-704.) The object of exercise. — Strengthening of muscles — Beauty of form — Promotion of health — Effect on the brain and nervous system — The due blending of out-door exercise and intellectual pursuits — General directions — Best time for exercises — Best place for ditto — Clothing to be worn — Exercise to begin gently — To iavoid being cooled too quickly — Not to exercise to excess — The necessary fitting up — The belt — Training — Directions for — Eesults of — Position — Of the head — Of the body — The limbs — Extension motions — Locomotive exercises — The Indian club exercise — The balance step — Without gaining ground — Gaing ground by the word forward — Walking — Utility of walking — ■ Moderate walking — General mechanism of walking — Slow walk, or march — Moderate and quick pace — Feats of walkers — Running — Position in running — Action in running — Respiration — Moderate running — Rapid running — Feats in running — Leaping — High leap, without a run — High leap, with a run — Feats in high leaping — Long leaping — Feats in long leaping — Vaulting — Oblique vaulting — Climbing — On the ladder — Inclined board— Upright pole — Mast — Slant pole — Horizontal bar — Leaping with a pole^The rope ladder — Upright rope — Oblique rope — Level rope — Climbing trees.

CHAPTER XI. — Physiology and Laws op Life.

(Page 705-767.) On life. — Division of organized beings into animals and vegetables — Of the forms peculiar to the organic elements of the animal body, and of the principal eombinations of the chemical elements — Of the forces which act in the animal

CONTENTS. XV

body — Summary idea of the functions and organs of the bodies of animals, ^and of their various degrees of complication— Of the intellectual functions of animals — Of food and the digestive process — Sources for the demand of aliment

Hunger and thirst — Nature and destination of the food of animals Of the

passage of food along the alimentary canal — Action of the intestinal tube

Nature of chymification and chylification.

Guide to Diagnosis 771

Tables of "Weights and Measures 793

Index 795

THE AMERICAN

HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF MEDICINE,