Consumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases

Part 1

Transcribed from the 1839 W. Tylee edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

NEW ERA IN MEDICAL SCIENCE.

* * * * *

CONSUMPTION CURABLE: OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF PULMONARY DISEASES;

CHARACTERIZED BY ASTHMA, AND OTHER DISORDERS OF THE CHEST,

PRECEDED BY, OR ATTENDED WITH

VIOLENT COUGH AND WHEEZING,

EXTREME DIFFICULTY OF BREATHING;

AND THE

METHOD OF EFFECTUALLY ERADICATING EVERY SYMPTOM OF THOSE COMPLAINTS,

AND

PULMONARY CONSUMPTION,

BY MEANS WHICH

NATURE HAS PROVIDED,

HITHERTO EMPLOYED ONLY BY THE AUTHOR.

* * * * *

Patronized by the Nobility and Medical Men of the highest distinction.

* * * * *

TWENTY-SEVENTH EDITION.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. TYLEE, BOLT-COURT, FLEET-STREET. PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR (H. CONGREVE, SHEPHERD’S BUSH) BY HANNAY AND DIETRICHSEN, 63, OXFORD-STREET, LONDON; AND MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.

1839.

* * * * *

OBSERVATIONS ON PULMONARY DISEASES;

DEFINING THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS, AND DIRECTING TO THE MODE OF TREATMENT, AND MEANS OF CURE OF

INFLUENZA COLDS AND COUGHS, HOOPING COUGH, ASTHMA, AND PULMONARY CONSUMPTION, &c.

IT is a matter of notoriety how slightly regarded or little known are the medicinal properties concentrated in the plants which adorn the vegetable kingdom. Such negligence of the means of healing, by the remedies which are sent by the immediate hand of Providence, and rendered most abundant and common, and the substitution of others of a more doubtful, and often highly injurious, character, evinces a love of change, not simply to promote a greater benefit, but to render the art of healing more complicated and obscure.

It is probable that many disorders, for the relief of which medicines are sought for from the remotest parts of the globe, which act with harshness and violence, would be averted, were the same attention paid to the investigation of the properties, and the best mode of extracting the qualities, incorporated in the leaves, seeds, roots, and juices, together with the balsams, which in some cases exude from them, to be found in the soil of Nature’s platform on which we traverse.

There was a time, and not very remote, in the annals of the past, when disorders of the Chest and Lungs, so alarmingly prevalent in the present day, were scarcely known; when Consumptions were seldom heard of; when obstructions of the viscera were hardly ever seen, and when chronic diseases were but rarely witnessed. The reason is obvious: the simples which adorn the pages of our ancient authors on medical science, are no longer resorted to for relief by the student or practitioner, however valuable their properties have heretofore been manifested; and other compounds, emanating from the laboratory, have been preferred, and thus the simplicity of the science has been gradually lost in its complications.

Part 2

The design of the present treatise is to attempt the restoration of the good old ancient mode of cure, now obsolete; particularly as regards pulmonary complaints, which, in this our variable climate, are unhappily so abundant and fatal. All the information, needful to exhibit to the sufferer the dangers frequently arising from the neglect of what is called a common cold; and of the means whereby its course may be nipped in the very bud, and its more direful effects removed in its latent stages, and other matter of general importance is advanced; which, while it becomes a friendly beacon to warn him of danger, will at once point to a safe and salutary, and not less certain than salutary remedy.

All diseases of a pulmonary character should be treated by remedies possessing a combination of emollient, pectoral, and mildly expectorant qualities, capable of inciding and discharging the offending matter, which impedes the free action of the lungs, and highly aggravates the complaint. A remedy has for many years been employed in these cases, embodying the before-mentioned properties, which, when mixed in honey, is so pleasant that children take it with avidity. It is composed of the essences of herbs and asiatic gums, containing the purest balsamic and healing virtues. The sacrifices of human life, which annually transpire from pulmonary complaints, call loudly for a reform of medical practice. If the means of averting this calamity, or ameliorating the afflictions of the numerous class of sufferers, with which this country abounds, can be devised, it is, doubtless, the paramount duty of the individual who possesses them, to diffuse abroad the intelligence of his discovery, as extensively as possible, and more especially so when the ordinary means fail (as obviously they do) to yield the desired relief. These considerations have appeared weighty; and stimulated by the hope, that this remedy will become the means, in the hand of Providence, of saving many thousands from a premature grave, the author is induced strenuously to recommend its use to the patient tortured with the worst symptoms of asthma, cough, difficulty of breathing, and pulmonary consumption, of which this pamphlet treats, in every characteristic form of the disease.

The antidote referred to (see page 16) is a medicinal agent, which, from its efficacy in Asthmatic affections, as well as in the respiratory function in Pulmonary Consumption, has extended its just pretensions to universal notice. The embarrassed breathing, approaching to an anxious sense of suffocation, incidentally presenting in Pulmonary complaints, is relieved by its salutary influence. As its pervading and soothing power has been found to ameliorate and obviate the obstruction or impeded breath, in asthmatic and other disordered states of respiration, it has become a most valuable accession to the stock of remedies entitled to confident adoption.

This preparation, being a saturated infusion of plants and gums, &c., unknown to the medical profession, cannot be ascertained by any chemical analysis or examination. As the Proprietor has not developed the particulars relative to this discovery to any member of the profession, he is prepared to anticipate from the illiberal amongst their number a degree of censure; but he appeals from the tyranny of custom to the dictates of common equity and reason. If, in the course of medical research, any discovery is incidentally made, which offers to society the most important benefits, humanity appears to demand that it should be unreservedly communicated to the faculty, for the welfare of mankind: but, having devoted a considerable property and time in the conducting a series of experiments, totally unconnected with the customary routine of medical practice, in the completion of the discovery, the Author conceives that he is warranted to expect some remuneration by its sale, as a compensation for his labours. An invention is as much the property of its proprietor, as the estate he purchases or inherits. Society has a right to enjoy the advantage of his toil and skill—but, surely his labours have an equal claim on their patronage in return. The Public are sufficiently enlightened in the subject of medicine to be aware that the opposition which secret preparations have experienced from this quarter (though there are many exceptions to be made) arises entirely from interested motives, and they will decide accordingly.

OF HOARSENESS, ARISING FROM COLD.

HOARSENESS is not only a very distressing and painful complaint, but often extremely obstinate, and very difficult to cure by the customary means. A sense of roughness in the throat, with frequent attempts to clear it, is generally the first and most early symptom of the disease. It is attended with, or succeeded by irritation of the larynx, exciting a hard and dry cough, hoarseness of voice, with a sense of tightness across the chest, and sometimes with soreness and pain upon breathing deeply, or coughing. Lassitude, aching of the limbs, cold chills, and shiverings, are now apparent, with but little expectoration of the opaque matter that irritates the part; which, from neglect of the means of totally removing it, assumes other characters, and rapidly passes into inflammation of the lungs.

The larynx, or top of the windpipe, is the seat of this complaint; and to great tenderness or soreness of the surrounding part, with a thickened state of its natural moisture, may be ascribed the cause producing it. This is always perceptible to those who are hoarse, who, in endeavouring to speak out to render their voice audible, feel that part of the throat extremely painful and tender; and if, at any time, they expectorate, or discharge a portion of phlegm, it is very firm, thick, and tenacious, and often tinged with blood—but they are enabled to speak more freely afterwards, until a re-accumulation of the matter, which occasions the disease, ensues. The BALSAM is a natural and truly excellent remedy in such cases, for it possesses great power in softening and dissolving the tough phlegm; and it is, moreover, an excellent pectoral and balsamic, on which account, nothing can be more suited for curing the complaint, which fact repeated experience has confirmed.

The subjects of this disorder are always worse in the morning. The acrid humours which occasion it, collect, accumulate, and spread themselves over the affected parts during the night, undisturbed; and on rising from bed in the morning, the oppression induced is severely felt. On this account, also, those who are subjected to these oppressions from thick, glutinous phlegm, feel more uneasiness at this time, than perhaps any other part of the day.—The remedy should, therefore, never be omitted at night in such cases, and ought to be again repeated early in the morning.

Continue reading Consumption Curable: Observations on the Treatment of Pulmonary Diseases free in the Wunder reader →