CASE OF BRONCHITIS FOLLOWED BY SYMPTOMS OF
PHTHISIS; RECOVERY. By S. FLOOD, M.B.. Assistant-Surgeon, 106tii Regiment. W. D., aged 24, was admitted into the Regimental Hospital on the 30tft April, 1864, suffering from cough, dyspnoea, and a sense
CASES FROM PRACTICE.
June 1, 186S.]
cf constriction across the cliest; has enjoyed good health until a week previous to admission, when he caught cold by exposure to the night air. When admitted, he was suffering from a short hacking cough accompanied by nummular expectoration; slight headache; pulse quick; skin hot and dry; night sweats; tongue covered with a white fur ; appetite bad; bowels regular. He appeared very cachectic; muscles flabby and wasted; clavicles prominent; chest flat; expansion 1|- inch ; slight dulness on percussion under both clavicles; bronchitic rales audible over the upper part of both lungs. May 25th.?He has been treated with small doses of Ant: Tart: hippo and blisters, which remedies have removed the bronchitic symptoms; but instead of prolongation of the expiratory murmur, a moist crepitation and increased vocal resonance is heard under the left clavicle; dulness posteriorly between the scapulae ; emaciation; hectic fever; nummular sputum; pulse 104, soft and compressible. A seton was introduced under the left clavicle, and he was ordered cod-liver oil and syrup of the iodide of iron, with moderate exercise in the open air. June oth.?A coarse creaking sound audible at the upper part of left lung. Pulse 92; appetite good; no cough; no hectic; gaining flesh. 9 th.?Respiration quite natural under both clavicles; coarse respiration between the scapulae; seton to be removed; liq: lytta; to be applied between the scapula}. July 21 st.?On carefully examining hi3 chest now, no abnormal sounds can be heard ; the respiration under the clavicles and between the scapulae is natural; general health very good. This case seems interesting from the rapidity with which the symptoms set in during an attack of acute bronchitis, and the equally rapid way in which they subsided, without leaving a trace behind. Whether this was altogether a natural cure or aided by tbe remedies used, or whether the diagnosis was wrong, I cannot say; but it seems to me to have been a case of phthisis pulmonalis, in which resolution of the tubercles, or at least a subsidence of all the symptoms caused by them, has taken place. This man gained 295 lbs between May 25th and July 21st, and has enjoyed excellent health up to the present day.
Nusseerab.yd, May
11 th, 1863.
153
PHTHISIS; RECOVERY. By S. FLOOD, M.B.. Assistant-Surgeon, 106tii Regiment. W. D., aged 24, was admitted into the Regimental Hospital on the 30tft April, 1864, suffering from cough, dyspnoea, and a sense
CASES FROM PRACTICE.
June 1, 186S.]
cf constriction across the cliest; has enjoyed good health until a week previous to admission, when he caught cold by exposure to the night air. When admitted, he was suffering from a short hacking cough accompanied by nummular expectoration; slight headache; pulse quick; skin hot and dry; night sweats; tongue covered with a white fur ; appetite bad; bowels regular. He appeared very cachectic; muscles flabby and wasted; clavicles prominent; chest flat; expansion 1|- inch ; slight dulness on percussion under both clavicles; bronchitic rales audible over the upper part of both lungs. May 25th.?He has been treated with small doses of Ant: Tart: hippo and blisters, which remedies have removed the bronchitic symptoms; but instead of prolongation of the expiratory murmur, a moist crepitation and increased vocal resonance is heard under the left clavicle; dulness posteriorly between the scapulae ; emaciation; hectic fever; nummular sputum; pulse 104, soft and compressible. A seton was introduced under the left clavicle, and he was ordered cod-liver oil and syrup of the iodide of iron, with moderate exercise in the open air. June oth.?A coarse creaking sound audible at the upper part of left lung. Pulse 92; appetite good; no cough; no hectic; gaining flesh. 9 th.?Respiration quite natural under both clavicles; coarse respiration between the scapulae; seton to be removed; liq: lytta; to be applied between the scapula}. July 21 st.?On carefully examining hi3 chest now, no abnormal sounds can be heard ; the respiration under the clavicles and between the scapulae is natural; general health very good. This case seems interesting from the rapidity with which the symptoms set in during an attack of acute bronchitis, and the equally rapid way in which they subsided, without leaving a trace behind. Whether this was altogether a natural cure or aided by tbe remedies used, or whether the diagnosis was wrong, I cannot say; but it seems to me to have been a case of phthisis pulmonalis, in which resolution of the tubercles, or at least a subsidence of all the symptoms caused by them, has taken place. This man gained 295 lbs between May 25th and July 21st, and has enjoyed excellent health up to the present day.
Nusseerab.yd, May
11 th, 1863.
153
