On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
produced during life . More than one huudred inspections , made in this mauner , are described , the whoJe exhibiting a complete view of the pathology of fever , as far as that pathology is yet ascertained . It is the object of the present work to establish from these data what the real
phenomena are which constitute the disease ; in what order these phenomena occur ; upon what states of what organs they depend ; what are the external signs by which the existence of these internal states is denoted ; and , finally , what are the causes and what the
remedies of the . disease . The general conclusions deduced from the whole are , that a certain number of events always concur in every case of fever ; that these events uniformly take place in a certain order ; that they arise from peculiar and specific affections which are established in a certain circle of organs ; that symptoms are the external signs which denote that these internal changes are going on ; and that the nature of the internal
disease being thus nscertaiuable by its external indication , the appropriate remedy becomes at once apparent . It has happened unfortunately that the various and opposite opinions , hitherto entertained by physicians , relative to the nature aad seat of fever , have led to the adoption of a conflicting , and even a
contradictory practice . The remedies employed by one physician have been the very opposite of those recommended by another . At this very time the medical world appears to be divided into two great sections , each adopting an opposite view of the nature of the disease , and each insistiug upou an opposite practice . One maintains that it is a disease of
excitement , and requires depletion : the other , that it is a disease of debility , and requires stimulants : the one places all his hope of cure in the lancet and iu leeches ; the other looks with horror upon this mode of treatment , and regards ammonia , bark , and wine , as the only safe and efficient remedies . The
unfortunate patients mean time must be injured , if not killed , by one or the other . The interests of humanity , no less than those of science , require that the treatment of this most formidable malady should be fixed on more sure and steady principles , and the author of this work will have conferred an incalculable
benefit upon his profession and upon the community , should it contribute , as we are convinced it must , in a very considerable degree to this desirable object . In an appendix several tables are given , which exhibit a view of the Dumber of
Untitled Article
patients admitted into the London Fever Hospital every week for four years ; a corresponding view of the number of deaths for the same period , together with the relative state of the atmosphere for the like space of time , as to the
temperature , the moisture , the prevalent winds , and the general character of the weather . A number of other tables are also added , intended to lay the foundation for a statistical account of this disease , the great destroyer of the human race in a civilized , no less than in a savage state .
To collect extensively , lucidly to arrange , accurately to discriminate , aud thus to prepare lor and arrive at a general proposition , are meutal operations for which Dr . Smith has already shewn far more than ordinary aptitude . Our
readers must be well acquainted with the specimens he has afforded of them ou topics very remote from that of the present volume . They are exhibited here in a degree which would alone suffice to interest a philosophical reader in the work . And what an incalculable benefit
it is to have the phenomena of bodily disease treated of by one so well acquainted as our author is with the constitution aud laws of our mental nature ! Give us a few such men , aud the healing art will take its proper place ainoug the sciences .
While the study of this work must be a matter of duty to the members of the medical profession , the general reader will find it perfectly intelligible , interesting , and convincing , and , in many particulars , of great practical utility . It puts forth no pretensions of superseding medical aid , but it imparts information , which may be of essential . service by indicating when it is necessary to call in
such aid with promptitude ; which may render those attend ant ou the diseased , the enlightened coadjutors of the physician , instead of counteracting , as they often ignorantly do , his efforts and plans ; and which may even be the occasion of saving life , not seldom sacrificed , by iucautiougness and misplaced confidence during the delicate and perilous season of convalescence .
Untitled Article
Art . V . —Poetry of the Magyar * , preceded by a Sketch of the Language and Literature of Hungary and Transylvania . By J \ jhn Bowring , LL . 1 > ., &c . London , 1830 . It is pleasaut to see and to cheer l > r . Bo wring as he pursues the career for which by native talent aud diligent ac-
Untitled Article
Critical Notices . —Miscellaneous . 185
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 185, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/41/
-