The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 107 of 653accounted for by the differences in the character of the exudatiowhich in diphtheria involves the tissue of the mucous lining itseand very speedily results in gangrenous or ichorous dissolution,often attended with considerable loss of substance. If the diphtheritic process invades the larynx, it assumes a very destructivcharacter, sometimes without interfering with the breathing, whercroupous laryngitis unattended with dyspnoea need not necessarilybe a very dangerous disease. In pathological treatises both theseforms of croup are generally described as homogeneous, whereasthey differ essentially in their natures, which explains the factthe views concerning croup are so much at variance in the different w^orks on Pathology.Towards the end of the disease the diagnosis of croup is just aseasy as it is sometimes obscure at the commencement. It is mostapt to be confounded with laryngitis ; indeed, both these forms odisease resemble each other so much that it is very difficult durthe first twenty-four hours to diagnose the true character of theattack, in spite of the most careful investigation of all anamnescircumstances. If we have before us an individual who has hadfrequent attacks of simple laryngitis ; who is otherwise in the ejoyment of bodily vigor and health, and shows symptoms of anincipient or fully developed nasal catarrh : it is almost certainthe idea of croup may be abandoned. The last-mentioned circumstance is of particular importance, for we have never yet seen incipient croup accompanied by a damp nose ; and if the nose doesLaryngotracheitis Crouposa. 119begin to discharge during the last stage of croup, the secretionalways of the ichorous character of a diphtheritic discharge. Inlaryngitis as in croup the dyspncea may at first be very great, ecept that in the former disease the dyspnoea decreases in intensias soon as the children are wide awake and have tasted of a littlnourishment ; nor does it increase after the first attack, althoumay last longer than the first twenty-four hours. If croup prevaias an epidemic, every attack of laryngitis ought to be suspectedfrom the outset; likewise, if in the same family several childrenhad already been attacked with croup. The presence of membranous exudations on the tonsils and in the pharynx, which, however, are not always noticed at the very commencement of theattack, places the diagnosis beyond all doubt. A spasm of theglottis which is but a transitory condition, can only be confoundwith croup at the outset, so much more easily if the spasm is complicated with laryngitis. In a few hours already the true charactof the enemy is sufficiently apparent.Treatment. Since Napoleon's famous concourse of 1807 thepathological and pathologico-anatomical changes occurring in crouhave been investigated so thoroughly and almost exhaustively bysuch a number of physicians that it seems almost impossible thatthe therapeutic management of croup should have been so sadlyneglected. Nevertheless this charge is just. The Old School hasnot a single remedy for croup unless tracheotomy which is the lasdesperate resort, is considered such. If the numerous therapeuticexperiments that have been made during the last fifty-six years ocroup-patients, have failed to lead to the desired result, the meaccording to which the experiments were conducted, must have beenhttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt