The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 495 of 653diarrhoea which is very often wanting, of the same character as tdiarrhoea of typhus abdominalis. In cases of a moderate degree ofintensity, the fever commonly abates in the second half of thesecond, less frequently at the commencement of the third week ;such an abatement is immediately preceded by an exacerbation.The temperature falls considerably in a very short period of timethe pulse likewise falls to ninety, to hundred, and even a smallenumber of beats. At the same time, a considerable change takesplace in the whole condition of the patient. The sensorium is sticlouded, but he commences to enjoy a quiet sleep, he is more quiein his waking condition : a desire for food is felt, and in a fewconvalescence is under full headway, so that at the beginning ofthe fourth week the patient is able to leave his bed, although hestill feels weak for a long time. Up to the middle of the secondweek, the exanthem continues to increase, the spots assume adarker color ; but as soon as the fever abates, the spots show atint, and pale oft' rapidly without even leaving a vestige of theexistence. Not unfrequently the spots, some of them at least, chato real petechise; altogether this form of typhus is distinguisheby a tendency to hemorrhagic effusions, and to hemorrhages fromevery possible organ. Among the complications, inflammatory affections of the respiratory organs are the most striking; in generalsevere bronchial catarrh is very apt to be present at the first obreak of the disease. A fatal termination most commonly takesplace towards the end of the second week, amid the same symptomsas those that characterize a fatal termination of abdominal typhuIf the disease lasts beyond this period, it is generally owing tocomplications ; but such a more protracted course is a rare occurrence. "With the exception of a long continuance of the cei*ebralfunctions, no other sequelae are apt to occur.Typhus. ' y'' 589The prognosis of abdominal typhus is Vetv uticeptain ; a tumultuous outbreak of the disease does not jusufy the ccJnijlusion thathe course of the disease will be one of greats danger, ^pr doesmild beginning prognosticate an equally mild epdii^. ^"J^^fe maybecome suddenly endangered at any period of the disease; /J^ccording to Wunderlich, those cases are the most seriou^^yhere tl^^^evdoes not distinctly remit at the end of the first week.