The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopathy"Page 99 of 653white color. At the commencen(ient of the catarrh streaks of blooare frequently seen mixed with the mucus ; a copious admixture ofblood occurs very rarely.The higher grades of catarrh which are sometimes described aslaryngitis, always commence with fever which is sometimes veryviolent and continues several days. The pains in the larynx arevery acute, stinging and burning, as from a sore ; aphonia sets iat once, and every attenjpt at talking increases the pain to aneminent degree. The cough becomes exceedingly distressing, painful, sometimes convulsive, with a constrictive sensation of the rglottidis and a real difficulty of performing the act of inspiratThe larynx generally feels sore when pressed upon. In two to fivedays the fever abates, (it scarcely ever lasts longer,) and an extoration of mucus with relief of the cough sets in. In this formcatarrh the general constitution is more or less disturbed; thepatients may even be compelled to keep their beds for some days.Laryngotracheitis Catarrhalis Acuta. 109The laryngotracheitis of children is of particular importance.The children may have seemed quite well during the day, and oftenwake about midnight with a hoarse, barking cough which is sometimes associated with constricted inspirations and anxiety, so that first sight, the little patients seem to have a violent attackcroup ; yet this is evidently contradicted by the fact that on thfollowing day their health seems fully restored. The croupy soundseems to arise from the fact that during their sound sleep in thefirst imrt of the night, when the children breathe with their mouopen as they do in laryngeal catarrh, the vocal cords become verydry and are covered with a dried-up mucus ; on this account thechild's cough in the daytime has no C!t)upy sound, nor if it wakeseveral times in the night. This aftection has been designated ascatarrhal croup. If, which is less fi'equently the ease, this affis associated with a marked inflammatory swelling of tlie laryngemucous membrane, or if, generally, the affection acquires a highegrade of intensity, the croupous sound may be heard for severalnightd in succession, and may be attended with threatening symptoms of dyspnoea. Some children are remarkably liable to anaffection of this kind ; this liability is still increased by thesive quantity of clothing in which the little patients are wrapttheir relatives fcr fear of croup. It is of such children that phcians hoar the report they had had several attacks of croup, andthat they have an attack every spring and fall. There are physicians who encourage this kind of belief wluch is hurtful to boththe parents and their children.We have to add a few words concerning the cough which accompanies this afiection. Many individuals whose laryngeal mucousmembranes are evidently not very susceptible to catarrhal irritations, have no cough in spite of a most severe attack of catarrh,they cough only once or twice a day. Othere, on the contrary, experience even at the onset such a violent and continual irritatioand desire to cough that they cough uninterruptedly, or have violparoxysms of cough which often last four hours and end with anattack of vomiting, or even become associated with a spasm of theglottis. This kind of violent cough is generally peculiar to thecatarrh accompanying measles.http://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt