A manual of medical diagnosis / by A.W. Barclay.

  • Barclay, A. W., 1817-1884.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of medical diagnosis / by A.W. Barclay. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    J ■( CHAPTER VII. DISEASES OF UNCERTAIN OR VARIABLE SEAT. Ji)iv. I.—Dropsies.—§ 1, Anasarca the Type of General Dropsy— Acute—Chronic—Local (Edema — § 2, Ascites—Association with A nasarca— Detection—Causes. ii)iv. II.—Hcemorrhayes.—g 1, Epistaxis—§ 2, ITcemoptysis— Causes and Associations—§ 3, Hiernatemesis—Characters and Causes — §4, llcematuria — § 5, Intestinal Ecemorrhaye— § 6, Uterine Ilceniorrhaye. If HE somewhat indefinite heading of this chapter has been adopted from the classification of the Registrar-General, for the purpose of n;rouping together some diseases which, while they cannot be in- ^'duded among such as owe their origin to a morbific or adven- [i'.itious impregnation, at the same time cannot be readily classi- ti ied under the diseases of particular organs, because of the variable [nature of their cause and their seat. In the order which we have tPrescribed to ourselves they must be considered here, because ^ :heir spnptoms are among the objective phenomena of disease, I*and each division presents one jirominent feature common to the k'fvhole group. In a strictly scientific point of view, it may be alleged that they 1 !0nght to be studied simply as symptoms ; but for the purpo.se of l.diagnosis they must bo considered in their relation to each oilier, !^as we shall thus be enabled to compare their extent and situation, t and to ascertain with more exactness the deductions which they '■warrant with reference to internal organs. The classification r‘which separates them from the deeper seated disease is justified by the circumstance that they may be the only definite .symptom ‘ ot its presence; they are the subject of complaint and the object ' of treatment, and it is only by inference that we are led to suspect ' the existence of anything more. 'I hey also differ from mere symptoms in presenting decided and broadly marked characters, which are uniform and consistent, whatever be their situation or su])posed cause. They do not necessarily accompany the more important lesions with which they are usually associated, but seem only to supervene under certain circumstances, of which the most important probably is an altered condition of the blood itself. Further, although they ■ are most frequently dependent on some form of organic lesion, yet occasionally the very same appearances may be observed when t the disorder is solely in the circulating fluid itself, and thus they become allied with what we have called the chronic blood- aihneuts.