The ladies medical companion : containing, in a series of letters, an account of the latest improvements and most successful means of preserving their beauty and health ; of relieving the diseases peculiar to the sex, and an explanation of the offices they should perform to each other at births ; with engraved figures explanatory ; also, the best means of nursing, preventing and curing the diseases of children / by Thomas Ewell.

  • Ewell, Thomas, 1785-1826.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ladies medical companion : containing, in a series of letters, an account of the latest improvements and most successful means of preserving their beauty and health ; of relieving the diseases peculiar to the sex, and an explanation of the offices they should perform to each other at births ; with engraved figures explanatory ; also, the best means of nursing, preventing and curing the diseases of children / by Thomas Ewell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    6* bulk. During the winter their abundant fat has been con- verted into blood, the article necessary for the various parts of their bodies. Just so with ourselves in fevers. We have fevers, we take no nourishment, we are daily evacuated, we may daily lose blood, in the last stage we shall have more blood than in the beginning of the attack ! Our systems have been busy in the transformation of fat in the innumerable cells of our body into blood. Having then an abundance of blood, you should never more in- dulge in fears from repeated bleedings, when directed by physicians ; you should never again so incessantly counteract the directions of physicians, by tempting and almost stuffing the patients with articles adding to the dis- ease ! Abstinence, when prescribed by the doctors you confide in, who judge from the state of the patient, should never be counteracted by the mistaken kindness of females. You must believe this, if you view the power of nature in transforming the deposits of the body into the commodity, blood, which is wanted for her purposes. She procures it in her mode without any extraordinary exertion of pow- er or action that we perceive, while, on the other hand, when we attempt the supply by nutritious, stimulating food, the irritation produced does more harm than good. Although I represent this subject for the purpose of preventing an improper interference in cases where low diet is prescribed, and to prevent an unnecessary uneasi- ness in those whose sympathies are excited for the sick, from impressions of defect of food ; I would not prevent your kindness in supplies of the food proper for the patient. Indeed, without the offices females generally perform, I should look upon recovery from a long attack as a kind of miracle. Our bodies have a strong propensity to return to their old habits ; and often the excitement of an action that