Diphtheria, croup, etc., or, The membranous diseases : their nature, history, causes, and treatment, with a review of the prevailing theories and practice of the medical profession : also, a delineation of the new choral [i.e. chloral] hydrate method of treating the same, its superior success, and its title to be considered a specific / by C.B. Galentin.

  • Galentin, C. B. (Christopher B.)
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diphtheria, croup, etc., or, The membranous diseases : their nature, history, causes, and treatment, with a review of the prevailing theories and practice of the medical profession : also, a delineation of the new choral [i.e. chloral] hydrate method of treating the same, its superior success, and its title to be considered a specific / by C.B. Galentin. 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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    trils, fauces, &c, affected, but the windpipe itself was much corroded, and pieces of its internal membrane were spit up. Dr. Starr, of Liskeard, published a paper in the Philo- sophical transactions, upon the malignant ulcerous sore throat epidemic which appeared in that place in 1749. In this paper, besides other details of the epidemic, he gives the full data of a case in which the false membrane commencing in the fauces, extended to the larynx. He particularly dwells upon the physical properties of the exudation, its adherence to the subjacent surface, its frequent detachment and repro- duction. In fact, he gives a complete picture of Bretonnau's diphtheria. In 1789, Dr. Samuel Bard of Philadelphia, in a work en- titled, Researches on the Nature, Causes, and Treatment of Suffocative Angina, gave a detailed account of an uncom- mon and highly dangerous distemper which had recently proved fatal to many children in New York. He recognized the analogy between this disease and croup, as well as the manner in which it spreads from the throat to the larynx. He observed it sometimes as simple angina ; sometimes as angina complicated with laryngitis, and occasionally as lar- yngitis alone. In general the disease was limited to children under ten years of age, though some few grown persons, particularly women, had symptoms very similar to it. Most of the per- sons attacked were observed to droop before they were con- fined. Usually the first symptoms were a slightly inflamed eye, a livid countenance, and slight eruptions upon the face. At the same time, or very soon after, those who could speak complained of an uneasy sensation in the throat, but without much soreness or pain. Upon examination, the tonsils appeared swelled and highly inflamed, with a few white specks upon them, which, in some cases, increased so as to cover them all over with one general slough ; this, however, although a frequent symptom, did not invariably attend the