Fever nursing : designed for the use of professional and other nurses, and especially as a text-book for nurses in training / by J.C. Wilson.

Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fever nursing : designed for the use of professional and other nurses, and especially as a text-book for nurses in training / by J.C. Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    often observed in the low fevers. The whole body may even be at times agitated by tremulous move- ments. This symptom always indicates great pros- tration. It is apt to occur in aged or previously infirm persons and in those habitually given to the abuse of spirits. Other movements that occur in conditions of great depression and are of grave import are spasmodic twitch- ings of the muscles, picking and fumbling at the bed- clothes, and obstinate hiccough. The twitchings alfect especially the face and wrists, and are called subsultus tendinum; the fumbling is sometimes associated with curious grasping motions at the empty air, and the hiccough, which is produced by spasmodic movements of the diaphragm, or midriff, may continue, despite treatment, for hours or days. Convulsions.—General convulsions may occur dur- ing an attack of fever, and are very common at the beginning of the eruptive diseases of childhood. In adults they occur late in the course of the disease, and are usually either hysterical or uraemic in character. In very rare instances they are due to disease or in- flammation of the brain or its membranes. Ursemic convulsions are associated with failure of the kidneys to perform their functions properly. They are of unfavorable import, and require prompt attention. Suppression of urine often precedes ursemic convulsions. A specimen of urine must be submitted for examination. It may be necessary to procure it by the use of the catheter.