A treatise on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the chest. Part 1, Diseases of the lung and windpipe / By William Stokes.

  • Stokes, William, 1804-1878.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the chest. Part 1, Diseases of the lung and windpipe / By William Stokes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    then, in some cases, without any obvious exciting cause, and apparently from the constitution giving way, and in others, after some access of local irritation or general disease, did this fatal complication become slowly but decidedly manifest. The characters of the expectorated matter in bronchitis are so varied, that to give any description of them, which would be at the same time clear and succinct, is indeed extremely difficult. But the subject is one of great importance, for we shall find it to be connected with many points in the history, prognosis, and treatment, not only of the disease in question, but of most other pulmonary affections. We are as yet ignorant of the pathological laws which regu¬ late the various lesions of secretion in different diseases, or in different individuals apparently labouring under the same dis¬ ease ; and of the reasons why the bronchial membrane, vary¬ ing in its products like other tissues, at one time pours out a serous, at another a mucous, and at a third a purulent fluid, we know nothing. But still, by observing the actual con¬ dition of the secretion in relation to the symptoms, and stu¬ dying its changes in connexion with the history of the case, we may, and often do, arrive at most important practical re¬ sults. The secretion from the bronchial mucous membrane may be modified in quantity and in quality, and the extent and number of these modifications are infinitely numerous. As we cannot describe even the principal modifications in connexion with any certain condition of the lung, I shall content myself with enumerating the varieties of secretion which are most commonly observed, and shall make a few comments upon each. We may divide the secretions from the bronchial mucous membrane, when in a state of irritation, as follows: First.—Transparent mucous secretions. Second.—Opaque mucous, or albuminous secretions. a.—Amorphous.