Consumption in New England, or, Locality one of its chief causesTicknor & Fields, 1862 - 104 pages |
Common terms and phrases
abode Address amount of moisture atmosphere believe Bell Boston Bristol cause of consumption cent clavicle clayey subsoil climate coast cold consumption in Massachusetts consumption prevails consumptive patients correspondents Cotting Cotting's deaths by consumption deaths from consumption deem died of consumption districts doubt drier Dry Localities dryness East England equally evidence facts hæmoptysis Hampshire Hampton Falls hills influence inhabitants Interior West investigations Isles of Shoals Jamaica Plain John Kennebunk land less lived marshes Massachusetts Medical Society McLean Asylum meadow medical opinion miles moist Mühry number of deaths oceanic climate parents peculiarly perhaps persons phthisis physical signs pond population present prevalence of consumption question remarks resident physicians returns Rhode Island ridge river Roxbury Royalston scrofula situated spot statements sumption sustain temperature tion total deaths town Townsend townships views village Warren West Newbury whole number
Popular passages
Page 13 - a residence on, or near, a damp soil, whether that dampness be inherent in the soil itself, or caused by percolation from adjacent ponds, rivers, meadows, marshes, or springy soils, is one of the primal causes of consumption in Massachusetts, probably in New England, and possibly in other parts of the world.
Page 95 - ... themselves, the law of development of phthisis I am contending for, could not have been ascertained. In support of these assertions, I quote the following extracts from Dr. Coolidge's remarks, page 497. " First. Temperature, considered by itself, does not exert that marked controlling influence on the development or progress of phthisis, which has been attributed to it. If a high range of temperature were favorable to the consumptive, the South Atlantic Region, the South Interior, East and Gulf...
Page 69 - I do not absolutely know a single spot in New England, where consumption can be said, by statistics, never to have occurred. In choosing a site for a dwelling-house, the great desideratum is to obtain, not a perfectly arid place, for no such spot could be inhabited by man, but it should be in a portion of the township which is neither so high as to be exposed to violent gusts of weather, nor so low that moisture will collect around it. Let it be on the side of a hill, or plain, open to the south,...
Page 95 - An examination of the rain tables will serve in part to elucidate this position, and in part only, for the total annual precipitation in rain and snow may be equal in two or more places, and yet the average condition of the air as respects moisture — the dew-point — may widely differ. It is impossible to represent all these differences by statistical tables, but the fact has been forcibly impressed upon the compiler during the minute examinations necessary to the preparation of this report.
Page 95 - Next to dryness, in importance, is an equable temperature, a temperature uniform for long periods, and not disturbed by sudden or frequent changes. A uniformly low temperature is much to be preferred to a uniformly high temperature. The former exerts a tonic and stimulating effect upon the general system, while the latter produces general debility and nervous exhaustion. The worst possible climate for a consumptive is one of long-continued high temperature and high dew-point.
Page 25 - Massachusetts, as deduced from the written statements of resident physicians in 183 towns, tends strongly to prove, though perhaps not affording perfect proof of , the existence of a law in the development of consumption in Massachusetts, which law has for its central idea, that dampness of the soil of any township or locality is intimately connected, and probably as cause and effect, with the prevalence of consumption in that township or locality.
Page 5 - That the Massachusetts Medical Society hereby declares that it does not consider Itself as having endorsed or censured the opinions in former published Annual Addresses, nor will it hold itself responsible for any opinions or sentiments advanced in any future similar addresses." Resolved, " That the Committee on Publication be directed to print a statement to that effect at the commencement of each Annual Address which may hereafter be published.
Page 25 - Medical opinion as deduced from the written statements of resident physicians in 183 towns tends strongly to prove — though, perhaps, not affording perfect proof of the existence of a law...
Page 54 - And finally, he enumerates what is perfectly true : " Dry (his own italics) and equable districts are the great desideratum, though, in humid and equable climates, it is far less frequently induced than in cold and humid." Dr. Lawson,J in his admirable work on Phthisis (page 241), takes the ground that moisture is a comparatively unimportant agent in the production of phthisis. But he does not really treat our subject, » The Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America. Second Series,...