AND
THEIR METHOD OF CURE.
Having in the foregoing said what I thought most material to be observed in fevers, as the universal disorder that attends almost every ailment in the human body, I shall for regularity sake, treat on the most material diseases, as they may seem to follow in order in the various divisions of the human body; and be as concise in their description and cure, as their nature will admit of.
SECT. I.
Of Diseases of the Head,
Of the Apoplexy.
The apoplexy is a disease, wherein the patient falls down motionless, void of sense and sensation, and is, in fact, a temporary death. It will scarce however admit of a strict definition; for there are not only various degrees of this disorder, but even different disorders under the same denomination, that have quite distinct different causes for their effect. Many indeed may be accounted for, but many more cannot.
The brain is the root of the nerves, and consequently the fountain of all sensation, and life itself. That part of the human fabric is extremely delicate, and blood vessels plentifully distributed. When therefore these vessels become either so distended with blood, so as to press the substance of the brain, that it is hindered from its motion, confusion to the animal œconomy must naturally ensue; thence an apoplexy in its various gradations is liable to be the consequence; but as the vessels in such a distention are liable to break, and the extravasated blood pressing the brain more forcibly without a chance of dispersing, we plainly see one reason, why such a malady is apt to turn out fatal, as we find it sometimes does.
Such causes may either proceed from external, or internal injuries; thence we see that a heavy fall, or contusion on the head, may occasion an apoplexy, or at other times, a congestion of blood to the head may produce the same malady.
Sometimes the patient is motionless; and to all appearance dead, and nothing but a faint pulsation remains; at other times there is indeed more signs of life, but more terrible in appearance,—namely a convulsive breathing and foaming at the mouth, without the least signs of sensation or perception; in which case there is much to be feared, that vessels in the brain are burst.