Periodical discharges of blood, from whatever part of the body they proceed, must not be stopped. They are always the efforts of Nature to relieve herself; and fatal diseases have often been the consequence of obstructing them. It may indeed be sometimes necessary to check the violence of such discharges; but even this requires the greatest caution. Instances might be given where the stopping of a small periodical flux of blood, from one of the fingers, has proved fatal.
In the early period of life, bleeding at the nose is very common. Those who are farther advanced in years are more liable to hæmoptoe, or discharge of blood from the lungs. After the middle period of life, hæmorrhoidal fluxes are most common; and in the decline of life, discharges of blood from the urinary passages.
Involuntary fluxes of blood may proceed from very different, and often from quite opposite causes. Sometimes they are owing to a particular construction of the body, as a sanguine temperament, a laxity of the vessels, a plethoric habit, &c. At other times they proceed from a determination of the blood towards one particular part, as the head, the hæmorrhoidal veins, &c. They may likewise proceed from an inflammatory disposition of the blood, in which case there is generally some degree of fever: this likewise happens when the flux is occasioned by an obstructed perspiration, or a stricture upon the skin, the bowels, or any particular part of the system.
But a dissolved state of the blood will likewise occasion hæmorrhages. Thus, in putrid fevers, the dysentery, the scurvy, the malignant small-pox, &c. there are often very great discharges of blood from different parts of the body. They may likewise be brought on by too liberal an use of medicines which tend to dissolve the blood, as cantharides, the volatile alkaline salts, &c. Food of an acrid or irritating quality may likewise occasion hæmorrhages; as also strong purges and vomits, or any thing that greatly stimulates the bowels.
Violent passions or agitations of the mind will likewise have this effect. These often cause bleeding at the nose, and I have known them sometimes occasion an hæmorrhage in the brain. Violent efforts of the body, by overstraining or hurting the vessels, may have the same effect, especially when the body is long kept in an unnatural posture, as hanging the head very low, &c.
The cure of an hæmorrhage must be adapted to its cause. When it proceeds from too much blood, or a tendency to inflammation, bleeding, with gentle purges, and other evacuations, will be necessary. It will likewise be proper for the patient in this case to live chiefly upon a vegetable diet, to avoid all strong liquors, and food that is of an acrid, hot, or stimulating quality. The body should be kept cool, and the mind easy.
When an hæmorrhage is owing to a putrid or dissolved state of the blood, the patient ought to live chiefly upon acid fruits with milk, and vegetables of a nourishing nature, as sago, salop, &c. His drink may be wine diluted with water, and sharpened with the juice of lemon, vinegar, or spirits of vitriol. The best medicine in this case is the Peruvian bark, which may be taken according to the urgency of the symptoms.
When a flux of blood is the effect of acrid food, or of strong stimulating medicines, the cure is to be effected by soft and mucilaginous diet. The patient may likewise take frequently about the bulk of a nutmeg of Locatelli’s balsam, or the same quantity of sperma-ceti.
When an obstructed perspiration, or a stricture upon any part of the system, is the cause of an hæmorrhage, it may be removed by drinking warm diluting liquors, lying a-bed, bathing the extremities in warm water, &c.