Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/2052

1846 Anaemia.—This is a condition in which there is an impoverished state of the blood, the red cells being deficient in quantity and quality, the blood becoming more watery than in health. It arises under conditions in which the individual is deprived of the materials necessary for the making of good blood, as, for example, when the food supplied is insufficient in amount or kind, or the greater part of the day is spent in close, badly-ventilated workshops. It also arises in the course of exhausting diseases, and through excessive study and insufficient physical exercise. One of the commonest causes of anaemia is indigestion, due to incomplete mastication of food caused by bad teeth, and by absorption of the discharges from rotten and decayed stumps.

Symptoms.—A pale appearance of the skin and mucous membranes; the lips and gums lose the rosy look of health, and become of a delicate pink colour; exertion is difficult, and going upstairs or climbing a height out of doors give rise to breathlessness. Palpitation of the heart, headache, pain in the back, and in the left side, are frequently complained of; failure of physical and mental energy. Obstinate constipation is nearly always a prominent symptom. Such importance did the late Sir Andrew Clark attach to the treatment of the constipation in this disease that he is reported to have said that had he an anaemic girl to treat, and he were offered the choice of two drugs, iron or aloes, to effect a cure he would choose aloes.

Treatment.—Remove the patient, if possible, from all influences that tend to injure the health. Have the teeth attended to, and if necessary artificial teeth supplied. Well-ventilated rooms and workshops with plenty of light are desirable. A moderate amount of exercise in the open air is helpful in giving tone to the system. Change of air from the town to the country, or more particularly, to the sea-side, is often beneficial, and cold sponging, especially with salt water, is also helpful. The diet should be plain and nourishing, and a moderate amount of animal food should be taken. Under ordinary circumstances there is no necessity for stimulants. In regard to medicines, the one thing needful is iron. This may be given in the form of steel drops or Blaud's pills; 10 to 20 drops of the former, and 1 or 2 of the latter 3 times a day. Aloes may be given with iron in the form of a pill; or as a mixture for the constipation, salines or a dose of cascara daily may be substituted.

Appendicitis.—At the commencement of the large intestine there is a small blind offshoot of gut about 4 inches long. From its resemblance in size and shape to a worm it is called the vermiform appendix.

In man it is a rudimentary structure, but in some of the lower animals it plays an important part in digestion. Inflammation of the vermiform appendix, or, more shortly, appendicitis, is not an uncommon disease, and of later years has received more attention than formerly; the dangerous illness of King Edward in 1902 especially brought this malady