Page:The American improved family physician, or home doctor.djvu/18



By the term "" we understand a morbid heat of the skin, unnatural frequency of the pulse, and disturbance in the various functions. It is a natural and salutary process, indispensably necessary to throw off a poison generated within the body, or induced by external causes. There is an increased action of the heart and arteries to expel from the system this irritating or morbific matter, or to bring about a healthy action. As a general rule the effects of this disease are all over the whole of the body, head, trunk, body and extremities; the circulating, absorbing, and nervous systems, the skin, the muscular fibres and the membranes, and likewise the mind, are all affected.

INTERMITTENT FEVER, FEVER AND AGUE, OR CHILLS AND FEVER. (.)— The title of Intermittent, or Chills and Fever, is applied to that kind of fever which consists of a succession of paroxysms or periods of fever, between each of which there is a distinct and perfect intermission from febrile symptoms. In this fever it is obvious that the balance of circulation is lost in the system; the blood recedes from the surface of the body, and is thrown into an undue quantity, or accumulates upon the deep seated organs, &c, &c.

Symptoms. — Ague generally manifests itself under three