Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/69

51&#93; CON List mentioned two I the symptoms are more violent, and either the Lungs, or the tracheal, mesenteric, and otlu r glands, are exulcerated; whereas, in an atro- phy, those glands are only indu- rated, or otherwise obstructed. — Vnd though we disapprove of those over-nice distinctions, which serve to perplex rather than to instruct, yet, in this case, it is essentially necessary to discriminate between an atrophy and the rickets, scro- phula, and tli.it consumptive we i - ness of children, who pine away for want of a clue supply lrom the breast, or in consequence of dis- eases preying upon the constitu- tion of the mother, or nurse, ln- deed, there is but too much reason to believe, that the inundation of consumptive diseases is often laid in the cradle, by the faulty ma- nagement of nurses, and the ill- judged tenderness of parents; by keeping children too warm ; per- mitting them the brea.it too long ; and the imprudent administration of opiates : — -practices not less de- trimental than common. Thus; Dr. R. Russell justly remarks, the process of converting aliment into chyle is injured, the habit of body rendered lax, the blood be- comes too serous, the glands de- stined to moisten the joints increase in bulk, the heads of the bones are enlarged, and the glands of the mesentery, chest, and neck, are obstructed, till at length those of the lungs become also affected. The alarming increase of eon-' sumptions, in this country, affords an ample field for medical specuki- true, that about one-third of these who die in London, fall victims to that merciless disease, if the bills ef mortality be taken as the ba-Ls CON fe, of that calculation. In the three years of 1700, 17.07, and 1700, the number of deaths, in the Bri- tish metropolis, L stated to be 52,237 j *nd among these were, under the general head of con- sumptions, i~,5:>l). Although the framers ot these bills have probably classed many other chronic disor- ders under the head of decline and consumption, so that, perhaps, one- half may be fairly deducted from their statement, and referred to other maladies, yet even the re- maining number of about 3000 annually, in London alone, is suf- ficient to serve as a warning to every parent, and head of a family, in order to avoid those causes which we have before recited. CONTAGION, infection, or the communication of a disease from one body to another. In some cases it is conveyed by immediate contact or touch ; in others, by in- fected clothes, such as cotton, and particularly wool, which of all sub- stances is the most susceptible, be* cause it is extremely porous. Con- tagious matter is also, though we. apprehend erroneously, said to be transmitted through the air, at a considerable distance, by means of effluvia arising from the sick, in which case the atmosphere is said to be infecfed. Some authors have asserted, that the gout and consumption are like- wise contagious ; but this appears to be very doubtful. It is, how- ever, highly probable, that those diseases may be communicated by the milk of nurses. In temperate climates, like that of Britain, there is but little danger of contractin.'' them by infection, among adults ; though, in the warmer climates of Europe, it will be prudent to take the necessary precautions against E 2 such
 * ■ rs. It is no less astonishing than