Part 24 (1/2)

In a subsequent number of the same work we find the subject resumed; from which able production we select the following:--

”The suppression of perspiration has at all times been thought to have a good deal to do with the production of disease. Without doubt this has been exaggerated. But, allowing this exaggeration, is it not admitted by all pract.i.tioners that causes which act through the medium of the skin are susceptible, in sufficient degree, of being appreciated in the circ.u.mstances ushering in the development of very many diseases, especially those characterized by any active flux of the visceral organs? For example, is it not an incontestable pathological fact, that catarrhal, bronchial, pulmonic, and pleuritic affections, congestions of the most alarming description in the vascular abdominal system of the horse, inflammation of the peritoneum and womb following labor, catarrhal inflammations of the bowels, even congestions of the feet, &c., derive their origin, in a great number of instances, from cold applied to the skin in a state of perspiration? What happens in the organism after the application of such a cause? Is its effect instantaneous? Let us see. Immediately on the repercussive action of cold being felt by the skin, the vascular system of internal parts finds itself filled with repelled blood. Though this effect, however, be simply hydrostatic, the diseased phenomena consecutive on it are far otherwise.

”It is quite certain that, in the immense system of communicating vessels forming the circulating apparatus, whenever any large quant.i.ty of blood flows to any one particular part of the body, the other vessels of the system must be comparatively empty.[14] The knowledge of this organic hydrostatic fact it is that has given origin to the use of revulsives under their various forms, and we all well know how much service we derive from their use.

”But in what does this diseased condition consist? Whereabouts is it seated?

”The general and undefined mode it has of showing its presence in the organism points this out. Immediately subsequent to the action of the cause, the actual seat of the generative condition of the disease about to appear is the blood; this fluid it is which, having become actually modified in its chemical compositions under the influence of the cause that has momentarily obstructed the cutaneous exhalations, carries about every where with it the disordered condition, and ultimately giving rise, through it, to some local disease, as a sort of eruptive effort, a.n.a.logous in its object, but often less salutary in its effect; owing to the functional importance of the part attacked, to the external eruptions produced by the presence in the blood of virus, which alters both its dynamic and chemical properties.

”But what is the nature of this alteration? In this case, every clew to the solution of this question fails us. We know well, when the experiment is designedly prolonged, the blood grows black, as in _asphyxia_, (loss of pulse,) through the combination with it of carbonic acid, whose presence is opposed to the absorption of oxygen. But what relation is there between this chemical alteration of blood here and the modifications in composition it may undergo under the influence of instantaneous suppression, but not persistent, of the cutaneous exhalations and secretions? The experiments of Dr. Fourcault tend, on the whole, to explain this. His experiments discover the primitive form and almost the nature of the alteration the blood undergoes under the influence of the cessation of the functions of the skin. They demonstrate that under these conditions the regularity of the course of this fluid is disturbed--that it has a tendency to acc.u.mulate and stagnate within the internal organs: witness the abdominal pains so frequently consequent on the application of plasters upon the skin, and the congestions of the abdominal and pulmonary vascular systems met with almost always on opening animals which have been suffocated through tar or pitch plasters.

”They prove, in fact, the thorough apt.i.tude of impression of the nervous system to blood altered in its chemical properties, while they afford us an explication of the phenomena of depression, and muscular prostration, and weakness, which accompany the beginning of disease consecutive on the operation of cold.

”How often do we put a stop to the ulterior development of disease by restoring the function of the skin by mere [dry] friction, putting on thick clothing, exposing to exciting fumigation, applying temporary revulsives in the shape of mustard poultices, administering diffusible stimuli made warm in drenches, trying every means to force the skin, and so tend, by the reestablishment of its exhalent functions, to permit the elimination of blood saturated with carbonic matters opposed to the absorption by it of oxygen!

”Do we not here perceive, so to express ourselves, the evil enter and depart through the skin?

”M. Roche-Lubin gives an account of some lambs which were exposed, after being shorn, to a humid icy cold succeeding upon summer heat. These animals all died; and their post mortem examination disclosed nothing further than a blackened condition of blood throughout the whole circulating system, with stagnation in some organs, such as the liver, the spleen, or abdominal vascular system.

”From the foregoing disclosures, which might be multiplied if there was need of it, we learn that the regularity or perversion of the functions of the skin exercises an all-powerful influence over the conservation or derangement of the health, and that very many diseases can be traced to no other origin than the interruption, more or less, of these functions.”

These remarks are valuable, inasmuch as they go to prove the importance, in the treatment of disease, of a restoration of the lost function. Our system of applying friction, warmth, and moisture to the external surface, in all cases of internal disease, here finds, in the authors just quoted, able advocates.

FOOTNOTE:

[14] What a destructive system, then, must blood-letting be, which proposes to supply this deficiency in the empty vessels by opening a vein and suffering the contents of the overcharged vessels to fall to the ground! If the blood abstracted from the full veins could be returned into those ”empty” ones, then there would be some sense in blood-letting.

SPAYING COWS.

The castration of cows has been practised for several years in different parts of the world, with such remarkable success, that no one will doubt there are advantages to be derived from it. For the benefit of those who may have doubts on this subject, we give the opinions of a committee appointed by the Rheims Academy to investigate the matter.

”To the question put to the committee--

”1st. Is the spaying of cows a dangerous operation?

”The answer is, This operation, in itself, involves no more danger than many others of as bold a character, (as puncture of the rumen,) which are performed without accident by men even strangers to the veterinary art. Two minutes suffice for the extraction of the ovaries; two minutes more for suturing the wound.

”2dly. Will not the spaying of cows put an end to the production of the species?

”Without doubt, this is an operation which must be kept within bounds.

It is in the vicinity of large towns that most benefit will be derived from it, where milk is most generally sought after, and where pasturage is scanty, and consequently food for cows expensive. On this account it is not the practice to raise calves about the environs of Paris. Indeed, at Cormenteul, near Rheims, out of one hundred and forty-five cows kept, not more than from ten to fifteen calves are produced yearly.

”3dly. Is spaying attended with amelioration of the quality of the meat?

”That cows fatten well after being spayed is an incontestable fact, long known to agriculturists.

”4thly. Does spaying prolong the period of lactation, and increase the quant.i.ty of milk?

”The cow will be found to give as much milk after eighteen months as immediately after the operation; and there was found in quant.i.ty, in favor of the spayed cows, a great difference.