194

QUINSEY, OR

newly plastered, &c. I know people who never fail to have a sorethroat if they sit even but a short time in a room that has beenlately washed.

Acrid or irritating food may likewise inflame the throat, andoccasion a quinsey. It may also proceed from bones, pins, orother sharp substances sticking in the throat, or from the causticfumes of metals or minerals, as arsenic, antimony, &c. taken inby the breath. This disease is sometimes epidemical and infec-tious. |

Symptoms. — The inflammation of the throat is evident from in-spection, the parts appearing red and swelled; besides, the patientcomplains of pain in swallowing. His pulse is quick and hard,with other symptoms of a fever. If blood be drawn, it is generallycovered with a tough coat of a whitish colour, and the patient spitsa viscid phlegm. As the swelling 1 and inflammation increase, thebreathing and swallowing 1 become more difficult ; the pain affectsthe ears ; the eyes generally appear red, and the face swells. Thepatient is often obliged to keep himself in an erect postare, beingin danger of suffocation; there is a constant nausea, or inclinationto vomit, and the drink, instead of passing into the stomach, isoften returned by the nose. The patient is sometimes starved atlast merely from an inability to swallow any kind of food.

When the breathing is laborious, with straitness of the breastand anxiety, the danger is great. Though the pain in swallowingbe very great, yet while the patient breathes easy there is not somuch danger. An external swelling is no unfavourable symptom ;but if it suddenly falls, and the disease affects the breast, the dan-ger is very great. When a quinsey is the consequence of someother disease, which has already weakened the patient, his situa-tion is dangerous. A frothing at the mouth, with a swelled tongue,a pale, ghastly countenance, and coldness of%the extremities, arefatal symptoms.

Regimen. — The regimen in this disease is in all respects thesame as in the pleurisy, or peripneuroony. The food ought to belight, and in small quantity, and the drink plentiful, weak, anddiluting, mixed with acids, although a rigid observance of the anti-phlogistic regimen is the most proper.

It is highly necessary that the patient be kept easy and quiet.Violent affections of the mind, or great efforts of the body, mayprove fatal. He should not even attempt to speak but in a lowvoice. Such a degree of warmth as to promote a constant, gentleperspiration, is proper. When the patient is in bed, his headought to be raised a little higher than usual.

It is peculiarly necessary that the neck be kept warm ; for whichpurpose several folds of soft flannel may be wrapt round it. Thatalone will often remove a slight complaint of the throat, especiallyif applied in due time. We cannot here omit observing the propri-ety of a custom which prevails among the peasants in Scotland.When they feel any uneasiness of the throat, they wrap a.stockingabout it all night. So effectual is this remedy, that in manyplaces it passes for a charm, and the stocking is applied with par-