Pathological and clinical observations respecting morbid conditions of the stomach / by C. Handfield Jones.

  • Jones, C. Handfield (Charles Handfield), 1819-1890.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and clinical observations respecting morbid conditions of the stomach / by C. Handfield Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    countries, tlie poor inliabitants live, indeed, on vegetable food, but not so exclusively on coarse farinaceous food as the agricultural poor in the north of Europe. The fact that in Scotland, and in the north of Europe generally, the disorder gets less frequent as summer advances, may be in great measure owing to the circumstance, that milk is then more abundant and more largely consumed by the poor. It has been shown of late, that milk has great efficacy in preventing and curing scurvy. Milk, the sole food of the young of mammalia, contains all that is requisite for the growth and nutrition of the body, and wiU doubtless remedy many disorders engendered by a diet wanting in some of the elements required for healthy nutrition. It would seem, then, most probable that the disorder, in countries in which it is endemic, is mainly owing to the influence of climate and to the diet of the poor not being sufficiently varied, and consisting too much of coarse and innutritions farinaceous food. But if such be the main causes of the disorder, there are, doubtless, various other conditions that assist in bringing it on. Most of these may be classed under two heads:— 1. Excessive labour, insufficient clothing, loss of blood, and aU other conditions that tend to exhaust the body. 2. Pregnancy, consti]3ation, anxiety, and other con- ditions that tend to disorder the functions of the stomach. We have already seen that water-brasb occasionally occurs in a high degree in the wealthy classes, especially m women, where it cannot be ascribed to any peculiarity m diet, and seems to be owing solely to such conditions as these.