MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 6 April 1907, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

r PROPERTIES OF VEGETABLES. j An* eminent physician, who has been inJ vestigating the properties of different vegeti abies, announces that a diet of carrots • ameliorates harshness of character and re- £ duces nervous irritability; peas create fatty e tissue and encourage joyousnoss; while I turnips have an opposite effect. Celery v taken in excess may cause eye trouble; ? j cabbage may he beneficial in pulmonary t ailments, and lettuce aids as a mild seda- , tive, owing to the 1 act re cariuni contained t,| ill its milky juke, which keeps the skin e j clear and fresh. Red beets are blood proeducing and will add plumpness to the thini nest form, providing they are boiled tend--je i'. l ' PERITONITIS. v j) The peritoneum of serous sac which lines j the abdominal cavity and invests the intestines, is liable to become inflamed. When this occurs, the affection is termed periII! tonitis, which may be divided into the j acute and chronic forms. ,1 Acute Peritonitis.—This form may be 0 partial, that is, confined to one spot, or it may extend over the entire surface of the c peritoneum, when it is known as general. e SYMPTOMS. There is a headache, quick pulse, tongue coated with white, countenance pallid, features sharp, respiration difficult, nausea, and vomiting, severe pains in the abdomen, which is extremely sensitive to pressure and I' becomes very much distended. There is • also pain in the limbs, the bowels are con- '' stipated, and in exceptional cases diarrhoea •• is a prominent symptom. The urine is del" ficient, and there is sleeplessness, chilliness, - and general prostration. Vomiting and '■ spasms of coughing or sneezing produce pain. An erect position occasions intense s .suffering. The patient is compelled to aftr sumo a recumbent posture a.nd is inclined r to lie on his back, for in that position he • experiences the least pressure of the vital s organs against the peritoneum. He has an s inclination also to draw up his limbs and e retain them in a flexed position. P CAT'S KS. sj Prominent among these are injuries which eihave been inflicted upon intestines, compression of the colon, or rectum, perforae tion of the stomach and bowels, either by s violence or some pre-existing disease, thus r|allowing the discharge of blood, urine, bile, ejor faces into the abdominal cavity; also ii abortion, overdoing, exposure to wet, cold, e etc. As acute peritonitis is always a grave 0 disease, involving more or less danger to ii : life, it is the wisest course to employ a phyii sician and trust the case to his "mana.g'e- |) ment. The same remark is equally applicable to the chronic form of the disease. | Chronic Peritonitis.—Like the acute, it may he either partial or general. This I form is sometimes, though rarely, the sequence of the acute. When it appears inJ 'ependent of the acute, it is generally associated with some cancerous affection' per- ■ (raining to the abdominal cavity, and the in- '! .ruination is induced by the tumour, if ■" | chronic peritonitis be connected with the " tubercular diathesis, tubercles will be diss l overed upon the surface nf the stomach 'land ailmentary canal, and they will also be : | found in the lungs, brain, etc. i When the affection is not tunercular. S there will appear in the abdominal cavity e an effusion of serous fluid of greater or less Mquantity, mingled with blood or pus. If '*Mich a discharge takes place, the abdomen e ! gradually increases in size, or becomes 'tj smaller than is natural. There is pain attended by soreness upon pressure, and the '•(patient becomes emaciated. 11 Inflammation of the peritoneum is tree quently an accompaniment to puerperal e ;fever, which ; s a disease peculiar to child's birth, and arises from cold, or is communicated from oue parturient patient to another by mid-wives.