In case any of you come across diseases or medical terms in source documents, I thought you might be interested in this. Regards, SgtGeorge George W. Durman ================================== OLD MEDICAL TERMS AND DISEASES: (From Shirley Hornbeck's website at Rootsweb.) PART 1 OF 3: Ablepsy: Blindness Abscess: A localized collection of pus buried in tissues, organs, or confined spaces of the body, often accompanied by swelling and inflammation and frequently caused by bacteria. See "boil". Addison's disease: A disease characterized by severe weakness, low blood pressure, and a bronzed coloration of the skin, due to decreased secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Synonyms: "Morbus addisonii", "Bronzed Skin Disease". Ague: Malarial or intermittent fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills, fever, and sweating at regularly recurring times), and followed by an interval or intermission of varying duration. Popularly, the disease was known as "Fever and Ague", "Chill Fever", "The Shakes", and by names expressive of the locality in which it was prevalent, such as, "Swamp Fever" (in Louisiana), "Panama Fever", and "Chagres Fever". Ague-Cake: A form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from the action of malaria on the system. American Plague: Yellow fever. Anasarca: Generalized massive dropsy/edema. See "Dropsy". Anchylosis: Stiff joint. Anidrosis: Too little perspiration. Anthrax: Carbuncle or large painful boil. Aphonia: Laryngitis. Aphtha: The infant disease "Thrush". Apoplexy: Paralysis due to stroke. Aphthae: See "Thrush". Aphthous stomatitis: See "Canker". Arachnitis: Inflammation of membranes in the brain. Ascites: Water in the stomach. See "Dropsy". Asphycsia/Asphicsia: Cyanotic and lack of oxygen. Asthenia: See "Debility". Atrophy: Wasting away or diminishing in size. Bad Blood: Syphilis. Barbers Itch: Ringworm of the beard. Bilious Colic or Bilious Fever: A term loosely applied to certain intestinal and malarial fevers. Typhoid. Hepatitis. Elevated temperature and Bile Emesis. See "Typhus". Biliousness: A complex of symptoms comprising nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, and constipation, formerly attributed to excessive secretion of bile from the liver. Black Plague or Black Death: Bubonic Plague. Black Fever: Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate. Black Small Pox or Black Vomit: Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever. Blackwater Fever: Dark urine associated with high temperature. Bladder in Throat: Diphtheria. Blood Poisoning: Bacterial infection, Septicemia. Bloody Flux : Inflammation of the large bowels aka "Colitis". "Bloody Stools". Bloody Sweat: Sweating sickness. Boil: An abscess of skin or painful inflammation of the skin or a hair follicle usually caused by a staphylococcal infection. Synonym: "Furuncle". Bone Shave: Sciatica. Brain fever: Intense headache, fever, vertigo. See "Meningitis", "Typhus". Breakbone: Dengue Fever. Bright's Disease: Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys. Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation). Bronchial asthma: A disorder of breathing, characterized by spasm of the bronchial tubes of the lungs, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing air outward, often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of tightness in the chest. Bronze John: Yellow fever. Bule: Boil, tumor, or swelling. Cachexy: Malnutrition. Cacospysy: Irregular pulse. Cacogastric: Upset stomach. Caduceus: Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy. Camp fever, Camp diarrhea: Typhus. Cancer: A malignant and invasive growth or tumor. In the Nineteenth Century, cancerous tumors tended to ulcerate, grew constantly, and progressed to a fatal end, and that there was scarcely a tissue they would not invade. Synonyms: "Malignant growth", "Carcinoma". Canine Madness: Rabies, Hydrophobia. Cancrum otis: A severe, destructive, eroding ulcer of the cheek and lip. In the last century it was seen in delicate, ill-fed, ill-tended children between the ages of two and five. The disease was the result of poor hygiene. It was often fatal. The disease could, in a few days, lead to gangrene of the lips, cheeks, tonsils, palate, tongue, and even half the face; teeth would fall from their sockets. Synonyms: "Canker", "Water Canker", "Noma", "Gangrenous Stomatitis", "Gangrenous Ulceration of the Mouth". Canker: An ulcerous sore of the mouth and lips, not considered fatal today. Herpes simplex. Synonym: "Aphthous stomatitis". See "Cancrum otis". Catalepsy: Seizures/Trances Catarrhal: Inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the air passages of the head and throat, with a free discharge. Bronchial Catarrh was "Bronchitis"; Suffocative Catarrh was "Croup"; Urethral Catarrh was "Gleet"; Vaginal Catarrh was "Leukorrhea"; Epidemic Catarrh was the same as "Influenza". Synonyms: "Cold", "Coryza". Cerebritis: Inflammation of cerebrum or "Lead Poisoning". Chilblains: Painful sore or swelling of the foot or hand caused by exposure to the cold. Child Bed Fever: Infection following birth of a child. Chin Cough: "Whooping Cough". Chlorosis: "Iron Deficiency Anemia". Cholera: An acute, infectious disease characterized by profuse diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps. Cholera is spread by feces-contaminated water and food. Major epidemics struck the United States in the years 1832, 1849, and 1866. Cholera infantum: A common, noncontagious diarrhea of young children, occurring in summer or autumn. It was common among the poor and in hand-fed babies. Death frequently occurred in three to five days. Synonyms: "Summer Complaint", "Weaning Brash", "Water Gripes", "Choleric Fever of Children", "Cholera Morbus". Cholecystitus: Inflammation of the gall bladder. Cholelithiasis: Gall stones. Chorea: Any of several diseases of the nervous system, characterized by jerky movements that appear to be well coordinated but are performed involuntarily, chiefly of the face and extremities. Synonym: "Saint Vitus' Dance". Clap: Gonorrhea. Cold Plague: Ague which is characterized by chills. Colic: Paroxysmal pain in the abdomen or bowels. Infantile colic is benign paroxysmal abdominal pain during the first three months of life. Colic rarely caused death. Renal Colic can occur from disease in the kidney; Gallstone Colic from a stone in the bile duct. Congestion: An excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood or other fluid in a body part or blood vessel. In congestive fever the internal organs become gorged with blood. Congestive Fever or Congestive Chills: Malaria. Consumption: A wasting away of the body; formerly applied especially to Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Synonyms: "Marasmus" (in the mid-Nineteenth Century), "Phthisis". Convulsions: Severe contortion of the body caused by violent, involuntary muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk, and head. See "Epilepsy". Corruption: Infection. Coryza: A cold. See "Catarrh". Costiveness: Constipation. Cramp Colic: Appendicitis. Croup: Any obstructive condition of the larynx (voice box) or trachea (windpipe), characterized by a hoarse, barking cough, and difficult breathing occurring chiefly in infants and children. In the early nineteenth century it was called "Cynanche Trachealis". The crouping noise was similar to the sound emitted by a chicken affected with the "pip", which in some parts of Scotland was called "Roup"; hence, probably, the term "Croup". Synonyms: "Roup", "Hives", "Choak", "Stuffing", "Rising of the Lights". Crusted Tetter: Impetigo. Cyanosis: Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood. Cynanche: Diseases of throat. Cystitis: Inflammation of the bladder. (Some of the above was been compiled by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy in 1996.)