MEDICAL TERMS AND DEFINITIONS Most of the definitions of diagnoses in the glossary that follows are from medical dictionaries or medical texts compiled at different points in the nineteenth century. [see NOTES AND REFERENCES at end of article]. To determine which medical terms should be defined, the author has surveyed various mortality schedules, death certificates, and other medical sources of the nineteenth century. While he has tried to submit the best?possible interpretation of these terms, there are certainly other interpretations which may be valid. Glossary 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. The brain, lung, or kidney (for instance) could be involved. 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. Dr. Thomas Addison (1793?1860), born near Newcastle, England, described the disease in 1855. 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 whose length determines the epithets: quotidian, tertian, quartan, and quintan ague (defined in the text). 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. Anasarca. Generalized massive dropsy. See dropsy. Aphthae. See thrush. Aphthous stomatitis. See canker. Ascites. See dropsy. Asthenia. See debility. Bilious fever. A term loosely applied to certain enteric (intestinal) and malarial fevers. See typhus. Biliousness. A complex of symptoms comprising nausea, abdominal discomfort, headache, and constipation??formerly attributed to excessive secretion of bile from the liver. Boil. An abscess of skin or painful, circumscribed inflammation of the skin or a hair follicle, having a dead, pus?forming inner core, usually caused by a staphylococcal infection. Synonym: furuncle. Brain fever. See meningitis, typhus. Bronchial asthma. A paroxysmal, often allergic 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. In the nineteenth century the direct causes were thought to be dust, vegetable irritants, chemical vapors, animal emanations, climatic influences, and bronchial inflammation??all of which were reasonable guesses. The indirect causes were thought to be transmissions by the nervous system or by the blood from gout, syphilis, skin disease, renal disease, or heredity. Only the latter cause was a reasonable assumption. Camp fever. See typhus. Cancer. A malignant and invasive growth or tumor (especially tissue that covers a surface or lines a cavity), tending to recur after excision and to spread to other sites. In the nineteenth century, physicians noted that 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. Cancrum otis. A severe, destructive, eroding ulcer of the cheek and lip, rapidly proceeding to sloughing. 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 acting upon a debilitated system. It commonly followed one of the eruptive fevers and was often fatal. The destructive 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, and a horribly fetid saliva flowed from the parts. 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. Synonym: aphthous stomatitis. See cancrum otis. Carcinoma. See cancer. Catarrh. Inflammation of a mucous membrane, especially of the air passages of the head and throat, with a free discharge. It is characterized by cough, thirst, lassitude, fever, watery eyes, and increased secretions of mucus from the air passages. 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. Childbirth. A cause given for many female deaths of the century. Almost all babies were born in homes and usually were delivered by a family member or a midwife; thus infection and lack of medical skill were often the actual causes of death. (continued in next message) Michael O. Reck - 2434 Forest Home Ave - Riverside, Oh. -45404-2410 E-mail: moreck@juno.com - moreck@netzero.net Researching: BAIR-BIRT-BOYD-BRANDON-CURTIS-DAVIDSON-FLETCHER-FRANTZ-HENNING-KOHR-LESHE R-MILLER-MUNCY-PEARSON-RECK-REIGLE-SHOOK-STOEVER-URMEY-ZELLER