Cholera Morbus, See Diarrhœa and Vomiting.
CHRISTOPHER, the Herb, or Actæa spicata, L. is an indigenous plant, growing in woods and shady places, and is found chiefly near Malham-Cove, Clapham, Thorpe Arch, and other places in the north-west of Yorkshire. It is perennial, attains the height of about 212 feet; flowers in the months of May, or June; and produces black, shining, pulpy berries in autumn, about the size of peas, which are considered as poisonous.
On account of its fetid smell, this plant is said to be frequented by toads: it is, nevertheless, eaten by sheep and goats, but refused by cows, horses, and swine. The dry leaves are extremely sharp and rough, so that they may be usefully employed for polishing hard wood and ivory.—The berries, boiled with alum, yield a deep, black dye; and Thielbein, a German writer (in Crell's "Chemical Discoveries, vol. ii.), asserts that the red berries of the Actæa spicata, give a beautiful dye, equal to that obtained from cochineal; after boiling them with cream of tartar, and dropping into the decoction a solution of tin in aqua fqrtis, the colour became permanent.—We believe he alludes to the berries produced by another species of this herb, either the Actæa alba, or racemosa of North America, or the cimicifuga, of Siberia (which is an excellent preservative against the worm in paper, moths, and bugs); because our native species generally produces black berries.
CHRONICAL DISEASES are, in general, neither attended with fever, nor any other symptoms portending a speedy termination of the complaint; and, in this sense, they are opposed to acute, or inflammatory disorders. Physicians find no small difficulty in drawing a precise line of distinction between these affections; as the latter often change into those of a chronic nature.
Tissot derives the origin of inveterate diseases from the following sources: 1. Debility of the solid parts of the body, either hereditary, or induced by adventitious causes; 2. Defective digestion, and weakness in the stomach; 3. improper treatment, and imperfect resolution, of acute diseases; and 4. Too great irritability, and other affections, of the nervous system.
From this view of the causes, and the corresponding evidence of medical practitioners, it cannot be doubted that chronic maladies are not only the most complicated, but also the most difficult to be removed: Proteus-like, they appear under a thousand different forms, often exhaust the fortitude of the most patient, baffle the united efforts of the Faculty, throw the unhappy person into a state of despair, and deliver him over to all the artifices, and cunning of ignorant pretenders, who impose upon the credulous victim, and close the of his delusion!
On the contrary, in acute diseases, Nature, though violent in all her efforts, generally points out the way, in which she may be assisted: in short, the cautious physician, who has had a moderate share of experience, will here seldom fail to procure the desired relief. If his prescriptions be scrupulously attended to, a few appropriate doses, in a vigorous constitution, will produce all the good effects which may be attained
