Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/67

CON 7 tern'ai appearand e of great strength Arid robustness. I LypOchondridcdJ complaints, palsies, dropsies, and all those diseases th:it originate in debility, arc now generally ( ttd - rnial ; and hysterics, which were formerly peculiar to women, at- tack at present either sex indiscri- minately. A variety of causes must concur 1 to effect so great and uni- versal a re volution. The first of these is the general use of Tea ; to which article We refer. The se- cond place may, perhaps, be assign- ed to the excessive use of spirituous liquors; a pernicious custom which, in too many instances, originates in the former: as, from the lowness and depression of spirits occasioned by the continual use of tea,it becomes almost indispensably necessary to have recourse to something cordial and exhilarating. Hence, many sa- gacious persons pretend to have discovered the grand secret of ob- viating the hurtful effects of that favourite drug, by mixing a few tea-spoonfuls of brandy with each cup of tea, especially in dull of hazy weather. Thus, they gra- dually become tipplers ; and hence proceed those odious and disgrace- ful habits of intemperance, which, we fear, are at present with jus- tice imputed to many females in the middle ranks of society, who, independently of this barbarous custom, would be an ornament to their sex. Indignation and horror would strike our more temperate ancestors, could they behold their degenerate progeny, approaching with rapid steps towards that hu- miliating state of apathy and servi- tude, in which many nations of Europe, both north and south of this island, languish in deplorable misery. — See Brandy And Spi- rits. no. v.— VOL. II. CON [49 CONSUMPTION, in medicine, is a very comprehensive term, in- cluding all those diseases, in which the body, from a detect, of nou- rishment, is gradually reduced to a State of debility and emaciation. This fatal disorder may arise from a great variety of causes, such as 3 mal-conformation of the trunk ; straitness of the chest; intemper- ance of whatever kind ; obstruc- tions in the pulmonary vessels j suppression of any natural evacua- tions; as likewise in consequence of pleurisies, coughs, catarrhs, di- arrhoeas ; grief; intense study, &c. More frequently, however, it ori- ginates from a neglected cold, espe- cially in constitutions where a pe- culiar hereditary disposition pre- vails, without any other discover- able cause. Accordingly as consumptions are accompanied with fever, or ex- empt from that symptom, they may be divided into three classes : J . Such as are occasioned by th^ hfeftic fever, which, however, is not the consequence of exulcerated lungs : See Hectic Fever ; 2. Those in which the wasting of the body, as well as the fever, arise from pulmonic ulcers : See Lungs 5 and 3. Where the gradual emacia- tion is unconnected with any febrile symptoms. Of the last species only, which is generally called atrophy, we shall treat in this place. An atrophy always proceeds from a want of due assimilation of the nutritious juices, so. that there is obviously a defective appetite, and a vitiated digestion, from the very commencement of the disease. What share the depression of the animal spirits, or an unusual irri- tability of the nerves, may have in the production of this malady, ap- K pears