Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/515

RHE limes necessary for self-preserva- tion. On ti.e contrary, tere/rge is a deliberate and malignant vice, that is frequently committed, seve- ral years after the offence had been given. This passion generally prevails in weak, uninformed, or immoral persons, who scruple not to exor- cise themost iniquitous reprisals : — in order to prevent such barbarous conduit, all civilized nations have enafted laws, for preventing the gratification of private malice. These, however, are too easily evaded ; and a species of revenge, san6lioned by the law of honour, is suffered to exist with impunity, which is in all respefts as mean and degrading as the practice of pugilism, while it produces conse- quences equally fatal. — See also. Anger, Duel, and War. RHEUMATISM, a painful dis- ease which principally affefts the muscular parts, and larger joints of the body, in the direcfion of the muscles ; such as the shoulder, hip, knees, &c. — If attended with fever, it is called the acute rheu- matism ; but, in the contrary case, the chronic : in. the former, the pain generally shifts from one joint to another ; in the latter, it remains in most cases fixed to a particular part. After the disorder has tor- tured the patient for some time,the joint is commonly swoln, red, and extremely painful to the touch. As it is often dilficult to distin- guish rheuniatisrn from gout, it should be remarked, that, in (he former, the stomach is less affect- ed ; that the disease is more con- fined to the larger joints ; that it occurs at an earlier stage of life ; and that it is not hereditary. In young persons, the upper and in- ternal parts alove the midriff, but R H E [487 in the aged, those Ichir the dia- phragm, are more frequently liable to be attacked. — It is termed ac- cording to the seat of the malady : thus it is called lumbago, when seizing the loins j and iscliias, or sciatica, when it rages in the hip. Rheumatisms prevail in cold cli- mates, and mostly in spring and autumn ; though they may appear at any season, in consequence of sudden alternations of heat and cold. The inhabitants of this Island, suffering frequently and severely from rheumatic complaints, we shall briefly enumerate the leading causes, from which they arise, namely : suppressed perspiration, by moist, culd air, especially at night ; damp clothes : partial heat or cold ; suppression of chronic eruptions , inhalation of metallic vapours ; violent passions ; and of- ten too, after recovering from other disorders, such as fevers, fluxes, Szc. in which cases it is generally chronic. The acute rheumatism, in most instances, terminates between the seventh and fourteenth day, by perspiration, or urinar}' secretion, the sediment of which is copious, andresemblesbrick-dust : thec//ro- nic somcthiies produces a looseness or eruption, but always requires a critical perspiration to remove it completely. When it, however, changes its place from the external parts, to any of the interior organs, where it lodges, the patient is al- ways in dimger. Cure .•—-if the disease be attend- ed with fever, every thing must be avoided, that may tend to irritate the system, or increase the violence of the circulation. The acute rheu- matism being an inflammatory af- fettion, the advice of the profes- I i ^ sioQ