Some Cases of Disease of the Heart, with an Inquiry into Their Nature and Causes

Case 1. (Case 4 in the Volume, as the three first art mere dissections afezo days after entering the hospital.) A man, 34 years of age, was admitted into hospital early in the spring of 1812, apparently in a dying state. Countenance and lips livid and swollen ; eyes red and suffused; breathing excessively difficult; cough with haemoptysis ; great debility and emaciation ; slight oedema of the feet ; pulse scarcely perceptible at the wrist, and extremely irregular; strong pulsation of the heart and carotids ; ability to lie low, and on either side ; bowels irregular; appetite lost; urine high coloured and scanty. Lead was given to check the haemoptysis ; squill to increase the urine. For some time it was doubtful whether he would live or die; but his bowels becoming open, his state improved, especially when the urine increased in quantity. He was discharged six weeks after his entry, reprieved rather than cured.