FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57  
58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   >>   >|  
amyl pearls, each pearl containing the dose prescribed by the physician. Kept in this way the drug does not lose strength. As soon as the pain begins the patient crushes a pearl in his handkerchief and holds it to his mouth and nose. The relief given in this way is marvellous and usually takes place within a very few seconds. In the rare cases where this drug does not relieve, hypodermic injections of morphia are used. But on account of the well-known dangers of this drug, it should only be administered by a medical man. To prevent recurrence of the attacks something may be done by scrupulous attention to the general health, and by the avoidance of mental and physical strain. But the most important preventive of all is "bed," of which fourteen days must be enforced on the least premonition of anginal pain. _Pseudo-angina_.--In connexion with angina pectoris, a far more common condition must be mentioned that has now universally received the name of pseudo-angina. This includes the praecordial pains which very closely resemble those of true angina. The essential difference lies in the fact that pseudo-angina is independent of structural disease of the heart and coronary arteries. In true angina there is some condition within the heart which starts the stimulus sent to the nerve centres. In pseudo-angina the starting-point is not the heart but some peripheral or visceral nerve. The impulse passes thence to the medulla, and so reaching the sensory centres starts a feeling of pain that radiates into the chest or down the arm. There are three main varieties:--(1) the reflex, (2) the vaso-motor, (3) the toxic. The reflex is by far the most common, and is generally due to irritation from one of the abdominal organs. An attack of pseudo-angina may be agonizing, the pain radiating through the chest and into the left arm, but the patient does not usually assume the motionless attitude of true angina, and the duration of the seizure is usually much longer. The treatment is that of the underlying neurosis and the prognosis is a good one, sudden death not occurring. ANGIOSPERMS. The botanical term "Angiosperm" ([Greek: angeion], receptacle, and [Greek: sperma], seed) was coined in the form Angiospermae by Paul Hermann in 1690, as the name of that one of his primary divisions of the plant kingdom, which included flowering plants possessing seeds enclosed in capsules, in contradistinction to his Gymnospermae, or flowering p
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57  
58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
angina
 

pseudo

 

common

 

condition

 

reflex

 

starts

 
centres
 

patient

 

flowering

 
stimulus

irritation

 

peripheral

 

generally

 

varieties

 
visceral
 

passes

 

reaching

 
starting
 

radiates

 

sensory


medulla

 

impulse

 
feeling
 

longer

 

Angiospermae

 

Hermann

 
coined
 

angeion

 
receptacle
 
sperma

primary

 

divisions

 

capsules

 

enclosed

 

contradistinction

 

Gymnospermae

 

possessing

 

kingdom

 

included

 
plants

Angiosperm
 

assume

 

motionless

 

attitude

 
duration
 

radiating

 

organs

 
attack
 

agonizing

 

seizure