| Description Of Item | Pages 27 to 28 from the British and Foreign Medical Review, originally published in January 1845. The bottom of the same page has been cut and glued back on. Contains an extract of the review on ‘Lectures on the More Important Diseases of the Thoracic and Abdominal Viscera’, written by Dr Nathaniel Chapman, and published in 1844. This extract concerns cancer, noting its prevalence at some periods of the year and the absences of serious symptoms or of ‘any very serious local suffering or constitutional depravation’. It also comments on Chapmam’s views of Napoleon’s disease and finds the writing style to be of poor quality because of American writers’ ‘still immatured literary taste’. This extract also concerns dyspepsia, noting its causes in drinks, ‘gross animal food’, and desserts, as well as in the mixture of all of these when taken speedily during a meal. Chapman declared that Americans ‘excel every other people’ in this but review notes that, despite Chapman’s assumptions, this tendency to eat quickly also happens in Britain. The review then comments positively on Chapman denouncing tobacco as a major source of dyspepsia. It notes that, although British people are not as heavy consumers of tobacco as Americans, British doctors ‘see too much of it’ and know how injurious it is for smokers and non-smokers alike. The review also mentions that Chapman sometimes saw a link between excess of tobacco, dyspepsia, and mania or delirium tremens. Adding that dyspepsia can also be brought on by bad mental health, the review promotes ‘social cheerfulness and muscular exercise’ for these symptoms.
From the collection of Thomas Laycock. |