ARCHAIC AND UNUSUAL MEDICAL TERMS

Affection- a general term indicating a disease or ailment.

Apoplexy- sudden loss, more or less complete, of consciousness and voluntary motion without the circulation or breathing being suspened. It is produced by pressure on the brain.

Catarrh- inflammation of mucous membrane, espesially of the nose or throat.

Chillblains- painful swelling or inflamed sore on the feet or hands, caused by exposure to cold.

Cholera Morbus- a disease characterized by vomiting, purging, violent gripings, coldness, and cramps of the extremities. This was probably appendicitis.

Consumption- tuberculosis

Dropsy- as accumulation of serum or watery fluid in cavities or tissues of the body.

Dyspepsia- indigestion or heartburn

Erysipelas- an acute infectious disease of the skin or mucous membranes, also known as St. Anthony's fire.

Gravel- kidney stone or stone in the bladder.

Hydrocele- a collection of watery fluid in a cavity of the body, especially in the scrotum or along the spermatic cord.

Janders- jaundice

Lockjaw- tetanus

Neuralgia- pain in a nerve. In 1890 the term was used quite frequently, and apparently in many cases for distress that had little to do with the nerves themselves. For example, there was "neuralgia of the heart" which, judging from the symptoms, was either a heart attack pr angina. "Neuralgia of the "stomach" seems to have beew waht we call heartburn. "Neuralgia of the head" was simply a headache.

Phthisis- a wasting away of the body, particularly from tuberculosis.

Piles- hemorrhoids

Prolapsis- the falling or slipping out of place of an organ.

Scrofula- enlargement of one or more glands, particularly the neck.

Goiter- scrofula

Varicocele- a varicose vein in the scrotum