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Asthma.Symptoms.-Asthma occurs in paroxysms, at irregular inter vals. The paroxysm seems to be brought on both by certain con ditions of the patient himself and by certain conditions of the atmos phere. The attack may begin without warning, though those individuals who have long suffered from the disease can usually predict some hours in advance the approach of the paroxysm. The attack may come on slowly, requiring, that is, two or three hours for its development ; or it may attain its full intensity in a few min utes. The paroxysm usually occurs at night, or early in the morning. The patient is awakened with a feeling of suffocation; he is unable to lie down, but finds relief in sitting with his elbows on the knees, the head thrown back, the mouth open. Even in this posi tion the patient usually gasps for breath, and often feels compelled to open the window in the hope of securing more air. The breath is drawn in with considerable effort, while the expulsion of the air from the lungs is a long, laborious process accompanied with a wheezing sound. The patient's utterance is difficult, the words being spoken in a jerky, interrupted way. The face is pale and has often a bluish tinge ; perspiration is profuse. The skin is cool; the countenance exhibits anxiety and distress; the nostrils are often dilated at each attempt to breathe. A patient suffering from a severe attack of asthma presents a most distressing and even alarming appearance; the bystanders unfamiliar with the disease, regard the patient as dying. The most distressing symptoms endure, however, as a rule, but a short time, usually not more than fifteen minutes to an hour; they may, how ever, last for several hours or even days. At the conclusion of the paroxysm the patient ordinarily enjoys profound and refreshing sleep; there is considerable cough with the expectoration of mucus, varying in quantity and quality according to the amount of the accompanying bronchitis. This expectoration may continue for several days after the paroxysm has subsided. Attacks of asthma affect individuals at certain seasons of the year, or during certain kinds of weather. In this particular, there is no constant law, though, generally speaking, the disease is more frequent during damp and chilly weather than at other times. Many persons suffer repeatedly and severely from asthma during the winter and spring, but remain quite free from the disease during the summer months. Then, again, the presence of an unusual quantity of dust in the atmosphere, provokes an attack in those predisposed to asthma. Individuals exhibit also personal peculiarities ; thus, one individual has asthma whenever he has an attack of indigestion ; another, whenever he sleeps upon a feather bed ; and women not infrequently suffer at the menstrual period. Mental emotions, too, may contribute to the development of the attack. It is also well known that in some localities the liability to asthma is much greater than in others. The disease occurs more frequently in males than in females, and is apt to occur at any period of life, though more frequent in advanced years. A paroxysm of asthma, however serious and dangerous it may appear, does not imperil the patient's life ; since no instance is on record in which an individual died from an attack of asthma. Indeed, it seems well ascertained that individuals subject to asthma are often long lived. Yet this longevity is enjoyed not because of, but in spite of, the disease. Treatment.-The treatment of asthma consists of two parts: the management of the patient during the paroxysms, and the treatment during the intervals. During the paroxysms, numerous measures have been tried and found to give more or less relief. But before resorting to the use of medicine, it must be remembered that the attacks in many cases seem to be brought on by influ ences which can be removed. It has been found, for example, that asthmatic attacks are favored in some individuals by constipation, or by excesses at table. In such cases a cathartic, or an emetic, may be not only beneficial, but quite essential for relief. After the surroundings of the patient have been properly regulated, after he has been placed in a large airy room, some of the more usual remedies may be employed. Among the quickest to afford relief -in those cases in which it possesses any influence-is stramonium, taken in the shape of cigarettes, or the leaves may be burned and the smoke inhaled. If no stramonium leaves can be obtained, the same effect may be produced by tobacco leaves or cigars, though this means is far less reliable. Next to stramonium in efficacy is the nitrate of potassium ox niter. Pieces of paper which have been soaked in a solution of niter may be burned, and the smoke inhaled; or, if preferred, they may be made into cigarettes and smoked. If all these measures prove unsuccessful, relief can be obtained at once by the inhalation of chloroform, or ether, a few drops of which may be sprinkled upon a handkerchief and held to the face. A still more efficient remedy is the nitrite of amyl, two or three drops of which may be inhaled from a handkerchief in a like man ner. It must be said in reference to these three agents, chloroform, ether, and the nitrite of amyl, that they should not be administered except in cases of emergency by any one except a physician, since, unless judiciously employed, they are capable of inducing serious effects. This is particularly true of the nitrite of amyl; the writer has known most alarming symptoms of fainting and collapse fol low the inhalation of a few drops from the handkerchief. Another disadvantage in the use of these remedies lies in the fact that relief is afforded only during the inhalation, for a few minutes after the vapor has been dissipated, the paroxysm is apt to return undi- minished. A remedy which may be easily procured and always used without danger, is the following: Tincture of lobelia, two ounces. Wine of ipecac, two ounces. Mix; take half a teaspoonful every half hour until expectora tion or nausea is induced. If this does not answer, half a teaspoonful of " Hoffman's ano dyne " may be taken every hour. Benefit may be derived from the application of mustard plasters to the feet, or from the use of chloroform liniment upon the back. The treatment during the intervals consists usually in measures addressed to the relief of the accompanying bronchitis. It is always well to try the effect of iodide of potassium in these cases, as well as in those where there is little or no accompanying bron chitis. This may be given by dissolving five drachms of the iodide of potassium in four ounces of water, of which a teaspoonful may be taken every four hours. A remedy which has recently been extensively employed, though not with the success which was anticipated, is the fluid extract of grindelia robusta, w'hich may be given in half teaspoonful doses every four hours. It must be stated in general terms, that up to the present time no remedy is known which will certainly benefit all cases of asthma ; it is usually necessary to try several of the remedies named, in order to ascer tain which of them, if any, can be relied upon to benefit the case in hand. If all measures prove unsuccessful, the patient can often obtain relief by change of climate. 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