GLOSSARY OF DISEASES
AMERICAN PLAGUE ? yellow fever
APOPLEXY ? paralysis due to stroke
BAD BLOOD ? Syphilis
BILIOUSNESS ? liver disease symptoms
Bilious is defined as having an undue amount of bile. Bilious
fever is defined as a fever _supposed_ to be caused by a liver
disorder. (It probably also has something to do with gallbladder
disease.)
BLOOD POISONING ? Septicemia (overwhelming bacterial
BRAIN FEVER ? today known as meningitis
BRIGHT'S DISEASE ? Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation)
CATALEPSY ? seizures/trances
CHLOROSIS ? iron deficiency anemia
CHOLERA ? an acute infectious disease characterized by severe diarrhea,
vomiting, muscle cramps and prostration. The severe dehydration
leads to shock and death.
CONGESTIVE FEVER ? malaria
CONSUMPTION ? Tuberculosis, pulmonary
CRETINISM ? Hypothyroidism, congential
DROPSY ? Congestive heart failure
??taken from an old "Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary" ?
'dropsy; from Hydrops, a condition rather than a disease. Morbid
accumulation of water in the tissues and cavities.' It goes on
to mention dropsy of the amnion, belly, brain, heart, chest,
peritoneum, tubes (e.g. fallopian) and uterus. It could be
congestive heart failure or just a general accumulation of fluid
in unwanted places. (Not the bladder after too much beer though!
#1? A condition rather than a disease. Morbid accumulation of
water in the tissues and cavities. (chest=thorax)
#2? a fever with vomiting of bile. (a symptom due to disordered
condition of the liver.
FATTY LIVER ? Cirrhosis
GLANDULAR FEVER ? Mononucleosis
GRIPPE ? an old term for influenza
JAIL FEVER ? Typhus
LOCK JAW ? Tetanus
LUNG FEVER ? pneumonia
LUNG SICKNESS ? Tuberculosis
MILK SICK ? poisoning resulting from the drinking of milk produced by a
cow who had eaten a plant known as white snake root
MORMAL ? gangreen
PLAGUE/BLACK DEATH ? Bubonic Plague
PODAGRA ? Gout
POTTS DISEASE ? Tuberculosis of the spinal vertebrae
QUINSY ? another name for tonsillitis; acute inflammation
of the tonsil <& surrounding tissue>, usually forming an abscess.
SOFTENING OF THE BRAIN ? cerebral hemorrhage/stroke
VARIOLA ? smallpox
WINTER FEVER ? pneumonia
Source: Concise Genealogical Dictionary, compiled by Maurine
and Glen Harris, pub. Ancestry Pub., SLC, UT, 1989
OLD DISEASES AND THEIR MODERN DEFINITIONS ? PART 2 [note: contributor's
names
in (_).]
CAMP FEVER & JAIL FEVER, etc. ? TYPHUS & TYPHOID
(Tom Lincoln): typhus was never seen (for example, in the
Civil War) in the United States. Thus camp fever (in the
U.S.) usually referred to TYPHOID.
(D.G. Gardner): it was an American physician, William
Gerhard, who first made clear the distinction between
typhoid fever and (epidemic) typhus. [note: This was in
1830] It took 20?30 years for others. It must not have
been uncommon in C19 America.
"Since TYPHUS is to some extent a crowding disease??the
lice that carry the germ can infect more people in cities,
jails [why it was sometimes called Jail Fever], military
camps [camp fever], and so forth, I have to believe that
typhus was a problem during the Civil War.
(Fred Rump): Typhus does not equal typhoid, of course, but
it is common to confuse the two diseases due to the similar?
ity in their names. The reservoir of typhoid fever is
humans. Mode of transmission of typhoid fever is by food &
water contaminated by feces and urine of patients and
carriers.
CANINE MADNESS ? Hydrophobia [morbid fear of water]
CHLOROSIS ? Iron Deficiency anemia
(Tom Lincoln): also a number of confounding diseases ??
like leukemia ?? that were not recognized at the time.
COMMOTION ? Concussion
CONSUMPTION ? Tuberculosis
(Tom Lincoln): effect of the disease was that of wasting away.
(George Thurston): TB, but also dysentery and other "wasting"
diseases that rendered their victims a bag of bones.
CORRUPTION ? Infection
CORYZA ? A cold
COSTIVENESS ? Constipation
CRAMP COLIC ? Appendicitis
CROUP ? Croup (still around)
(George Thurston): a congested cough that babies get.
DEATH FROM "TEETH" OR "TEETHING"
(Tom Lincoln): Tooth infections with inflammation and cellu?
litis were clearly important causes of illness and death
before there was adequate dentistry.
(to be continued)
Judy in Brunswick
???
* SPEED 1.40 #2344 * Searching Barren Co.KY: RICHARDSON, ROWNTREE,
NICHOLS
??? InterEcho 1.08
* Origin: Neonemesis * Bath, Maine * 1?207?442?7403 * (1:326/216)
To All: Had this for awhile. Thought you might like a copy when looking
at
some of those old death records, this might help you understand what they
had
then to what it is today.
Michael Reck
Michael O. Reck
E-mail: moreck(a)juno.com -OR- moreck(a)netzero.net
Researching:
BAIR-BIRT-BOYD-BRANDON-CURTIS-DAVIDSON-FLETCHER-FRANTZ-HENNING-HOWE-JAYNE
-KOHR-LESHER-MILLER-MUNCY-PEARSON-RANDOLPH-RECK-REIGLE-SHOOK-STOEVER-URME
Y-ZELLER