SPEC. I. Morbid acuteness of taste, however, varies essentially GEN. IV. from accuracy of taste: for under particular states of ir- Parageusis ritation, pungent savours, of whatever kind, give equal pain to the tongue, which at the same time is altogether incapable of distinguishing between them. acrida. Acrid taste. Morbid accuracy of secretion of sensorial and a defi This painful acuteness may proceed from two causes : a morbid or excessive secretion of sentient fluid, or a deficient secretion of the peculiar mucus that lubricates the taste. Causes, lingual papillæ; in consequence of which the latter are a morbid or exposed in a naked state to whatever stimuli are intro- excessive duced into the mouth. The former is sometimes found, though for the most part only temporarily, in highly fluid; nervous and irritable constitutions, and especially during cient secrea state of pregnancy; the latter in an acrimonious condi- tion of lution of the stomach accompanied with great thirst and a bricating parched tongue. Both these causes, however, very fre- Both causes quently co-exist; as in ulcerated sore throats, or other ex- sometimes coriations of the mouth, in which the papillæ are in a state of the keenest excitement, while the tongue is sore either from a defective secretion of mucus, or from its being carried off by a morbid and augmented action of the absorbents as fast as it is formed. mucus. co-exist. sometimes secreted. In this state of diseased action, moreover, it not un- Mucus frequently happens that the mucus itself is secreted in a acrimonious morbid and acrimonious condition; and the palate, in- when stead of being soft and smooth, becomes harsh and rugous or furrowed, exquisitely irritable, and intolerant of the slightest touch or the mildest savours. I have sometimes met with this distressing affection, apparently as an idiopathic ailment, or at least unconnected with any manifest disease of the stomach or any other organ; and seemingly induced by a rheumatic pain from carious teeth. It is, however, far more frequently a symptom of acrimonious dyspepsy, porphyra, and chronic syphilis. treatment. Emetics. In treating this affection we should, in the first in- Medical stance, direct our attention to the state of the stomach, and clear it of whatever sordes may probably be lodged there. This may sometimes be done by aperients: but when we are sure of an acrimonious defodation in this GEN. IV. SPEC. I. Parageusis acrida. Acrid taste. plications. organ, it will be the shortest way to commence with an emetic. The local symptoms may, in the mean while, be relieved in two ways. First, by changing the nature of the Topical ap- morbid action, or exhausting the accumulated sentient power by acid or astringent gargles, or a free use of the coldest water alone: for which purpose also sage-leaves and acrid þitters have often been employed with advantAnd next, the naked and irritable tongue may be sheathed with mucilages of various kinds, and thus a substitute be obtained for its natural defence. And in many cases both these classes of medicines may be conveniently united. Attention to the primary disease when symptomatic. When the affection is a symptom of some other disease, as in the case of syphilis and scurvy, it can only be cured by curing the primary malady. Carious teeth, if such exist, should be extracted; and if the palate be rugous or spongy, scarification should be employed copiously and repeatedly. SPEC. II. Sometimes and con SPECIES II. PARAGEUSIS OBTUSA. Obtuse Taste. TASTE DULL, AND IMPERFECTLY DISCRIMINATIVE. GEN. IV. THIS Species rarely calls for medical attention. It occurs sometimes idiopathically, and seems to be dependidiopathic: ent on a defective supply of nerves, or nervous secretion subservient to the organ of taste. I have seen it under this form in various instances; and, as already observed, have found it connected in a few cases with obtuseness of smell. The patient has not been altogether without taste or smell, but both have been extremely weak and nected with obtuseness of smell. SPEC. II. Obtuse incapable of discrimination. In the case alluded to at the GEN. IV. commencement of this species, the individual could distin- Parageusis guish the smell of a rose from that of garlic, and the obtusa. flavour of port wine from that of mountain or madeira; taste. but she could not discriminate between the odour of a rose and that of a lilly, nor between the taste of beef, veal, or pork, and consequently gave no preference to either of these dishes. As a symptom this affection occurs in almost all the diseases that are accompanied with hebetude of smell, as catarrh, hysteria, and several species of cephalæa. Found frequently as a symptom. SPECIES III. PARAGEUSIS EXPERS. Want of Taste. TOTAL INABILITY OF TASTING OR DISTINGUISHING. SAVOURS. GEN. IV. SPEC. III. Sometimes congenital : and then ble. Sometimes the result of As an utter want of smell is sometimes a natural or congenital effect, so in a few instances is an utter want of taste, and unquestionably from the same cause, an abso- natural and lute destitution of nerves or nervous power subservient to the gustatory organ. This default is altogether im- immedicamedicable as is also for the most part the same when a result of palsy general or local: though here stimulant gargles or masticatories, as mustard-seeds, horse-radish, pyrethrum, and camphor, have sometimes succeeded in restoring action to the torpid nerves. When, however, tion. it occurs, as it sometimes does from a long use of tobacco, whether by smoking or chewing, or of other acrid narcotics, these stimulants will be of no use. palsy, and may admit of pallia A tempo In fevers, various exanthems, and inflammations, this rary symspecies exists temporarily, partly perhaps from a dimin- ptom in various complaints. SPEC. I. SPECIES I. PARAPSIS ACRIS. Acrid Sense of Touch. THE SENSE OF TOUCH PAINFULLY ACUTE OR SENSIBLE TO IMPRESSIONS NOT GENERALLY PERCEIVED. GEN. V. THIS species of morbid sensibility shows itself under almost innumerable modifications: but the four following are the chief: a α P. acris Teneritudo. Acrid sense of soreness or In the first variety or that of SORENESS there is a feeling of painful uneasiness or tenderness, local or general, on being touched with a degree of pressure that is usually tenderness. unaccompanied with any troublesome sensation. This is often an idiopathic affection; but more generally a symptom or sequel of fevers in their accession or first stage, inflammations, or external or internal violence, as strains, bruises, and spasms. Pathology. Different circum stances under which the affection occurs. Feeling of corporeal ease and comfort, on what dependent. It is not always easy to account for this feeling, and perhaps the cause is, in every instance, more complicated than we might at first be induced to suppose. It occurs where there is distention of the vessels, where there is contraction of them, and where there is neither. Wherever it exists, however, it is a concomitant of debility, and may, in many instances, be regarded as the simple pain of debility, the uneasiness of an organ thrown off from its balance of health. The general health of the body depends in a very considerable degree upon the harmonious cooperation of its respective organs; insomuch, indeed, that this harmony of action, as we had occasion to ob GEN. V. SPEC. I. a P. acris Acrid sense of soreness or tenderness. serve in the Physiological Proem prefixed to the present class, was supposed by a distinguished school of ancient philosophers, and is still supposed by many physio- Teneritudo. logists of the present day, to constitute the principle of life itself. Regarded as an universal principle the hypothesis is unfounded, though in many respects beautiful and plausible. Yet notwithstanding that the life of the animal frame does not altogether depend upon an harmonious co-operation of the whole of the organs that enter into its make, much of the comfort of life has such a dependence; and we trace the same principle in the minutest and comparatively most trivial parts of the animal functions as manifestly as in the largest and most complicated organs. Where every portion of a member, however subordinate in itself, as a toe or a finger, works well or healthily, there is a feeling of ease and comfort, but wherever it works ill or with difficulty, there is sense of disquiet, and, under peculiar circumstances, of tenderness or soreness. A change in the diameter of a vessel whether by dilatation or contraction, provided it be moderate and gradual, is accompanied with no uneasy sensation whatever; but if either be violent or sudden, a feeling or soreness is a certain result, of which we have daily examples in strains and spasms. There may perhaps be no great difficulty in accounting for this: but the more common cause of tenderness is of a different kind, and a cause which often operates when neither of these are present though it is often combined with them. a In order that every part of an organ may play upon every other part with a feeling of ease and comfort, it is well known that throughout the entire system, not only every surface, but every, even the minutest, interstice in the tunics of the minutest vessels, is supplied by a soft and lubricous fluid, which is poured forth by secernents of exquisite subtilty, and having executed its purpose and become waste matter, is carried off by equally subtile ab *Ut suprà, p. 14. Feeling of disquiet and tenderness produced by various causes. The chief traced and described. cause |