See also:

• DROPSY (contracted from the old word hydropisy, derived from the Gr. 154w¢; i Swp, water, and appearance)

DROPSY (contracted from the old word hydropisy, derived from the Gr. 154w¢; i Swp, See also:

• WATER

water, and See also:

• APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance)  , the name given to a collection of See also:

• SIMPLE

simple serous fluid in all or any of the cavities of the See also:

• BODY

body, or in the meshes of its tissues . See also:

• DROPSY (contracted from the old word hydropisy, derived from the Gr. 154w¢; i Swp, water, and appearance)

Dropsy of the subcutaneous connective See also:

• TISSUE (Fr. tissu, tissue, participle of tisser, Lat. texere, to weave)

tissue is termed oedema when it is localized and limited in extent; when more diffuse it is termed anasarca; the See also:

• TERM

term oedema is also applied to dropsies of some of the See also:

• INTERNAL

internal See also:

• ORGANS

organs, notably to that of the lungs . Hydrocephalus signifies an See also:

• ACCUMULATION (from Lat. accumulare, to heap up)

accumulation of fluid within the ventricles of the See also:

• BRAIN (A.S. braegen)

brain or in the arachnoid cavity; hydrothorax, a collection of fluid in one or both pleural cavities; hydropericardium, in the pericardium; See also:

• ASCITES (Gr. aaKLTl7s, dropsical, from a.QKOS, bag; sc. v6aos, disease)

ascites, in the peritoneum; and, when anasarca is conjoined with the accumulation of fluid in one or more of the serous cavities, the dropsy is said to be See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general (see also See also:

• PATHOLOGY (from Gr. raBos, suffering)

PATHOLOGY) . Dropsy (excluding " epidemic dropsy," for which see below) is essentially a symptom and not a specific disease, and is merely an exaggeration of a certain See also:

• STATE
• STATE, GREAT OFFICERS OF

state of See also:

• HEALTH

health . Fluid, known as See also:

• LYMPH

lymph, is continually passing through the capillary walls into the tissues, and in health this is removed as fast as it is exuded, in one or more of three ways: See also:

• PART

part of it is used in the See also:

• NUTRITION

nutrition 1 L'Harmonie universelle (See also:

• PARIS
• PARIS (also called ALEXANDROS)
• PARIS, ALEXIS PAULIN (1800-x881)
• PARIS, BRUNO PAULIN GASTON (1839-1903)
• PARIS, FRANCOIS DE (169o-1727)
• PARIS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ALBERT
• PARIS, TREATIES OF (1814-1815)

Paris, 1636-1637), t. ii. bk . 5, pp . 282-287 and p . 305 . 2 See also:

• PLATO

Plato, Crito, 54; See also:

• ARISTOPHANES
• ARISTOPHANES (c. 448–385 B.e.1)

Aristophanes, Acharnians, 865, where some musicians are in derision dubbed " bumblebee pipers." See BAG-See also:

• PIPE

PIPE; also Kathleen Schlesinger, " Researches into the Origin of the Organs of the Ancients," Intern. taus . Ges. vol. ii . (1901), Sammelband ii. pp . 188-2o2.of the tissues, part is returned to the general circulation by the See also:

• VEINS

veins, and part by the lymphatics .

Any accumulation constitutes dropsy and is a sign of disease, though not a disease in itself . The serous effusions due to inflammation are not included under the term dropsy . A dropsical fluid varies considerably in See also:

• COMPOSITION
• COMPOSITION (Lat. compositio, from componere, to put together)

composition according to its position in the body, but varies only slightly according to the disease which has given rise to it . Its specific gravity ranges between roo8 and roi8; the See also:

• MINERAL

mineral salts See also:

• PRESENT

present are the same and in about the same proportion'as those of See also:

• BLOOD

blood, nor do they vary with the position of the exudation . The quantity of See also:

• ALBUMIN, or ALBUMEN (Lat. albus, white)

albumin, however, depends much on the position of the fluid, and slightly on the underlying disease . In oedema the fluid contains only traces, whereas a pleural or peritoneal effusion is always highly albuminous . Also an effusion due to See also:

• HEART
• HEART, LUNG

heart disease contains more albumin than one due to See also:

• KIDNEY

kidney disease . In See also:

• APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance it may be colo,rless, greenish or reddish from the presence of blood pigment, or yellowish from the presence of bile pigment; transparent or opalescent or milky from the presence of fatty See also:

• MATTER

matter derived from the chyle . The membrane from which the dropsical fluid escapes is healthy, or at least not inflamed, and only somewhat sodden by See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long contact with the fluid—the morbid See also:

• CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition on which the transudation depends lying elsewhere . The simplest cause of dropsy is purely See also:

• MECHANICAL

mechanical, blood pressure being raised beyond a certain point owing to venous obstruction . This may be due to thrombosis of a vein as in phlegmasia dolens (See also:

• WHITE
• WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
• WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
• WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
• WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
• WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
• WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
• WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
• WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
• WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
• WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
• WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
• WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
• WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)

white See also:

• LEG
• LEG (a word of Scandinavian origin, from the Old Norwegian leggr, cf. Swed. lagg, Dan. laeg; the O. Eng. word was sceanca, shank)

leg), retardation of venous circulation as in varicose veins, or obstruction of a vein due to the pressure of an, aneurism or See also:

• TUMOUR (Lat. tumor, a swelling)

tumour . Cardiac and renal dropsy are more complicated in origin, but cardiac dropsy is probably due to diminished absorption, and renal dropsy, when unassociated with heart failure, to increased exudation .

But the starting point of acute renal dropsy, of the dropsy sometimes occurring in See also:

• DIABETES (from Gr. &a, through, and faivecv, to pass)

diabetes, and that of See also:

• CHLOROSIS (Gr. xXwpbs, pale green)

chlorosis is the toxic condition of the blood . For accounts of the various See also:

• LOCAL

local dropsies see HYDROCEPHALUS; ASCITES; See also:

• LIVER (O. Eng. lifer; cf. cognate forms, Dutch lever, Ger. Leber, Swed. lefver, &c.; the O. H. Ger. forms are libara, lipora, &c.; the Teut. word has been connected with Gr. i'prap and Lat. jecur)

LIVER, &c.; general dropsy, or dropsy which depends on causes acting on the See also:

• SYSTEM

system at large, is due chiefly to diseases of the heart, kidneys or lungs, occasionally on lardaceous disease, more rarely still on diabetes or one of the anaemias . Broadly speaking, 50% of cases of general dropsy are due to disease of the heart or aorta, and 25% to renal troubles . The natural tendency of all diseases of the heart is to See also:

• TRANSFER (from Lat. transferre, to bear across, carry over)

transfer the blood pressure from the See also:

• ARTERIES (Gr. ap-rnpia, probably from a"spew, to raise, but popularly connected by the ancients with ai7P, air)

arteries to the veins, and, so soon as this has reached a sufficient degree, dropsy in the See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of local oedema commences to appear at whatever may be the most depending part of the body—the instep and See also:

• ANKLE

ankle in the upright position, the See also:

• LOWER

lower part of the back or the lungs if the patient be in See also:

• BED
• BED (a common Teutonic word, cf. German Bett, probably connected with the Indo-European root bhodh, seen in the Lat. fodere, to dig; so " a dug-out place " for safe resting, or in the same sense as a garden " bed ")

bed—and this tends gradually to increase till all the cavities of the body are invaded by the serous accumulation . The diseases of the lungs which produce dropsy are those which obstruct the passage of the blood through them, such as See also:

• EMPHYSEMA (Gr. Eµ / vuav to inflate)

emphysema and fibrosis, and thus See also:

• ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act precisely like disease of the heart in transferring the blood pressure from the arteries to the veins, inducing dropsy in exactly a similar manner . The dropsy of renal disease is dependent for the most part on an excess of exudation, due largely to an increase of arterial and cardiac tension . This in its turn produces arterial thickening and cardiac See also:

• HYPERTROPHY (Gr. inrEp, over, and rpo(A, nourishment)

hypertrophy, which, if the See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case be sufficiently prolonged, brings about a natural removal of the fluid . In kidney cases, in the See also:

• ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of cardiac disease, the dropsy will be found to appear first abotkt the loose cellular tissue surrounding the eyes, where the vessels, turgid with watery blood, have less efficient support . The dropsy of chlorosis is very similar to renal dropsy, a toxic condition of blood being present in both; also other forms of See also:

• ANAEMIA (from Gr. ay-, privative, and aiµa, blood)

anaemia, as also hydraemia, tend to produce or assist in the See also:

• PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

production of dropsical effusions . For the treatment of dropsy the reader is referred to the articles on the several diseases of which it is a symptom . Briefly, however, tapping of the See also:

• ABDOMEN (a Latin word, either from abdere, to hide, or from a form adipomen, from adeps, fat)

abdomen or puncture of the legs are constantly resorted to in severe cases . Dehydration by See also:

• DIET

diet is very valuable under certain circumstances when the dropsy is other than renal .

And there is the routine treatment by drugs, purgative, diaphoretic and diuretic as the symptoms of the case may demand . It may be well to mention that there are certain affections which may be termed See also:

• SPURIOUS

spurious dropsies, such as ovarian dropsy, which is only a cystic disease of the ovary; hydrometria, dropsy of the uterus, due to inflammatory occlusion of the os uteri; hydronephrosis; dropsy of the kidney, due to obstruction of the ureter, and subsequent distension of these organs by serous accumulations; other hollow organs may also be similarly affected . Having no known relation to the preceding is epidemic dropsy, the first recorded outbreak of which occurred in See also:

• CALCUTTA

Calcutta in the See also:

• YEAR

year 1877 . It disappeared during the hot See also:

• WEATHER (O. Eng. weder; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Du. weder, Dan. veir, Icel. ve8r, and Ger. Wetter and Gewitter, storm; the root is wa- to blow, from which is derived " wind ")

weather of the following year, only to recur over a wider See also:

• AREA

area in the See also:

• COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

cold months of 1878 to 1879, and once again in the cold of 1879 to 1880 . Since then only isolated cases have been recorded in the immediate neighbourhood of Calcutta, though epidemics have broken out in other places both by See also:

• LAND

land and See also:

• SEA (in O. Eng. sae, a common Teutonic word; cf. Ger. See, Dutch Zee, &c.; the ultimate source is uncertain)
• SEA, COMMAND OF THE

sea . At the end of 1902 an outbreak occurred in the See also:

• BARISAL

Barisal See also:

• GAOL, or JAIL

gaol, See also:

• BENGAL
• BENGAL, BAY OF

Bengal, in which nearly one-third of the cases ended fatally . Dropsy was an invariable feature of the disease, and was either the first symptom or occurred See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early . The lower limbs were first affected, See also:

• TRUNK (Fr. tronc, Lat. truncus, cut off, maimed)

trunk and upper limbs later in severe cases, the See also:

• FACE (from Lat. fades, derived either from facere, to make, or from a root fa-, meaning " appear "; cf. Gr. cbatvstv)

face very rarely . It was accompanied by pyrexia, gastro-See also:

• ENTERITIS (Gr. Evrepov, intestine)

enteritis, deep-seated pains in limbs and body, and burning and pricking of the skin . Various rashes appeared early in the attack, while See also:

• ECZEMA (Gr. EKE a, a cutaneous eruption)

eczema, desquamation and even ulceration supervened later . Anaemia was very marked, giving rise in See also:

• MAURITIUS

Mauritius to the name of acute anaemic dropsy . The duration of the disease was very variable, the limits being three See also:

• WEEKS, EDWIN LORD (1849-1903)

weeks and three months .

See also:

• DEATH

Death was often sudden, resulting chiefly from cardiac and See also:

• RESPIRATORY

respiratory complications . The cause of the disease has remained obscure, but there is See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason to suppose that it was originally imported from the See also:

• MADRAS

Madras See also:

• FAMINE (Lat. fames, hunger)

famine tracts .