Ague: Malarial or intermittent fever characterized by paroxysms (stages of chills,
 fever, and sweating at regularly recurring times) and followed byan interval or 
intermission of varying duration. Popularly, the disease was known as "fever and 
ague," "chill fever," "the shakes," and by names expressive of the locality in which
 it was prevalent--such as, "swamp fever" (in Louisiana), "Panama fever," and 
"Chagres fever."

Ague-cake: A form of enlargement of the spleen, resulting from 
the actionof malaria on the system.                      

American Plague: yellow fever

Anasarca: Generalized massive dropsy. See dropsy.

Apoplexy: paralysis due to stroke

Aphthae: See thrush.

Aphthous stomatitis: See canker.

Ascites: See dropsy.

Asthenia: See debility.

Bad Blood: Syphilis

Bilious fever: A term loosely applied to certain intestinal 
and malarial fevers. See typhus.

Blood Poisoning: Septicemia

Boil: An abscess of skin or painful inflammation of the skin or a hair
follicle usually caused by a staphylococcal infection. Synonym: furuncle.

Brain fever: See meningitis, typhus.

Bright's Disease: Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation)

Bronchial asthma: A disorder of breathing, characterized by spasm 
of the bronchial tubes of the lungs, wheezing, and difficulty in breathing air
outward--often accompanied by coughing and a feeling of tightness in the chest.

Camp fever: See typhus.

Cancer: A malignant and invasive growth or tumor. In the nineteenth
century, cancerous tumors tended to ulcerate, grew constantly, and
progressed to a fatal end and that there was scarcely a tissue they would
not invade. Synonyms: malignant growth, carcinoma.

Cancrum oris: A severe, destructive, eroding ulcer of the cheek and 
lip. In he last century it was seen in delicate, ill-fed, ill-tended children
between the ages of two and five. The disease was the result of poor
hygiene. It was often fatal. The disease could, in a few days, lead to
gangrene of the lips, cheeks, tonsils, palate, tongue, and even half the
face; teeth would fall from their sockets. Synonyms: canker, water canker,
noma, gangrenous stomatitis, gangrenous ulceration of the mouth.

Canker: An ulcerous sore of the mouth and lips, not considered fatal 
today. Synonym: aphthous stomatitis. See cancrum otis.

Catalepsy: seizures/trances

Chlorosis: iron deficiency anemia

Cholera: An acute, infectious disease characterized by profuse diarrhea,
vomiting, and cramps. Cholera is spread by feces-contaminated water and
food. Major epidemics struck the United States in the years 1832, 1849, and
1866. .

Cholera infantum: A common, noncontagious diarrhea of young 
children, occurring  in summer or autumn. It was common among the 
poor and in hand-fedbabies. Death  frequently occurred in three to five 
days. Synonyms: summercomplaint, weaning brash, water gripes, choleric
 fever of children, choleramorbus.

Chorea: Any of several diseases of the nervous system, characterized by
jerky movements that appear to be well coordinated but are performed
involuntarily, chiefly of the face and extremities. Synonym: Saint Vitus'dance.

Cirrhosis: Fatty Liver: 

Colic: Paroxysmal pain in the abdomen or bowels. Infantile colic is benign
paroxysmal abdominal pain during the first three months of life. Colic
rarely caused death. Renal colic can occur from disease in the kidney,
gallstone colic from a stone in the bile duct.

Congestion: An excessive or abnormal accumulation of blood or other
 fluid in a body part or blood vessel. In congestive fever the internal organs
become gorged with blood.

Congestive Fever: malaria

Consumption: A wasting away of the body; formerly applied especially 
to pulmonary tuberculosis. Synonyms: marasmus (in the mid-nineteenth 
century),phthisis.

Convulsions: Severe contortion of the body caused by violent, involuntary
muscular contractions of the extremities, trunk, and head. See epilepsy.

Coryza: See catarrh.

Croup. Any obstructive condition of the larynx (voice box) or trachea
(windpipe), characterized by a hoarse, barking cough and difficult
breathing occurring chiefly in infants and children. In theearly-
nineteenth century it was called cynanche trachealis. The crouping
noise was similar to the sound emitted by a chicken affected with the 
pip, which in some parts of Scotland was called roup; hence, probably,
 the term croup. Synonyms: roup, hives, choak, stuffing, rising of the lights.

Debility: Abnormal bodily weakness or feebleness; decay of strength. This
was a term descriptive of a patient's condition and of no help in making a
diagnosis. Synonym: asthenia.

Diphtheria: An acute infectious disease acquired by contact with an
infected person or a carrier of the disease. It was usually confined to the
upper respiratory tract (throat) and characterized by the formation of a
tough membrane (false membrane) attached firmly to the underlying tissue
that would bleed if forcibly removed. In the nineteenth century the disease
was occasionally confused with scarlet fever and croup.

Dropsy: A contraction for hydropsy. The presence of abnormally large
amounts of fluid. Congestive heart failure

Dysentery: A term given to a number of disorders marked by inflammation 
of the intestines (especially of the colon). There are two specific varieties:
(1) amebic dysentery (2) bacillary dysentery. Synonyms: flux, bloody flux,
contagious pyrexia (fever), frequent griping stools.

Eclampsia: A form of toxemia (toxins--or poisons--in the blood)
accompanying pregnancy. See dropsy.

Effluvia: Exhalations. In the mid-nineteenth century, they were called
"vapours" and distinguished into the contagious effluvia, such as rubeolar
measles); marsh effluvia, such as miasmata.

Emphysema, pulmonary: A chronic, irreversible disease of the lungs.

Enteric fever: See typhoid fever.

Epilepsy: A disorder of the nervous system, characterized either by mild,
episodic loss of attention or sleepiness (petittnal) or by severeconvulsions 
with loss of consciousness (grand mal). Synonyms: falling sickness, fits.

Fatty Liver: Cirrhosis

Flux: See dysentery.

Furuncle: See boil.

Gangrene: Death and decay of tissue in a part of the body--usually alimb--
due to injury, disease, or failure of blood supply. Synonym:  mortification.

Glandular Fever: Mononucleosis

Gleet: See catarrh. 

Grippe: an old term for influenza

Hectic fever: A daily recurring fever with profound sweating, chills, and
flushed appearance-- often associated with pulmonary tuberculosis or septic
poisoning.

Hives: A skin eruption of smooth, slightly elevated areas on the skin which
is redder or paler than the surrounding skin. Often attended by severe
itching. Also called cynanche trachealis. In the mid-nineteenth century,
hives was a commonly given cause of death of children three years and
under. Because true hives does not kill, croup was probably the actual
cause of death in those children.

Hospital fever: See typhus.

Hydrocephalus: See dropsy.

Hydrothorax: See dropsy.

Icterus: See jaundice.

Inanition: Exhaustion from lack of nourishment; starvation.

Infection: In the early part of the last century, infections were thought
to be the propagation of disease by effluvia (see above) from patients
crowded together. "Miasms" were believed to be substances which could not
be seen in any form--emanations not apparent to the senses. Such miasms
were understood to act by infection.

Inflammation: Redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, heat, and disturbed
function of an area of the body. In the last century, cause of death often
was listed as inflammation of a body organ--such as, brain or lung--but
this was purely a descriptive term and is not helpful in identifying the
actual underlying disease.

Jail fever: See typhus.

Jaundice: Yellow discoloration of the skin, whites of the eyes, and mucous
membranes, due to an increase of bile pigments in the blood. Synonym:
icterus. 

Kidney stone: See gravel.

Kings evil: A popular name for scrofula. The name originated in the time of
Edward the Confessor, with the belief that the disease could be cured by
the touch of the king of England.

Lockjaw: Tetanus, a disease in which the jaws become firmly locked
together. Synonyms: trismus, tetanus.

Lung Fever: Pneumonia

Lung Sickness: Tuberculosis

Malignant fever: See typhus.

Marasmus: Malnutrition occurring in infants and young children, 
caused by in insufficient intake of calories or protein.

Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges characterized by high fever,
severe headache, and stiff neck or back muscles. Synonym: brain fever.

Milk Sick: Poisoning resulting from the drinking of milk produced
 by a cow who had eaten a plant known as white snake root

Mormal: Gangrene

Neuralgia: Sharp and paroxysmal pain along the course of a sensory nerve.

Paristhmitis: See quinsy.

Petechial fever: See typhus.

Phthisis: See consumption.

Plague/Black Death: Bubonic Plague

Pleurisy: Inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the chest cavity.
Symptoms are chills, fever, dry cough, and pain in the affected side (a stitch).

Pneumonia: Inflammation of the lungs

 Podagra: Gout

Potts Disease: Tuberculosis of the spinal vertebrae

Putrid fever. See typhus.

Putrid sore throat: Ulceration of an acute form, attacking the tonsils

Pyrexia: See dysentery.

Quinsy: An acute inflammation of the tonsils, often leading to an 
abscess. throat

Scarlatina: Scarlet fever. A contagious disease.

Scrofula: Primary tuberculosis of the lymphatic 
glands, especially those in the neck. A disease of 
children and young adults. Synonym: king's evil.

Septic: Infected, a condition of local or generalized invasion of the body
by disease-causing germs.

Ship fever: See typhus.

Softening Of The Brain: Cerebral hemorrhage/stroke

Spotted fever: See typhus.

Summer complaint: See cholera infantum.

Suppuration: The production of pus.

Teething: The entire process which results in the eruption of 
the teeth. nineteenth-century medical reports stated that infants 
were more prone to disease at the time of teething. Symptoms
 were restlessness, fretfulness, convulsions, diarrhea, and painful
and swollen gums. The latter could be relieved by lancing over 
the protruding tooth. Often teething was reported as a cause 
of death in infants. Perhaps they became susceptible to infections, 
especially if lancing was performed without antisepsis. Another
explanation of teething as a cause of death is that infants were 
often weaned at the time of teething; perhaps they then died 
from drinking contaminated milk, leading to an infection, 
or from malnutrition if watered-down milk was given.

Tetanus: An infectious, often-fatal disease caused by a 
specific  bacterium that enters the body through wounds. 
Synonyms: trismus, lockjaw.

Thrush: A disease characterized by whitish spots and ulcers
 on the membranes of the mouth, tongue, and fauces caused by
 a parasitic fungus. Synonyms: aphthae, sore mouth, aphthous stomatitis.

Trismus nascentium or neonatorum: A form of tetanus 
seen only in infants, almost invariably in the first five days of life.

Typhoid fever: An infectious, often-fatal disease, usually occurring in 
the summer months -- characterized by intestinal inflammation and ulceration. 
The name came from the disease's similarity to typhus (see below). Synonym:
enteric fever.

Typhus: An acute, infectious disease transmitted by lice and fleas. The
epidemic or classic form is louse borne; the endemic or murine is flea
borne. Synonyms: typhus fever, malignant fever (in the 1850s), jail fever,
hospital fever, ship fever, putrid fever, brain fever, bilious fever,
spotted fever, petechial fever, camp fever.

Variola: Smallpox

Winter Fever: Pneumonia

Yellow fever: An acute, often-fatal, infectious disease of warm
climates--caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes