GLOSSARY.
Acetone, Acetonum. An inflammable, colorless liquid of an acrid taste and a penetrating odor. Occurring in small quantities in the blood and urine and in considerable quantities at times in diabetic urine.
Acetonitrile. Methyl cyanide. A colorless volatile liquid.
Acetonuria. The presence of an abnormal amount of acetone in the urine.
Acromegalia, Acromegaly. A chronic nervous disease, usually of adults and marked by abnormal processes of growth, especially in the head, face, and extremities: Marie’s disease. It has in many cases been found to be associated with disease of the pituitary body and the thyroid gland.
Adenoid. Resembling a gland. Name given to masses of hypertrophied glands normally present in the nasopharynx.
Adolescence. Youth: the period between puberty and full development.
Adrenal. Situated near the kidney. The suprarenal capsule.
Agglutinin. A substance, occurring according to some investigators in blood-plasma, according to others only in the serum after coagulation, comparatively resistant to heat, drying, putrefaction, etc., showing many of the characteristics of proteids, and producing agglutination or sticking together by its action on the surface of foreign cells.
Alexin. Any principle that accompanies a pathogenic cell growth and is antagonistic to its evil effects, a defensive proteid. Any albuminous preparation used for protective inoculation.
Alkalimetry. The process of determining the amount of free alkali in various substances.
Alveolar. Belonging to the alveoli.
Alveoli. (a) Bony socket of a tooth; (b) an air-cell of the lung; (c) a cavity, pit, or recess.
Amenorrhea. Absence or stoppage of the menstrual discharge, normal during pregnancy.
Amphibia. A class of vertebrates forming a transitional group between the fishes and air-breathing animals, usually having gills in the larval form and lungs in the adult.
Amyl Nitrite. A drug which produces vasodilation—opening of the blood-paths. Formerly used in trigeminal neuralgia and malaria.
Amylaceous. Composed of starch: starch-like.
Amylolytic. Tending to dissolve starch, and thus to favor its conversion into sugar: sometimes applied to the saliva.
Analogous Tissue. A diseased tissue resembling a normal elementary tissue of the body.
Anemia. Deficiency of the blood in quantity or quality, either general or local.
Anomaly. Irregularity: deviation from rule.
Antipyretic. A remedy to lower temperature.
Antipyrin. A colorless, almost odorless, crystalline powder or tabular crystals, with a slightly bitter taste, prepared by the condensation of phenylhydrazine with aceto-acetic ether with the subsequent menthylation of the product.
Antitoxic. The quality of counteracting poisons: overcoming toxic influences.
Antivenin, Antivenomous Serum. A polyvalent blood-serum prepared from animals rendered immune to snake-venom.
Aorta. The larger arterial trunk arising from the left ventricle of the heart, and indirectly giving origin to every artery except the pulmonary and its ramifications.
Arborization. A branching distribution of veinlets or of nerve-filaments, especially the branched terminal ramifications of a nerve-axon.
Arteriosclerosis. Sclerosis or hardening of the walls of an artery, especially of the inner coats.
Atheroma. A form of fatty degeneration of the coats of the arteries in arteriosclerosis, producing patches of induration or of softening.
Athyroidia. A condition caused by an insufficiency of thyroid secretion.
Atrophy. A regressive metamorphosis, “wasting away” (not always due to imperfect nutrition), in which the parts become smaller by diminution of their elements, either in size or in number.
Attenuated. Drawn out thin. The lessening of weight, as by dietetic and medicinal treatment.
Auto-intoxication. Poisoning with toxic products elaborated within the body. Self-infection from self-formed poisons.
Axilla. The armpit.
Bacteria. Any of the microscopic, unicellular masses of protoplasm referred to a genus. Each is surrounded by an envelope, the total vital capacity of each species being represented by every cell.
Butyric. Relating to or derived from butter.
Cachexia. A depraved condition or habit of body or nutrition.
Calcium Carbonate. A soft, white, inodorous substance. Chalk. It occurs in shells, bones, and marble.
Callus. The osseous substance deposited between and around the divided portions of a fractured bone. Unnatural hardness or induration of any soft part or a thickening of the cuticle, caused by pressure or friction.
Calorie. The unit of heat, or the quantity of heat required to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade.
Carbohydrate. Any one of a group of chemical compounds in which carbon is combined with hydrogen and oxygen, which exist in the same proportions as in water, the carbon atoms usually being a multiple of six.
Catabolism. The production of a simpler substance from a more complex. Passage of tissue material from a higher to a lower plane of specialization or complexity.
Catalysis. In chemistry a reaction that appears to take place owing to the mere presence of another body that apparently undergoes no change.
Catalytic. Belonging to or causing catalysis.
Cellulose. A carbohydrate forming the framework or skeleton of plants, and the most abundant substance in the vegetable kingdom except water.
Chlorotic. Relating to chlorosis. A person affected with chlorosis, or “green sickness,” a form of anemia.
Choledochus. The common bile-duct.
Choline. A ptomaine found in brain tissues, in the bile, in yolks of egg, and in many decomposing animal and vegetable tissues.
Chromatolysis. The breaking down and dissolution of the chromatin of cell-nuclei.
Chromophile. Stainable or easily stained, or absorbing of color.
Cirrhosis. A disease of the liver or other organs marked by proliferation and increase of the interstitial connective tissue, which subsequently contracts or shrinks, producing atrophy and degeneration of the parenchymatous substance.
Climacteric. A particular epoch of the ordinary term of life marked by periods of seven years, at which the body is supposed to be peculiarly affected, and to suffer considerable change. Used to indicate the “change of life,” or cessation of menstruation in women.
Clinical. Pertaining to the sick-bed treatment of a patient.
Colloid. Resembling glue.
Connective tissue. The framework tissue which supports and connects other tissues and organs.
Convoluted Tubule. The contorted portion of a uriniferous tubule.
Corpus Luteum. “Yellow body,” the yellow mass in the ovary occupying the place of a Graafian follicle which has discharged its ovum.
Cretinism. A congenital disease, characterized by goiter, stunted growth, swelled abdomen, wrinkled skin, wan complexion, vacant and stupid countenance, misshapen cranium, idiocy, and comparative insensibility. Disturbance of the function of the thyroid gland is accredited as the cause.
Cystitis. Inflammation of the urinary bladder.
Dementia Præcox. Any form of dementia beginning at puberty and marked by negativism, stereotypy, mannerisms, and verbigeration.
Desquamation. A scaling off. The separation of laminæ or scales from the skin, or from mucous or serous surfaces, or from bones.
Dextrin. A soluble carbohydrate into which starch is converted by action of diastase or dilute acids.
Diabetes Mellitus. A disorder of metabolism characterized by chronic hyperglycemia and glycosuria on a diet not containing excessive amounts of sugar, and associated with polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, emaciation; often dryness of the mouth and skin; sometimes boils, carbuncles, spontaneous gangrene, loss of sexual power, or nervous affections.
Diuresis. Increased discharge of urine, from whatever cause.
Ductless Glands. Glands without an excretory duct.
Dynamometer. An instrument with which to measure the force of muscular contraction, especially of the hand grasp.
Ectropion. Eversion of the edge of a part, especially of the eyelid or eyelids.
Edema. A swelling from effusion of serous fluid into the cellular substance.
Emunctory. Excretory. Any excretory duct of the body.
Endometritis. Inflammation of the inner lining membrane of the body of the uterus.
Enemata. Liquids or injections thrown into the rectum; clysters.
Enteroptosis. Prolapse of the intestines.
Enzyme. A ferment. A substance showing proteid-like reactions, easily destroyed by moderate heat, originating from living cells, either directly or through the intermediate stage of a pro-enzyme, and showing a metabolic activity in converting a specific substance or substances into certain other products in a manner and to an extent independent of the amount of enzyme present and without being itself used up in the process.
Epiphysial. Pertaining to or of the nature of an epiphysis.
Epiphysis. A piece of bone growing upon another, as the bulky extremities of long bone which are in early life separated by cartilage from the shaft.
Epithelium, -lia. Epithelial cells: cells which form the surface of the skin, mucous membranes, and line all canals having communications with the external air.
Erythematous. Of the nature of erythema; redness of the skin.
Ethnographical. Concerning the science of the characteristics of the human family.
Etiology. The science of the causation of disease.
Exophthalmic Goiter. Synonyms: Graves’s disease, Basedow’s disease. A disease marked by protrusion of the eyes, enlarged thyroid gland, anemia, and overaction of the heart.
Extirpation. The complete removal or eradication of a part by the knife or by caustic.
Faradization. A method of treating disease by a localized application of induction currents.
Follicle. A little bag: applied in anatomy to a very small cavity or tubular gland, as the hair glands and the sebaceous glands of the skin.
Follicular. Resembling or belonging to a follicle.
Gastroptosis. A downward displacement of the stomach.
Glomerulus. (1) A small, rounded mass. (2) A part of the kidney; a coil of blood-vessels projecting into the extended ends of each uriniferous tubule.
Glycosuria. The presence of sugar in the urine.
Graves’s Disease. (See Exophthalmic Goiter.)
Hemianopsia. Blindness in one-half of the field of vision of one or both eyes.
Hemoglobin. A red, crystalline substance, of uncertain and very complex composition, found in red blood-corpuscles of the venous blood, and believed to consist of hemochromogen and a proteid.
Histology. The science of the minute structure and composition of the different tissues of organized bodies.
Hyaline Cast. A nearly transparent and clear urinary cast.
Hydrothyonuria. The presence of hydrogen sulphide in the urine.
Hyperactivity. Abnormal activity.
Hyperemia. Excess of blood in any part due to increased influx or obstruction of the outflow.
Hyperesthesia. Morbid increase of the general sensibility, or of one of the special senses.
Hyperleucocytosis. Increase in the number of leucocytes in the blood.
Hyperplasia. The increase of the number of the individual structural elements of a tissue.
Hyperpyrexia. Abnormally high fever, especially when over 42° C. or 106° F.
Hypersecretion. Excessive secretion.
Hypertrophy. Enlargement of a part or an organ, especially when due to over-nutrition.
Hypothyroidia. Diminished function of the thyroid gland.
Impermeable. Not permeable: not permitting a passage through.
Interstitial Hepatitis. Inflammation of the interstitial connective tissue of the liver.
Interstitial Nephritis. Acute or chronic inflammation of the kidneys.
Lab-ferment. The ferment (or enzyme) of rennet which coagulates milk, forming curds.
Lactation. The time or period of secreting milk.
Lactic. Pertaining to or derived from milk.
Lanolin. A body consisting of cholesterin and fatty acids obtained from sheep’s wool: used as a basis for ointments, especially with equal parts of petrolatum, on account of its ready absorption and its peculiar resistance to the growth of bacteria.
Lecithin. A complex nitrogenous fatty substance occurring widely spread throughout the animal body; chemically, a glycerophosphate of neurin.
Leguminous. Pertaining to the fruit or seed that is used as a food, such as peas, beans, etc., rarely any esculent vegetable.
Leucocyte. A white blood-corpuscle or one of the cells resembling it.
Leucocytolysis. The destruction of leucocytes, as by bacterial extracts.
Leucomaine. Any of a number of basic bodies, such as ornithin, the hexone and purin bases, etc., which are the normal products of tissue metabolism.
Maceration. The act of steeping a substance in hot or cold water, usually to extract its virtues.
Maltose. Malt-sugar, identical in composition with milk-sugar, but in its properties much more like grape sugar. It is derivable from starch or glycogen, by the action of saliva, pancreatic juice, or malt diastase.
Menstrual. Having to do with menstruation. The blood discharged in menstruation.
Metabolism. The process by which living cells or organisms are capable of incorporating substances obtained from food into an integral part of their own bodies.
Metrorrhagia. Excessive discharge (usually hemorrhagic) from the womb, especially when occurring at other times than during menstruation. Uterine hemorrhage.
Molecular. Pertaining to molecule. A very small particle of matter.
Muscarine. A poisonous alkaloid obtained from Agaricus muscarius.
Mydriasis. A preternatural or morbid dilatation of the pupil of the eye.
Myxedema. The name given to a condition characterized by a hyperplastic and modified deposit of connective tissue in all parts of the body.
Narcosis. The progress of narcoma or the production of narcotism by drugs, as opium, or by poisonous products originating in the body. Narcoma, stupor, or the state of being under the influence of narcotic medicine.
Necrotized. Lifeless.
Nephritis. Inflammation of the kidneys, which, when acute, involves chiefly the renal parenchyma, and, when chronic, either the parenchyma or the connective tissue or both.
Neural. Belonging to nerves.
Neurasthenia. Nervous debility. Nervous prostration. An exhausted condition with irritability; a functional derangement of the nervous system, either spinal or cerebral, due usually to overwork or other excessive expenditure of energy.
Neuroglia. The tissue, probably of ectodermic origin, forming the basis of the supporting framework of the nervous tissue of the cerebrospinal axis.
Neuron. The cerebrospinal axis.
Neuropathic Constitution. The nervous diathesis: that constitution of body and mind which predisposes to nervous disease.
Nuclein. The phosphorized proteid or nitrogenous substance found in cell-nuclei. It is believed to furnish the functional activity of the cell.
Omnivorous. Feeding or subsisting on food of all kinds.
Oöphorectomy. Excision of one ovary.
Opsonin. From opsono, “I prepare the ground for.” An undetermined, unstable substance in the serum of the blood that renders bacteria more susceptible to ingestion by phagocytes.
Osteomalacia. A chronic disease marked by progressive softening of all bones, due to the loss of their earthy constituents, so that they become flexible and fragile and unable to support the body.
Oxidation. The combining of a certain quantity of oxygen with metals or other substances. The formation of an oxide.
Palpation. Examination by the hand or by touch: manipulation of a part with the fingers for the purpose of determining the condition of the underlying organs.
Pancreas. A long, flat, racemose gland of a reddish color situated in the epigastric region beneath the stomach on a level with the first to the third lumbar vertebræ. Its function is an important part of the digestion of proteids, fats, and carbohydrates.
Parametritis. Inflammation of the connective tissues in the immediate vicinity of the uterus.
Parathyroid. Situated beside the thyroid gland. One of the small glands, usually four to five in number, distinct from the accessory thyroids, lying along the lateral lobes, and possessing an important internal secretion independent of the thyroid gland.
Parenchymatous Tissue, Pulp Tissue. The tissue forming the pulp or parenchyma of an organ.
Pathology. The doctrine or consideration of diseases, and, in a broad sense, of every deviation from normal structure, composition, or function. That branch of medicine which treats of disease, their origin, nature, and termination, special attention being paid to the disorders of function and alterations of structure preceding and resulting therefrom.
Perchloride. A chloride containing more chlorine than a protochloride.
Percussion. The act of striking any part of the body with the fingers, or with an instrument, to ascertain its condition by the sound obtained.
Pericardium. The membranous bag which contains the heart. It consists of an external layer of fibrous tissue and an internal serous layer, the latter of which surrounds the heart.
Peristalsis. A peculiar worm-like movement of the intestines and other tubular organs by which they gradually propel their contents onward.
Pernicious. Highly dangerous.
Phagocytosis. The ingestion of foreign bodies, microbes, etc., by the action of phagocytes (certain of the colorless blood-cells).
Pigmentation. The coloring matter in the skin.
Pituitary Body. The small ellipsoidal body which rests on the sella turcica and is attached to the base of the brain by a pedicle.
Plethoric. Fullness; a state marked by excess of blood in the vessels.
Plexus Myentericus. Auerbach’s plexus. A plexus of sympathetic fibers between the longitudinal and circular intestinal muscle-fibers.
Pneumococcus (of Friedländer). The bacterium of pneumonia.
Polydipsia. Excessive thirst.
Polyuria. A disease characterized by thirst and by a persistently excessive flow of watery urine.
Porosity. The state of having pores.
Portal Veins. The large veins entering the liver at the transverse fissure and bringing to it the blood from the digestive tract and the spleen.
Prognosis. The foreknowledge of the course of a disease drawn from a consideration of its signs and symptoms.
Proliferation. Reproduction of similar forms, both normal and morbid, but especially applied to cell-genesis.
Propagation. Reproduction.
Prophylaxis. The art of guarding against disease. The observation of the rules necessary to the preservation of health, or the prevention of disease.
Proteid. Any one of a class of complex, nitrogenous, levorotatory organic compounds forming the essential part of animal and vegetable tissues.
Protozoa. The name for the primary type of lowest division of the animal kingdom.
Psoriasis. A cutaneous disease, characterized by a rough, scaly cuticle, continuous, or in separate, irregular patches, generally with fissures of the skin, and occurring especially on the extensor surfaces of the body.
Psychoses. Disturbances of the mind.
Ptosis. A falling, or prolapsus, especially applied to a drooping of the upper eyelid due to paralysis of the levator palpebræ superioris muscle.
Puerperium. The state or period of confinement of a pregnant female.
Pyrexia. The state of fever.
Radicle. An ultimate division of a vessel or nerve.
Retrograde-metamorphosis. The process by which somewhat complex bodies are broken up into simpler ones, and in the end into waste products.
Salicylate. A salt of salicylic acid.
Sebaceous. Fatty. Suety. Applied to glands which secrete an oily matter resembling suet.
Segmentation. The process of division by which the fertilized ovum divides before differentiation into layers occurs.
Sella Turcica. The depression within the three clinoid processes of the sphenoid bone, lodging the pituitary body.
Senility. Old age.
Septicemia. Blood poisoning. Fever and prostration due to the entrance of pyogenic or other micro-organisms or ptomaines into the circulation.
Serum. The clear liquid which separates in the clotting of blood from the clot and the corpuscles, or any clear liquid resembling it.
Skeletal. Of or relating to a skeleton.
Spermatorrhea. An involuntary emission of semen without copulation.
Spermin. A preparation of the prostate gland and testicle of animals.
Subcutaneous. Situated, introduced, or living just under the skin.
Sudorific. Inducing or causing sweat.
Suppurative. Producing or discharging pus.
Tabes Dorsalis. Locomotor ataxia. A chronic disease due to degeneration and sclerosis of the posterior columns of the spinal cord, and marked by lightning-like flashes of pain and a peculiar gait.
Tachycardia. A disturbed condition of the heart’s action in which great acceleration of the pulse occurs.
Tertiary. Third degree.
Theobromine. A bitter, colorless, crystalline powder, capable of forming salts with acids, and sparingly soluble in hot water.
Thymus. A bilobed, elongated body which develops from the entoderm of the last two visceral clefts, and is situated in the neck and thorax of the newborn child.
Thyroid Gland. A reddish organ, one of the so-called ductless glands, giving rise to one or more internal secretions and situated in front of and on either side of the trachea.
Thyroidectomy. Excision of the thyroid gland or of its cartilage.
Tonicity. The state of normal tone or tension.
Tortuosity. Bent or twisted irregularly.
Transudation. The morbid passing or oozing of blood, or other fluid, practically unaltered, through the pores of the skin or membranes.
Trypanosome. One of any species of trypanosoma. The organism is a spindle-shaped, more or less elongated, protoplasmic body, containing two chromatic masses, a centrosome generally placed at the posterior end and a larger nucleus mesially situated, with a flagellum and an undulatory membrane, starting from the centrosome, and running along the protoplasmic body.
Trypanosomiasis. A diseased condition produced by trypanosomes.
Trypsin. A ferment of pancreatic juice which has the power of converting proteids into peptones, best in alkaline solution, but also active in neutral solution.
Unesthetic. Not having lost sensation.
Unossified. Not having formed bone.
Urea. A white, transparent, crystallizable solid, the principal solid constituent of urine.
Uric Acid. A crystalline substance obtained from urine.
Urotoxic. Relating to the poisonous elements of the urine.
Urticaria. “Hives.” An exanthematous fever characterized by an eruption like the elevations produced on the skin by the sting of a nettle, and attended with burning and itching.
Vascularization. The act or process of becoming vascular, as in neoplasms, thrombi, etc., or furnished with new blood-vessels.
Vasodilatation. Widening of the walls of the blood-vessels; admitting more blood to the periphery.
Vermicular. Worm-like.
Viscosity. Adhesiveness.