Disease, Cause of Death
Ablepsy: Blindness
Abscess: Formation of pus in any part of the body, caused by infection
Ague: Malarial Fever
American plague: Yellow fever
Anasarca: Widespread swelling of the skin, often caused by heart or kidney failure
Aneurism: Abnormal widening of an artery
Angina Membranacia: Croup
Aortic aneurism: Widening of the main abdominal artery often leading to rupture
Aphonia: Loss of the voice resulting from disease, injury or hysteria
Aphtha: Painful ulceration in the mouth
Apoplexy: Bleeding in the brain as a result of a blood clot, a stroke
Arterio-sclerosis: Fatty deposits accumulating on the walls of the arteries
Ascites: Excess fluid in the space between the abdomen and abdominal organs
Asphyxia/Asphicsia: Asphyxia can be induced by choking, drowning, electric shock, injury, or the inhalation of toxic gases
Asthenia: Loss of body strength, debility
Atherosclerosis: As for arterio-sclerosis (qv)
Atrophy: A wasting away of tissue
Bad Blood: Syphilis
Berylliosis: A lung disease caused by inhaling particles of beryllium, used in watch springs. This was common amongst clock/watchmakers
Bilious fever: Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis
Biliousness: Gastric distress caused by a disorder of the liver or gallbladder
Black fever: Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate
Black Plague: Bubonic plague
Black vomit: Vomiting black blood due to stomach ulcers
Blackwater fever: A serious, often fatal complication of chronic malaria, characterised by the passage of bloody, dark red or black urine
Bladder in throat: Diphtheria
Blood poisoning: Bacterial infection; septicaemia
Bloody flux: Bloody stools
Bloody sweat: Sweating sickness
Boll hive: The name was a Scottish derivation of the infant disease Bowel Hives which caused a rash – possibly a form of hives that attacked the heart and lungs
Bone shave: Sciatica
Brain fever: Meningitis
Breakbone: Dengue fever - an infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterised by rash and aching head and joints
Bright's Disease: A disease of the kidneys
Broncho-pneumonia: Same as pneumonia, an inflammation of the lungs caused by an infection
Bronze John: Yellow fever
Bule: Boils, tumours or swelling
Cachexy: General physical wasting and malnutrition usually associated with chronic disease
Cacogastric: Upset stomach
Cacospysy: Irregular pulse
Camp fever: Typhus, "Camp diarrhoea"
Canine madness: Rabies, Hydrophobia
Canker: Ulceration of mouth or lips - Herpes Simplex
Carcinoma: Cancer
Catalepsy: A condition characterised by lack of response to external stimuli and by muscular rigidity, so that the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed.
Catarrh: Inflammation of the mucous membranes
Cerebral haemorrhage: Bleeding in the brain resulting in a stroke
Cerebritis: Non-localised inflammation of the cerebrum
Chilblain: An inflammation followed by itchy irritation on the hands, feet, or ears, resulting from exposure to moist cold
Child bed fever: Infection following childbirth
Chin cough: Whooping cough - Pertussis
Chlorosis: An iron-deficiency anemia, primarily of young women, characterised by a greenish-yellow discolouration of the skin. Also called greensickness
Cholecystitus: Inflammation of the gall bladder
Cholelithiasis: Gall stones
Cholera morbus: Acute gastroenteritis occurring in summer and autumn and marked by severe cramps, diarrhoea, and vomiting
Chorea: Spasmodic involuntary movements of the limbs or facial muscles
Cirrhosis: Chronic disease of the liver causing scarring and liver disfunction
Cobbler's Illness: Pthisis, or TB., an infection caught from cattle or tanning or working with leather
Cold plague: Ague; characterised by chills
Colic: Abdominal cramping
Congestion: Any collection of fluid in an organ, such as the lungs
Congestive chills / Congestive fever: Malaria
Consumption: Tuberculosis
Coronary: Associated with the heart
Corruption: Infection
Coryza: A cold
Costiveness: Constipation
Cramp colic: Appendicitis
Crop sickness: Overextended stomach
Croup: Hoarse cough in infants caused by swelling of the larnyx, caused by a virus
Cyanosis: Dark skin color due to lack of oxygen in the blood
Cynanche: Severe sore throat
Cystitis: Inflammation of the bladder
Day fever / Diary fever: Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness
Debility: A general weakened condition
Decrepitude: The condition of being weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use
Delirium tremens: An acute, sometimes fatal delirium usually caused by withdrawal or abstinence from alcohol following habitual excessive drinking.
Dengue Fever: An infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterised by rash and aching head and joints
Dentition: The process of growing new teeth; teething
Deplumation: The falling out or loss of the eyelashes
Diabetes mellitus: Disorder characterised by elevated blood sugar levels
Diptheria: An upper respiratory tract illness characterised by sore throat, low-grade fever
Dock fever: Yellow fever
Dropsy: Oedema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease
Dropsy of the Brain: Encephalitis
Dry Bellyache: Lead poisoning
Dyscrasia: An abnormal bodily condition, especially of the blood
Dysentery: An inflammatory disorder of the lower intestinal tract,
Dysorexy / Dysorexia: A diminished, disordered, or unnatural appetite
Dyspepsia: Disturbed digestion; indigestion. Heart attack symptoms are often blamed on Dyspepsia
Dysury: Difficult or painful discharge of urine
Eclampsy / Eclampsia: Coma and convulsions during or immediately after pregnancy
Ecstasy: A form of Catalepsy - a condition characterised by lack of response to external stimuli and by muscular rigidity
Eel thing: Erysipelas - An acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by a species of streptococcus
Elephantiasis: Chronic, often extreme enlargement and hardening of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue, especially of the legs and external genitals
Embolism: Blood clots travelling through the blood stream causing blockage of the renal artery to the kidney
Emphysema: Chronic respiratory disease of the lung air sacs
Encephalitis: Swelling of the brain; also called Sleeping Sickness
Endometritis: Infection of the lining of the uterus
Enteric fever: Typhoid fever
Enteritis: Inflammation of the intestinal tract, especially of the small intestine
Enterocolitis: Inflammation of both the small intestine and the colon
Epilepsy: Any of various neurological disorders characterised by sudden recurring attacks of motor, sensory, or psychic malfunction with or without loss of consciousness or convulsive seizures
Epistaxis: Nose bleed
Erysipelas: Contagious bacterial skin infection, often on the face. Also called Saint Anthony's fire
Extravasated: To force the flow of (blood or lymph) from a vessel out into surrounding tissue
Falling sickness: Epilepsy
Fatty Liver: Cirrhosis of the liver
Fistula: An abnormal passage from an internal organ to the body surface or between two internal organs
Fits: Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity
Flux: An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhoea
French pox / Great pox: Syphilis
Gastric ulcer: A break or tear in the tissue lining the stomach
Gastritis: Chronic or acute inflammation of the stomach
Gathering: A collection of pus
General Paralysis: A euphemistic term for advanced syphilis causing death
Glandular fever: Mononucleosis - a common, acute, infectious disease, usually affecting young people
Green fever/sickness: Anaemia
Grippe/grip: Influenza
Grocer’s itch: Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour
Haematemesis: Vomiting of blood
Haematuria: Blood or blood cells in urine
Haemoptysis: Coughing up of blood
Haemorrhage: Excessive bleeding, often within an organ
Heart sickness: Condition caused by lack of salt
Heat stroke: A severe condition caused by impairment of the body's temperature-regulating abilities
Hectical complaint: Recurrent fever
Hemiplegy: Paralysis of one side of body
Hemophilia: Hereditary bleeding disorder, taking a long time for blood to clot
Hip gout: Osteomyelitis - a usually bacterial infection of bone and bone marrow
Horrors: Delirium tremens
Hydrocephalus: An excessive amount of fluid around the brain and spinal column
Hydropericardium: The non-inflammatory accumulation of watery fluid in the pericardial cavity.
Hydrophobia: Rabies
Hydrothrax: Accumulation of serous fluid in one or both pleural cavities
Hypertrophic: A non-tumorous enlargement of an organ or a tissue
Hypostatic: Setting of the blood by gravitation
Icterus: Jaundice.
Impetigo: A contagious bacterial skin infection, usually of children
Inanition: Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment or vitality
Infantile paralysis: Poliomyelitis
Intestinal colic: Pain due to distention of the intestines by gas
Ischaemic: Ischaemic means an organ, for example the heart, not receiving enough blood and oxygen
Jail / Prison / Ship Fever: Typhus
Jaundice: Yellowing of the skin caused by too many red blood cells dying
King’s evil: Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands
Kruchhusten: Whooping cough
Lagrippe: Influenza
Lobar pneumonia: Pneumonia affecting one or more lobes of the lung, often due to streptococcal infection
Lockjaw: An early sign of tetanus, in which the jaw is locked closed because of a tonic spasm of the muscles of mastication
Long sickness: Tuberculosis
Lues disease: Syphilis
Lues venera: Venereal disease
Lumbago: A painful condition of the lower back, as one resulting from muscle strain or a slipped disk
Lumbar: Connected with the back or spine
Lung fever: Pneumonia
Lung sickness: Tuberculosis
Lying in: Duration of childbirth
Malignant sore throat: Diphtheria
Mania: Insanity
Marasmus: Severe protein-energy malnutrition
Medullary: Inner core of an organ
Membranous Croup: Diphtheria
Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges of the brain and the spinal cord
Metritis: Inflammation of the lining of the uterus
Miasma: A poisonous atmosphere, formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease
Milk fever: A mild fever, usually occurring at the beginning of lactation, associated with infection following childbirth
Milk leg: A painful swelling of the leg occurring in women after childbirth as a result of clotting and inflammation of the femoral veins
Milk sickness: An acute disease characterised by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain
Mitral regurgitation: Heart's mitral valve fails to close properly, causing blood to leak into upper heart chamber
Morbus cordis: Heart disease (morbus-disease; cordis-heart)
Mormal: Gangrene
Morphew: Scurvy blisters
Mortification: Gangrene of necrotic tissue
Mule Spinner's Scrotum: Form of squamous cell carcinoma affecting mule spinners in the cotton-spinning industry
Myelitis: Inflammation of the spinal column
Myocardial infarction: An area of the heart muscle dies as a result of a lack of sufficient oxygen, a heart attack
Myocarditis: Inflammation of the myocardium (heart muscle)
Myopathy: A muscle-related disease
Necrosis: Death of cells or tissues through injury or disease, especially in a localized area of the body
Neonatal: Referring to a baby of up to 4 weeks old
Nephritis: Acute or chronic inflammation of the kidneys
Nephrosis: A disease of the kidneys marked by degenerative lesions
Nervous prostration: An emotional disorder that leaves you exhausted and unable to work
Neuralgia: Nerve pain caused by infection or inflammation
Nostalgia: Homesickness
Oedema: An excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue spaces or a body cavity
Otitis media: Infection of the middle ear
Palsy: Progressive paralysis caused by damage to brain nerve cells
Paralysis: Loss of muscle function due to nerve damage
Paralyticileus: Paralysis of the bowel wall resulting in blockage of the bowel
Paroxysm: A spasm or fit; a convulsion
Pemphigus:Any of several acute or chronic skin diseases characterised by groups of itching blisters
Pericarditis: Inflammation of the pericardium
Peripneumonia: An acute or chronic disease marked by inflammation of the lungs
Peritonitis: Inflammation of the peritoneum, the lining of the abdominal cavity
Petechial Fever: A malignant fever, accompanied by livid spots on the skin
Phthiriasis: Infestation with lice, especially crab lice
Phthsis pulmonalis: Tuberculosis of the lungs, consumption. Also spelled phthisis
Placenta praevia: Condition of pregnancy in which placenta grows too close to cervix
Plague: A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution
Pleurisy/ Pleuritis: Pleurisy, an inflammation around the lungs due to bacterial or viral infection
Podagra: Gout
Polio Potter’s asthma: Fibroid phthisis - the term was formerly applied to many wasting diseases
Pott’s disease: Partial destruction of the vertebral bones, usually caused by a tuberculous infection and often producing curvature of the spine
Puerperal exhaustion: Death due to child birth
Puerperal fever: An illness resulting from infection of the endometrium following childbirth or abortion. Also called childbed fever
Puerpural septicaemia: Infection in birth canal following childbirth, often causing death within 3 weeks
Puking fever: Milk sickness
Pulmonary edema: Fluid accumulation and swelling in the lung
Putrid fever: Diphtheria.
Quinsy: Acute inflammation of the tonsils and the surrounding tissue, often leading to the formation of an abscess
Remitting fever: Malaria
Renal: Associated with the kidneys
Rheumatism: Any disorder associated with pain in joints
Rickets: A deficiency disease resulting from a lack of vitamin D or calcium. Also called Rachitis
Rose cold:A spring or early summer hay fever. Also called Rose Fever
Rubeola: German measles
Sanguineous crust: A scab
Scarlatina / Scarlet fever: Scarlet fever - an acute contagious disease, occurring predominantly among children
Scarlet rash: Roseola - a rose-colored skin rash, sometimes occurring with diseases such as measles, syphilis, or scarlet fever
Schistorrhachis: A congenital defect in which the spinal column is imperfectly closed also called Spina Bifida
Sciatica: Pain along the sciatic nerve usually caused by a herniated disk of the lumbar region of the spine and radiating to the buttocks and to the back of the thigh
Scirrhus: A hard, dense cancerous growth usually arising from connective tissue
Sclerosis: Thickening or hardening of a body part, eg an artery
Scotomy: Obscuration of the field of vision due to the appearance of a dark spot before the eye
Screws: Rheumatism
Scrivener’s palsy: Writer’s cramp
Scrofula / Struma: A form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, most common in children. Also called Struma
Scrofulosis: A tuberculous infection of skin or bone
Scrumpox: Skin disease, impetigo
Scurvy: A disease caused by deficiency of vitamin C, characterised by spongy and bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and extreme weakness
Senility: Critical weakening and decrepitude of the body through old age
Septicaemia: Blood poisoning
Seroma: Swelling caused by accumulation of serum in an organ or tissue
Shakes: Delirium tremens
Shaking: Chills, ague
Shingles: An acute viral infection along the affected nerve path. Also called Herpes Zoster .
Ship / Jail / Prison fever: Typhus
Shoemaker's Illness: Pthisis, or TB. Caused by an infection caught from cattle or tanning or working with leather
Siriasis: Also called insolation - heat stroke caused by exposure to the sun and characterised by a rise in temperature, convulsions, and coma
Sloes: Milk sickness
Smallpox: An acute, highly infectious, often fatal, disease. Also called variola
Softening of the brain: A localised softening of the brain substance, due to hemorrhage or inflammation.
Sore throat distemper: Diphtheria or Quinsy
Spanish influenza: Influenza that caused several waves of pandemic in 1918-1919, resulting in over 20 million deaths worldwide
Spasms: Sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles
Spina bifida: A congenital defect in which the spinal column is imperfectly closed so that part of the meninges or spinal cord protrudes. Also called schistorrhachis
Spotted fever: Any of various often fatal infectious diseases, such as typhus
Sprue: A chronic, chiefly tropical disease characterised by diarrhoea, emaciation, and anaemia
St. Anthony’s fire: Erysipelas, Contagious acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
St. Vitas dance: Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary.
Stenosis: Abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel or other tube such as the urethra.
Stomatitis: Inflammation of the mucous tissue of the mouth
Stranger’s fever: Yellow fever
Strangury: A condition marked by slow, painful urination, caused by muscular spasms of the urethra and bladder
Sudor Anglicus: Sweating sickness
Summer complaint: Diarrhoea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk
Sunstroke: Heat stroke caused by exposure to the sun also called insolation , siriasis
Swamp sickness: Malaria, typhoid or encephalitis
Sweating sickness: Infectious and fatal disease common in the UK in the 15th century
Syncope: Fainting
Tabes mesenterica: Type of tuberculosis of the lymph glands
Tetanus: An acute, often fatal disease characterised by spasmodic contraction of voluntary muscles. Also called lockjaw
Thrombosis: Presence of clots in a blood vessel or in a heart chamber
Thrush: A contagious disease caused by a fungus, Candida albicans, that occurs most often in infants and children
Tick fever: Any of various febrile diseases transmitted by ticks, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Texas fever
Toxemia: A condition in which the blood contains toxins produced by body cells. Also called blood poisoning
Trench mouth: A painful infection of the mouth and throat characterised by ulcerations of the mucous membranes, bleeding, and foul breath. Also called Vincent's angina , Vincent's infection.
Tussis convulsive: Whooping cough
Tympanitis: Infection of the inner ear membrane
Typhus: Any of several forms of infectious disease. Also called prison fever , ship fever , typhus fever
Variola: Smallpox
Vascular: Associated with the blood vessels
Venesection: Surgical incision into a vein; used to treat hemochromatosis - an hereditary disorder affecting iron metabolism in which excessive amounts of iron accumulate in the body tissues.
Viper’s dance: See St. Vitus Dance
Water on the brain: See Encephalitis
Wet Lung: Severe pulmony congestion characterised by diffuse injury to the membranes of the lungs.
White swelling: Tuberculosis of the bone
Winter fever: Pneumonia
Womb fever: Infection of the uterus
Worm fit: Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhoea
Yellowjacket: Yellow fever
Abscess: Formation of pus in any part of the body, caused by infection
Ague: Malarial Fever
American plague: Yellow fever
Anasarca: Widespread swelling of the skin, often caused by heart or kidney failure
Aneurism: Abnormal widening of an artery
Angina Membranacia: Croup
Aortic aneurism: Widening of the main abdominal artery often leading to rupture
Aphonia: Loss of the voice resulting from disease, injury or hysteria
Aphtha: Painful ulceration in the mouth
Apoplexy: Bleeding in the brain as a result of a blood clot, a stroke
Arterio-sclerosis: Fatty deposits accumulating on the walls of the arteries
Ascites: Excess fluid in the space between the abdomen and abdominal organs
Asphyxia/Asphicsia: Asphyxia can be induced by choking, drowning, electric shock, injury, or the inhalation of toxic gases
Asthenia: Loss of body strength, debility
Atherosclerosis: As for arterio-sclerosis (qv)
Atrophy: A wasting away of tissue
Bad Blood: Syphilis
Berylliosis: A lung disease caused by inhaling particles of beryllium, used in watch springs. This was common amongst clock/watchmakers
Bilious fever: Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis
Biliousness: Gastric distress caused by a disorder of the liver or gallbladder
Black fever: Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate
Black Plague: Bubonic plague
Black vomit: Vomiting black blood due to stomach ulcers
Blackwater fever: A serious, often fatal complication of chronic malaria, characterised by the passage of bloody, dark red or black urine
Bladder in throat: Diphtheria
Blood poisoning: Bacterial infection; septicaemia
Bloody flux: Bloody stools
Bloody sweat: Sweating sickness
Boll hive: The name was a Scottish derivation of the infant disease Bowel Hives which caused a rash – possibly a form of hives that attacked the heart and lungs
Bone shave: Sciatica
Brain fever: Meningitis
Breakbone: Dengue fever - an infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterised by rash and aching head and joints
Bright's Disease: A disease of the kidneys
Broncho-pneumonia: Same as pneumonia, an inflammation of the lungs caused by an infection
Bronze John: Yellow fever
Bule: Boils, tumours or swelling
Cachexy: General physical wasting and malnutrition usually associated with chronic disease
Cacogastric: Upset stomach
Cacospysy: Irregular pulse
Camp fever: Typhus, "Camp diarrhoea"
Canine madness: Rabies, Hydrophobia
Canker: Ulceration of mouth or lips - Herpes Simplex
Carcinoma: Cancer
Catalepsy: A condition characterised by lack of response to external stimuli and by muscular rigidity, so that the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed.
Catarrh: Inflammation of the mucous membranes
Cerebral haemorrhage: Bleeding in the brain resulting in a stroke
Cerebritis: Non-localised inflammation of the cerebrum
Chilblain: An inflammation followed by itchy irritation on the hands, feet, or ears, resulting from exposure to moist cold
Child bed fever: Infection following childbirth
Chin cough: Whooping cough - Pertussis
Chlorosis: An iron-deficiency anemia, primarily of young women, characterised by a greenish-yellow discolouration of the skin. Also called greensickness
Cholecystitus: Inflammation of the gall bladder
Cholelithiasis: Gall stones
Cholera morbus: Acute gastroenteritis occurring in summer and autumn and marked by severe cramps, diarrhoea, and vomiting
Chorea: Spasmodic involuntary movements of the limbs or facial muscles
Cirrhosis: Chronic disease of the liver causing scarring and liver disfunction
Cobbler's Illness: Pthisis, or TB., an infection caught from cattle or tanning or working with leather
Cold plague: Ague; characterised by chills
Colic: Abdominal cramping
Congestion: Any collection of fluid in an organ, such as the lungs
Congestive chills / Congestive fever: Malaria
Consumption: Tuberculosis
Coronary: Associated with the heart
Corruption: Infection
Coryza: A cold
Costiveness: Constipation
Cramp colic: Appendicitis
Crop sickness: Overextended stomach
Croup: Hoarse cough in infants caused by swelling of the larnyx, caused by a virus
Cyanosis: Dark skin color due to lack of oxygen in the blood
Cynanche: Severe sore throat
Cystitis: Inflammation of the bladder
Day fever / Diary fever: Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness
Debility: A general weakened condition
Decrepitude: The condition of being weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use
Delirium tremens: An acute, sometimes fatal delirium usually caused by withdrawal or abstinence from alcohol following habitual excessive drinking.
Dengue Fever: An infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterised by rash and aching head and joints
Dentition: The process of growing new teeth; teething
Deplumation: The falling out or loss of the eyelashes
Diabetes mellitus: Disorder characterised by elevated blood sugar levels
Diptheria: An upper respiratory tract illness characterised by sore throat, low-grade fever
Dock fever: Yellow fever
Dropsy: Oedema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease
Dropsy of the Brain: Encephalitis
Dry Bellyache: Lead poisoning
Dyscrasia: An abnormal bodily condition, especially of the blood
Dysentery: An inflammatory disorder of the lower intestinal tract,
Dysorexy / Dysorexia: A diminished, disordered, or unnatural appetite
Dyspepsia: Disturbed digestion; indigestion. Heart attack symptoms are often blamed on Dyspepsia
Dysury: Difficult or painful discharge of urine
Eclampsy / Eclampsia: Coma and convulsions during or immediately after pregnancy
Ecstasy: A form of Catalepsy - a condition characterised by lack of response to external stimuli and by muscular rigidity
Eel thing: Erysipelas - An acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by a species of streptococcus
Elephantiasis: Chronic, often extreme enlargement and hardening of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue, especially of the legs and external genitals
Embolism: Blood clots travelling through the blood stream causing blockage of the renal artery to the kidney
Emphysema: Chronic respiratory disease of the lung air sacs
Encephalitis: Swelling of the brain; also called Sleeping Sickness
Endometritis: Infection of the lining of the uterus
Enteric fever: Typhoid fever
Enteritis: Inflammation of the intestinal tract, especially of the small intestine
Enterocolitis: Inflammation of both the small intestine and the colon
Epilepsy: Any of various neurological disorders characterised by sudden recurring attacks of motor, sensory, or psychic malfunction with or without loss of consciousness or convulsive seizures
Epistaxis: Nose bleed
Erysipelas: Contagious bacterial skin infection, often on the face. Also called Saint Anthony's fire
Extravasated: To force the flow of (blood or lymph) from a vessel out into surrounding tissue
Falling sickness: Epilepsy
Fatty Liver: Cirrhosis of the liver
Fistula: An abnormal passage from an internal organ to the body surface or between two internal organs
Fits: Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity
Flux: An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhoea
French pox / Great pox: Syphilis
Gastric ulcer: A break or tear in the tissue lining the stomach
Gastritis: Chronic or acute inflammation of the stomach
Gathering: A collection of pus
General Paralysis: A euphemistic term for advanced syphilis causing death
Glandular fever: Mononucleosis - a common, acute, infectious disease, usually affecting young people
Green fever/sickness: Anaemia
Grippe/grip: Influenza
Grocer’s itch: Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour
Haematemesis: Vomiting of blood
Haematuria: Blood or blood cells in urine
Haemoptysis: Coughing up of blood
Haemorrhage: Excessive bleeding, often within an organ
Heart sickness: Condition caused by lack of salt
Heat stroke: A severe condition caused by impairment of the body's temperature-regulating abilities
Hectical complaint: Recurrent fever
Hemiplegy: Paralysis of one side of body
Hemophilia: Hereditary bleeding disorder, taking a long time for blood to clot
Hip gout: Osteomyelitis - a usually bacterial infection of bone and bone marrow
Horrors: Delirium tremens
Hydrocephalus: An excessive amount of fluid around the brain and spinal column
Hydropericardium: The non-inflammatory accumulation of watery fluid in the pericardial cavity.
Hydrophobia: Rabies
Hydrothrax: Accumulation of serous fluid in one or both pleural cavities
Hypertrophic: A non-tumorous enlargement of an organ or a tissue
Hypostatic: Setting of the blood by gravitation
Icterus: Jaundice.
Impetigo: A contagious bacterial skin infection, usually of children
Inanition: Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment or vitality
Infantile paralysis: Poliomyelitis
Intestinal colic: Pain due to distention of the intestines by gas
Ischaemic: Ischaemic means an organ, for example the heart, not receiving enough blood and oxygen
Jail / Prison / Ship Fever: Typhus
Jaundice: Yellowing of the skin caused by too many red blood cells dying
King’s evil: Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands
Kruchhusten: Whooping cough
Lagrippe: Influenza
Lobar pneumonia: Pneumonia affecting one or more lobes of the lung, often due to streptococcal infection
Lockjaw: An early sign of tetanus, in which the jaw is locked closed because of a tonic spasm of the muscles of mastication
Long sickness: Tuberculosis
Lues disease: Syphilis
Lues venera: Venereal disease
Lumbago: A painful condition of the lower back, as one resulting from muscle strain or a slipped disk
Lumbar: Connected with the back or spine
Lung fever: Pneumonia
Lung sickness: Tuberculosis
Lying in: Duration of childbirth
Malignant sore throat: Diphtheria
Mania: Insanity
Marasmus: Severe protein-energy malnutrition
Medullary: Inner core of an organ
Membranous Croup: Diphtheria
Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges of the brain and the spinal cord
Metritis: Inflammation of the lining of the uterus
Miasma: A poisonous atmosphere, formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease
Milk fever: A mild fever, usually occurring at the beginning of lactation, associated with infection following childbirth
Milk leg: A painful swelling of the leg occurring in women after childbirth as a result of clotting and inflammation of the femoral veins
Milk sickness: An acute disease characterised by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain
Mitral regurgitation: Heart's mitral valve fails to close properly, causing blood to leak into upper heart chamber
Morbus cordis: Heart disease (morbus-disease; cordis-heart)
Mormal: Gangrene
Morphew: Scurvy blisters
Mortification: Gangrene of necrotic tissue
Mule Spinner's Scrotum: Form of squamous cell carcinoma affecting mule spinners in the cotton-spinning industry
Myelitis: Inflammation of the spinal column
Myocardial infarction: An area of the heart muscle dies as a result of a lack of sufficient oxygen, a heart attack
Myocarditis: Inflammation of the myocardium (heart muscle)
Myopathy: A muscle-related disease
Necrosis: Death of cells or tissues through injury or disease, especially in a localized area of the body
Neonatal: Referring to a baby of up to 4 weeks old
Nephritis: Acute or chronic inflammation of the kidneys
Nephrosis: A disease of the kidneys marked by degenerative lesions
Nervous prostration: An emotional disorder that leaves you exhausted and unable to work
Neuralgia: Nerve pain caused by infection or inflammation
Nostalgia: Homesickness
Oedema: An excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue spaces or a body cavity
Otitis media: Infection of the middle ear
Palsy: Progressive paralysis caused by damage to brain nerve cells
Paralysis: Loss of muscle function due to nerve damage
Paralyticileus: Paralysis of the bowel wall resulting in blockage of the bowel
Paroxysm: A spasm or fit; a convulsion
Pemphigus:Any of several acute or chronic skin diseases characterised by groups of itching blisters
Pericarditis: Inflammation of the pericardium
Peripneumonia: An acute or chronic disease marked by inflammation of the lungs
Peritonitis: Inflammation of the peritoneum, the lining of the abdominal cavity
Petechial Fever: A malignant fever, accompanied by livid spots on the skin
Phthiriasis: Infestation with lice, especially crab lice
Phthsis pulmonalis: Tuberculosis of the lungs, consumption. Also spelled phthisis
Placenta praevia: Condition of pregnancy in which placenta grows too close to cervix
Plague: A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution
Pleurisy/ Pleuritis: Pleurisy, an inflammation around the lungs due to bacterial or viral infection
Podagra: Gout
Polio Potter’s asthma: Fibroid phthisis - the term was formerly applied to many wasting diseases
Pott’s disease: Partial destruction of the vertebral bones, usually caused by a tuberculous infection and often producing curvature of the spine
Puerperal exhaustion: Death due to child birth
Puerperal fever: An illness resulting from infection of the endometrium following childbirth or abortion. Also called childbed fever
Puerpural septicaemia: Infection in birth canal following childbirth, often causing death within 3 weeks
Puking fever: Milk sickness
Pulmonary edema: Fluid accumulation and swelling in the lung
Putrid fever: Diphtheria.
Quinsy: Acute inflammation of the tonsils and the surrounding tissue, often leading to the formation of an abscess
Remitting fever: Malaria
Renal: Associated with the kidneys
Rheumatism: Any disorder associated with pain in joints
Rickets: A deficiency disease resulting from a lack of vitamin D or calcium. Also called Rachitis
Rose cold:A spring or early summer hay fever. Also called Rose Fever
Rubeola: German measles
Sanguineous crust: A scab
Scarlatina / Scarlet fever: Scarlet fever - an acute contagious disease, occurring predominantly among children
Scarlet rash: Roseola - a rose-colored skin rash, sometimes occurring with diseases such as measles, syphilis, or scarlet fever
Schistorrhachis: A congenital defect in which the spinal column is imperfectly closed also called Spina Bifida
Sciatica: Pain along the sciatic nerve usually caused by a herniated disk of the lumbar region of the spine and radiating to the buttocks and to the back of the thigh
Scirrhus: A hard, dense cancerous growth usually arising from connective tissue
Sclerosis: Thickening or hardening of a body part, eg an artery
Scotomy: Obscuration of the field of vision due to the appearance of a dark spot before the eye
Screws: Rheumatism
Scrivener’s palsy: Writer’s cramp
Scrofula / Struma: A form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, most common in children. Also called Struma
Scrofulosis: A tuberculous infection of skin or bone
Scrumpox: Skin disease, impetigo
Scurvy: A disease caused by deficiency of vitamin C, characterised by spongy and bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and extreme weakness
Senility: Critical weakening and decrepitude of the body through old age
Septicaemia: Blood poisoning
Seroma: Swelling caused by accumulation of serum in an organ or tissue
Shakes: Delirium tremens
Shaking: Chills, ague
Shingles: An acute viral infection along the affected nerve path. Also called Herpes Zoster .
Ship / Jail / Prison fever: Typhus
Shoemaker's Illness: Pthisis, or TB. Caused by an infection caught from cattle or tanning or working with leather
Siriasis: Also called insolation - heat stroke caused by exposure to the sun and characterised by a rise in temperature, convulsions, and coma
Sloes: Milk sickness
Smallpox: An acute, highly infectious, often fatal, disease. Also called variola
Softening of the brain: A localised softening of the brain substance, due to hemorrhage or inflammation.
Sore throat distemper: Diphtheria or Quinsy
Spanish influenza: Influenza that caused several waves of pandemic in 1918-1919, resulting in over 20 million deaths worldwide
Spasms: Sudden, involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles
Spina bifida: A congenital defect in which the spinal column is imperfectly closed so that part of the meninges or spinal cord protrudes. Also called schistorrhachis
Spotted fever: Any of various often fatal infectious diseases, such as typhus
Sprue: A chronic, chiefly tropical disease characterised by diarrhoea, emaciation, and anaemia
St. Anthony’s fire: Erysipelas, Contagious acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
St. Vitas dance: Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary.
Stenosis: Abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel or other tube such as the urethra.
Stomatitis: Inflammation of the mucous tissue of the mouth
Stranger’s fever: Yellow fever
Strangury: A condition marked by slow, painful urination, caused by muscular spasms of the urethra and bladder
Sudor Anglicus: Sweating sickness
Summer complaint: Diarrhoea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk
Sunstroke: Heat stroke caused by exposure to the sun also called insolation , siriasis
Swamp sickness: Malaria, typhoid or encephalitis
Sweating sickness: Infectious and fatal disease common in the UK in the 15th century
Syncope: Fainting
Tabes mesenterica: Type of tuberculosis of the lymph glands
Tetanus: An acute, often fatal disease characterised by spasmodic contraction of voluntary muscles. Also called lockjaw
Thrombosis: Presence of clots in a blood vessel or in a heart chamber
Thrush: A contagious disease caused by a fungus, Candida albicans, that occurs most often in infants and children
Tick fever: Any of various febrile diseases transmitted by ticks, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Texas fever
Toxemia: A condition in which the blood contains toxins produced by body cells. Also called blood poisoning
Trench mouth: A painful infection of the mouth and throat characterised by ulcerations of the mucous membranes, bleeding, and foul breath. Also called Vincent's angina , Vincent's infection.
Tussis convulsive: Whooping cough
Tympanitis: Infection of the inner ear membrane
Typhus: Any of several forms of infectious disease. Also called prison fever , ship fever , typhus fever
Variola: Smallpox
Vascular: Associated with the blood vessels
Venesection: Surgical incision into a vein; used to treat hemochromatosis - an hereditary disorder affecting iron metabolism in which excessive amounts of iron accumulate in the body tissues.
Viper’s dance: See St. Vitus Dance
Water on the brain: See Encephalitis
Wet Lung: Severe pulmony congestion characterised by diffuse injury to the membranes of the lungs.
White swelling: Tuberculosis of the bone
Winter fever: Pneumonia
Womb fever: Infection of the uterus
Worm fit: Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhoea
Yellowjacket: Yellow fever