Specific illnesses that are relevant to the plot in one novel or the other include
current day designation |
19th century terms |
description |
| bronchitis | catarrh, croup | inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes |
| carbuncle | boils, furuncle | abscess of the skin |
| cholera | summer complaint | acute, infectious disease characterized by cramps, watery diarrhea, and vomiting |
| diphtheria | sour throat, putrid sore throat | contagious upper respiratory tract illness characterized by a sore throat and low fever; often fatal in children |
| dysentery | bloody flux | inflammation of the intestines caused by a chemical irritant, bacteria, or parasites |
| edema, ascities | dropsy | fluid buildup in the abdomen |
| encephalitis, meningitis | brain fever | |
| epilepsy | falling sickness | a central nervous system (neurological) disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures |
| gangrene | mortification | bacterial infection of tissues |
| influenza | grip/grippe | |
| malaria | ague, remittent fever, intermittent fever | An infectious disease characterized by cycles of chills, fever, and sweating |
| pertussis
|
whooping cough | highly contagious respiratory disease
known for uncontrollable, violent coughing |
| pneumonia | lung fever | an infection of the lungs |
| puerperal fever | childbed fever | infection, usually streptococcal, in the birth canal often fatal |
| smallpox | pox | a contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease, viral |
| strep infections | putrid sore throat, quinsy, rheumatic fever, scarlatina, mortification, | |
| stroke | apoplexy | |
| syphilis | French disease, pox | sexually transmitted |
| tetanus | lockjaw | infectious disease of the central nervous system |
| tuberculosis | consumption, phthisis | |
| typhoid fever | typhoid | contagious disease of |
| typhus | camp fever, bilious fever | |
| yellow fever | yellow jack | viral hemorrhagic disease. |