Name |
What was it? |
Ablepsy |
Blindness |
Ague |
Malarial Fever |
American plague |
Yellow fever |
Anasarca |
General massive edema |
Aphonia |
Laryngitis |
Aphtha |
Infant disease "thrush" |
Apoplexy |
Paralysis from stroke |
Asphycsia /Asphicsia |
Cyanotic ( lack of oxygen ) |
Atrophy |
Wasting away |
Bad Blood |
Syphilis |
Bilharzia |
Prevalent in the Caribbean, this is known as Schistosomiasis today. Causes
a rash or itchy skin. Fever, chills, cough, and muscle aches. |
Bilious fever |
Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or high temperature and bile emesis. Also,
what we call Yellow Jaundice, today |
Biliousness |
Jaundice from liver disease |
Black plague or death |
Bubonic plague |
Black fever |
Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions,
high mortality rate |
Black pox |
Black Small pox |
Black vomit |
Vomiting ood black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever |
Blackwater fever |
Dark urine with high temperature |
Bladder in throat |
Diphtheria (Seen on death certificates) |
Blood poisoning |
Bacterial infection; septicemia |
Bloody flux |
Bloody stools |
Bloody sweat |
Sweating sickness |
Bone shave |
Sciatica |
Brain fever |
Meningitis |
Breakbone |
Dengue fever |
Bright's disease |
Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys |
Bronze John |
Yellow fever |
Bule |
Boil, tumor or swelling |
Cachexy |
Malnutrition |
Cacogastric |
Upset stomach |
Cacospysy |
Irregular pulse |
Caduceus |
Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy |
Camp fever |
Typhus or Camp diarrhea |
Canine madness |
Rabies, hydrophobia |
Canker |
Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex |
Catalepsy |
Seizures or trances |
Catarrhal |
Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy |
Cerebritis |
Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning |
Chilblain |
Swelling of extremities from exposure to cold |
Child bed fever |
Infection following child birth |
Chin cough |
Whooping cough |
Chlorosis |
Iron deficiency anemia |
Cholera |
Acute, severe, contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing |
Cholera morbus |
Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated
temperature, etc. Could be appendicitis |
Cholecystitus |
Inflammation of the gall bladder |
Cholelithiasis |
Gall stones |
Chorea |
Disease characterized by convulsions, contortions and dancing |
Cold plague |
Ague characterized by chills |
Colic |
An abdominal pain and cramping |
Congestive chills |
Malaria |
Consumption |
Tuberculosis |
Congestion |
Any collection of fluid in an organ, like the lungs |
Congestive chills |
Malaria with diarrhea |
Congestive fever |
Malaria |
Corruption |
Infection |
Coryza |
A cold |
Costiveness |
Constipation |
Cramp colic |
Appendicitis |
Crop sickness |
Overextended stomach |
Croup |
Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat |
Cyanosis |
Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood |
Cynanche |
Diseases of throat |
Cystitis |
Inflammation of the bladder |
Day fever |
Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness |
Debility |
Lack of movement, staying in bed |
Decrepitude |
Feebleness from old age |
Delirium tremens |
Hallucinations due to alcoholism |
Dengue |
Infectious fever endemic to East Africa |
Dentition |
Cutting of teeth |
Deplumation |
Tumor of the eyelids causing hair loss |
Diary fever |
A fever that lasts one day |
Diptheria |
Contagious disease of the throat |
Distemper |
Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and
throat, anorexia |
Dock fever |
Yellow fever |
Dropsy |
Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease |
Dropsy of the Brain |
Encephalitis |
Dry Bellyache |
Lead poisoning |
Dyscrasy |
An abnormal body condition |
Dysentery |
Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood |
Dysorexy |
Reduced appetite |
Dyspepsia |
Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms |
Dysury |
Difficulty in urination |
Eclampsy |
Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor |
Ecstasy |
A form of catalepsy characterized by loss of reason |
Edema |
Nephrosis; swelling of tissues |
Edema of lungs |
Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy |
Eel thing |
Erysipelas |
Elephantiasis |
A form of leprosy |
Encephalitis |
Swelling of brain or sleeping sickness |
Enteric fever |
Typhoid fever |
Enterocolitis |
Inflammation of the intestines |
Enteritis |
Inflations of the bowels |
Epitaxis |
Nose bleed |
Erysipelas |
Contagious skin disease, from Streptococci with vesicular and
bulbous lesions |
Extravasted blood |
Rupture of a blood vessel |
Falling sickness |
Epilepsy |
Fatty Liver |
Cirrhosis of liver |
Fits |
Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity |
Flux |
An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea |
Flux of humour |
Circulation |
French pox |
Syphilis |
Gathering |
A collection of pus |
Glandular fever |
Mononucleosis |
Great pox |
Syphilis |
Green fever / sickness |
Anemia |
Grippe/grip |
Influenza like symptoms |
Grocer's itch |
Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour |
Heart sickness |
Condition caused by loss of salt from body |
Heat stroke |
Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment
temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature.
Coma and death result if not reversed |
Hectical complaint |
Recurrent fever |
Hematemesis |
Vomiting blood |
Hematuria |
Bloody urine |
Hemiplegy |
Paralysis of one side of body |
Hip gout |
Osteomylitis |
Horrors |
Delirium tremens |
Hydrocephalus |
Enlarged head, water on the brain |
Hydropericardium |
Heart dropsy |
Hydrophobia |
Rabies |
Hydrothroax |
Dropsy in chest |
Hypertrophic |
Enlargement of organ, like the heart |
Impetigo |
Contagious skin disease with by pustules |
Inanition |
Physical condition resulting from lack of food |
Infantile paralysis |
Polio |
Intestinal colic |
Abdominal pain from improper diet |
Jail fever |
Typhus |
Jaundice |
Condition caused by blockage of intestines |
King's evil |
Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands |
Kruchhusten |
Whooping cough |
Lagrippe |
Influenza |
Lockjaw |
Tetanus or infectious disease affecting the muscles of the neck
and jaw. Untreated, it is fatal in 8 days |
Long sickness |
Tuberculosis |
Lues disease |
Syphilis |
Lues venera |
Venereal disease |
Lumbago |
Back pain |
Lung fever |
Pneumonia |
Lung sickness |
Tuberculosis |
Lying in |
Time of delivery of infant |
Malignant sore throat |
Diphtheria |
Mania |
Insanity |
Marasmus |
Progressive wasting away of body, like malnutrition |
Membranous Croup |
Diphtheria |
Meningitis |
Inflations of brain or spinal cord |
Metritis |
Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge |
Miasma |
Poisonous vapors thought to infect the air |
Milk fever |
Disease from drinking contaminated milk, like undulant fever
or brucellosis |
Milk leg |
Post partum thrombophlebitis |
Milk sickness |
Disease from milk of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds |
Mormal |
Gangrene |
Morphew |
Scurvy blisters on the body |
Mortification |
Gangrene of necrotic tissue |
Myelitis |
Inflammation of the spine |
Myocarditis |
Inflammation of heart muscles |
Necrosis |
Mortification of bones or tissue |
Nephrosis |
Kidney degeneration |
Nepritis |
Inflammation of kidneys |
Nervous prostration |
Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental
activities |
Neuralgia |
Described as discomfort, such as "Headache" was neuralgia
in head |
Nostalgia |
Homesickness |
Palsy |
Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles. |
Paroxysm |
Convulsion |
Pemphigus |
Skin disease with watery blisters |
Pericarditis |
Inflammation of heart |
Peripneumonia |
Inflammation of lungs |
Peritonotis |
Inflammation of abdominal area |
Petechial Fever |
Fever with skin spotting |
Puerperal exhaustion |
Death from child birth |
Phthiriasis |
Lice infestation |
Phthisis |
Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis |
Plague |
An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality
rate |
Pleurisy |
Any pain in the chest area with each breath |
Podagra |
Gout |
Poliomyelitis |
PolioPotter's asthma |
Pott's disease |
Tuberculosis of spine |
Puerperal exhaustion |
Death from childbirth |
Puerperal fever |
Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant |
Puking fever |
Milk sickness |
Putrid fever |
Diphtheria. |
Quinsy |
Tonsillitis. |
Remitting fever |
Malaria |
Rheumatism |
Any disorder associated with pain in joints |
Rickets |
Disease of skeletal system |
Rose cold |
Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy |
Rotanny fever |
Children's disease |
Rubeola |
German measles |
Sanguineous crust |
Scab |
Scarlatina |
Scarlet fever |
Scarlet fever |
A disease with a red rash |
Scarlet rash |
Roseola |
Sciatica |
Rheumatism in the hips |
Scirrhus |
Cancerous tumors |
Scotomy |
Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight |
Scrivener's palsy |
Writer's cramp |
Screws |
Rheumatism |
Scrofula |
Tuberculosis of neck lymph glands. Progresses slowly with abscesses
and pistulas developing. Usually occurs in the young. |
Scrumpox |
Skin disease, impetigo |
Scurvy |
Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms of weakness, spongy gums, hemmoraging
under skin. |
Septicemia |
Blood poisoning Shakes |
Shaking |
Chills, ague |
Shingles |
Viral disease with skin blisters |
Ship fever |
Typhus |
Siriasis |
Inflammation of the brain from exposure to the sun |
Sloes |
Milk sickness |
Small pox |
Contagious disease with fever and blisters |
Softening of brain |
Result of stroke or hemorrhage in the brain, with an end result
of the tissue softening in that area |
Sore throat distemper |
Diphtheria or quinsy |
Spanish influenza |
Epidemic influenza |
Spasms |
Sudden involuntary contraction of muscle or group of muscles,
like a convulsion |
Spina bifida |
Deformity of spine |
Spotted fever |
Either typhus or meningitis |
Sprue |
Tropical disease with intestinal disorders and sore throat |
St. Anthony's fire |
Also erysipelas, but named so because of affected skin areas
are bright red in appearance |
St. Vitas dance |
Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed
involuntary |
Stomatitis |
Inflammation of the mouth |
Stranger's fever |
Yellow fever |
Strangery |
Rupture |
Sudor anglicus |
Sweating sickness |
Summer complaint |
Diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk |
Sunstroke |
Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to environment
heat. Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause |
Swamp sickness |
Could be malaria, typhoid or encephalitis |
Sweating sickness |
Infectious and fatal disease common to UK in 15th century |
Tetanus |
Infectious fever with high fever, headache and dizziness |
Thrombosis |
Blood clot inside blood vessel Thrush |
Tick fever |
Rocky mountain spotted fever |
Toxemia of pregnancy |
Eclampsia |
Trench mouth |
Painful ulcers found along gum line, Caused by poor nutrition
and poor hygiene |
Tuberculosis |
This is the modern name. See 'Long sickness', 'Lung sickness', and 'King's
evil' above. |
Tussis convulsiva |
Whooping cough |
Typhus |
Infectious fever with high fever, headache, and dizziness |
Variola |
Smallpox |
Venesection |
Bleeding |
Viper's dance |
St. Vitus Dance |
Water on brain |
Enlarged head |
White swelling |
Tuberculosis of the bone |
Winter fever |
Pneumonia |
Womb fever |
Infection of the uterus. |
Worm fit |
Convulsions associated with teething, worms, high temperature
or diarrhea |
Yellowjacket |
Yellow fever. |