Ringer Sydney. A Handbook of Therapeutics

Tweltht Edition. — New York: William Wood and Company, 1889. — 523 p."We examine the tongue to ascertain whether it is clean or furred; dry or moist; its color, etc. What is the meaning of a furred tongue ? A tongue may he furred from febrile disease; from local causes; or from sympathy with the stomach, intestincB, or liver. The condition of the tongue in fever is, perhaps, more a help in prognosis than in treatment. In most fevers the tongue at first is covered with a moist fur; but in some cases the tongue, strange to say, remains quite clean. Sometimes this is the case in typhoid fever. Now the coated tongue in fever does not give us much suggestion with regard to treatment, for whether the tongue is clean or foul, if there is constipation the bowels must be relieved; and if the tongue is very foul, that is, thickly coated, a mercurial purge is best, though whilst the fever continues some fur usually remains. Local causes often foul the tongue. Enlarged tonsils often coat the back of the tongue. Decayed teeth often fur a portion of the tongue. If one tonsil only is enlarged, or if the decayed teeth are situated on one side, then only one longitudinal portion of the tongue is furred. In neuralgia of the fifth, when the lower branches are affected, the tongue on the neuralgic side is apt to become furred. Excessive smoking almost always furs the tongue.