Updated Wed, 19-Sep-2012
| Ablepsy | Blindness |
| Ague |
Malarial Fever |
| American plague |
Yellow fever |
| Anasarca |
Generalized massive edema |
| Aphonia |
Loss of the voice resulting from disease, injury to the vocal cords, or various psychological causes, such as hysteria |
| Aphtha |
A minute painful ulcer on a mucous membrane of the mouth, often covered by a gray or white exudate |
| Apoplexy |
Sudden impairment of neurological function, especially that resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage; a stroke |
| Asphyxia/Asphicsia |
A condition in which an extreme decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the body accompanied by an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide leads to loss of consciousness or death. Asphyxia can be induced by choking, drowning, electric shock, injury, or the inhalation of toxic gases |
| Atrophy | A wasting or decrease in size of a body organ, tissue, or part owing to disease, injury, or lack of use |
| Bad Blood |
Syphilis |
| Berylliosis | A lung disease cused 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 |
Relating to, characterised by, or experiencing gastric distress caused by a disorder of the liver or gallbladder |
| Black Plague |
Bubonic plague |
| Black fever |
Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Any of several diseases of the kidney marked by the presence of albumin in the urine - often shows in broadened fingernails. |
| 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 |
| 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. It is known to occur in a variety of physical and psychological disorders, such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, and can be induced by hypnosis |
| Catarrh |
Inflammation of mucous membranes, especially of the nose and throat |
| 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 |
| Cholera |
An acute infectious disease of the small intestine, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and characterised by profuse watery diarrhoea, vomiting, muscle cramps, severe dehydration, and depletion of electrolytes. Also called Asiatic cholera |
| Cholera morbus |
Acute gastroenteritis occurring in summer and autumn and marked by severe cramps, diarrhoea, and vomiting |
| Cholecystitus |
Inflammation of the gall bladder |
| Cholelithiasis |
Gall stones |
| Chorea Disease |
Convulsions, contortions and dancing |
| Cobbler's Illness | Pthisis, or TB. Caused by the Mycobacterium bovis bacteria, an infection caught from cattle or tanning or working with leather |
| Cold plague | Ague; characterised by chills |
| Colic |
Abdominal cramping |
| Congestive chills / Congestive fever |
Malaria |
| Consumption |
Tuberculosis |
| Congestion |
Any collection of fluid in an organ, such as the lungs |
| Corruption |
Infection |
| Coryza |
A cold |
| Costiveness |
Constipation |
| Cramp colic |
Appendicitis |
| Crop sickness |
Overextended stomach |
| Croup | A pathological condition of the larynx, especially in infants and children, that is characterised by respiratory difficulty and a hoarse, brassy cough |
| 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 |
The state of being weak or feeble; infirmity. |
| Decrepitude |
The quality or 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. It also may occur during an episode of heavy alcohol consumption |
| 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 |
| Diptheria |
An upper respiratory tract illness characterised by sore throat, low-grade fever, and an adherent membrane of the tonsils(s), pharynx, and/or nose |
| 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, usually caused by a bacterial, parasitic, or protozoan infection and resulting in pain, fever, and severe diarrhoea, often accompanied by the passage of blood and mucus |
| 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, characterised by oedema, hypertension, and proteinuria. |
| Ecstasy | A form of 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. |
| 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 |
| Encephalitis |
Swelling of the brain; also called Sleeping Sickness |
| Enteric fever |
Typhoid fever |
| Enterocolitis |
Inflammation of both the small intestine and the colon |
| Enteritis |
Inflammation of the intestinal tract, especially of the small intestine |
| 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 acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by a species of hemolytic streptococcus and marked by localised inflammation and fever. 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 |
| Gathering |
A collection of pus |
| Glandular fever |
Mononucleosis - a common, acute, infectious disease, usually affecting young people, caused by Epstein-Barr virus and characterised by fever, swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, and lymphocyte abnormalities |
| Green fever/sickness |
Anaemia - a pathological deficiency in the oxygen-carrying component of the blood, measured in unit volume concentrations of hemoglobin, red blood cell volume, or red blood cell number |
| 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 |
| Heart sickness |
Condition caused by lack of salt |
| Heat stroke | A severe condition caused by impairment of the body's temperature-regulating abilities, resulting from prolonged exposure to excessive heat and characterised by cessation of sweating, severe headache, high fever, hot dry skin, and in serious cases collapse and coma and death |
| Hectical complaint |
Recurrent fever |
| Hemiplegy |
Paralysis of one side of body |
| Hip gout |
Osteomyelitis - a usually bacterial infection of bone and bone marrow in which the resulting inflammation can lead to a reduction of blood supply to the bone |
| Horrors |
Delirium tremens |
| Hydrocephalus |
A usually congenital condition in which an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles causes enlargement of the skull and compression of the brain, destroying much of the neural tissue - "water on the brain" |
| 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 as a result of an increase in the size rather than the number of constituent cells |
| Impetigo |
A contagious bacterial skin infection, usually of children, that is characterised by the eruption of superficial pustules and the formation of thick yellow crusts, commonly on the face |
| Inanition |
Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment or vitality |
| Infantile paralysis |
Poliomyelitis |
| Intestinal colic |
Pain due to distention of the intestines by gas |
| Jail / Prison / Ship Fever |
Typhus |
| Jaundice |
Yellowish discoloration of the whites of the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes caused by deposition of bile salts in these tissues. It occurs as a symptom of various diseases, such as hepatitis, that affect the processing of bile. Also called icterus |
| King’s evil | Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands |
| Kruchhusten |
Whooping cough |
| Lagrippe |
Influenza |
| 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 |
| Lung fever |
Pneumonia |
| Lung sickness |
Tuberculosis |
| Lying in | Duration of childbirth |
| Malignant sore throat |
Diphtheria |
| Mania |
Insanity |
| Marasmus |
A progressive wasting of the body, occurring chiefly in young children and associated with insufficient intake or malabsorption of food |
| Membranous Croup |
Diphtheria |
| Meningitis |
Inflammation of the meninges of the brain and the spinal cord, most often caused by a bacterial or viral infection and characterised by fever, vomiting, intense headache, and stiff neck |
| Metritis |
Inflammation of the lining of the uterus (of the endometrium) |
| 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, now rare disease characterised by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain that affects individuals who eat dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot |
| Morbus Cordis | Bronchitis |
| Mormal |
Gangrene |
| Morphew |
Scurvy blisters |
| Mortification |
Gangrene of necrotic tissue |
| Mule Spinner's Scrotum | A form of squamous cell carcinoma affecting mule spinners in the cotton-spinning industry, due to continued soaking of the clothes and abdomen by arsenic, tar, and carcinogenic oils. In Lancashire, the lubricating oils were derived from Scottish oil shales, which processed shale oils have since been recognised as carcinogenic |
| Myelitis |
Inflammation of the spinal column |
| Myocarditis |
Inflammation of the myocardium (heart muscle) |
| Necrosis |
Death of cells or tissues through injury or disease, especially in a localized area of the body |
| Nephrosis |
A disease of the kidneys marked by degenerative lesions, especially of the winding uriniferous tubules |
| Nepritis |
Any of various acute or chronic inflammations of the kidneys, such as Bright's disease |
| Nervous prostration |
an emotional disorder that leaves you exhausted and unable to work |
| Neuralgia |
Sharp, severe paroxysmal pain extending along a nerve or group of nerves |
| Nostalgia | Homesickness |
| Oedema | An excessive accumulation of serous fluid in tissue spaces or a body cavity |
| Palsy |
Complete or partial muscle paralysis, often accompanied by loss of sensation and uncontrollable body movements or tremors |
| 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 ( The membranous sac filled with serous fluid that encloses the heart and the roots of the aorta and other large blood vessels ) |
| Peripneumonia |
An acute or chronic disease marked by inflammation of the lungs and caused by viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms and sometimes by physical and chemical irritants |
| Peritonitis |
Inflammation of the peritoneum |
| Petechial Fever |
A malignant fever, accompanied by livid spots on the skin |
| Phthiriasis |
Infestation with lice, especially crab lice |
| Phthisis |
Tuberculosis - a disease characterised by the wasting away or atrophy of the body or a part of the body |
| Plague | A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution e |
| Pleurisy |
Inflammation of the pleura, usually occurring as a complication of a disease such as pneumonia, accompanied by accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavity, chills, fever, and extremely painful breathing and coughing |
| Podagra |
Gout |
| PolioPotter’s asthma |
Fibroid phthisis - the term was formerly applied to many wasting diseases, but is now usually restricted to pulmonary phthisis, or consumption |
| 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, marked by fever and septicaemia and usually caused by unsterile technique. Also called childbed fever |
| Puking fever . |
Milk sickness |
| Putrid fever |
Diphtheria. |
| Quinsy | Acute inflammation of the tonsils and the surrounding tissue, often leading to the formation of an abscess |
| Remitting fever |
Malaria |
| Rheumatism |
Any disorder associated with pain in joints |
| Rickets |
A deficiency disease resulting from a lack of vitamin D or calcium and from insufficient exposure to sunlight, characterised by defective bone growth and occurring chiefly in children. 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 caused by a hemolytic streptococcus, occurring predominantly among children and characterised by a scarlet skin eruption and high fever |
| Scarlet rash |
Roseola - a rose-colored skin rash, sometimes occurring with diseases such as measles, syphilis, or scarlet fever |
| 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 |
| Scotomy | Obscuration of the field of vision due to the appearance of a dark spot before the eye |
| Scrivener’s palsy |
Writer’s cramp |
| Screws |
Rheumatism |
| Scrofula / Struma |
A form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, especially of the neck, that is most common in children and is usually spread by unpasteurized milk from infected cows. Also called Struma |
| 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 |
| Septicaemia |
Blood poisoning - invasion of the bloodstream by virulent microorganisms from a focus of infection that is accompanied by chills, fever, and prostration and often by the formation of secondary abscesses in various organs |
| Shakes |
Delirium tremens |
| Shaking |
Chills, ague |
| Shingles | An acute viral infection characterised by inflammation of the sensory ganglia of certain spinal or cranial nerves and the eruption of vesicles along the affected nerve path. It usually strikes only one side of the body and is often accompanied by severe neuralgia. Also called Herpes Zoster . |
| Ship / Jail / Prison fever |
Typhus |
| Shoemaker's Illness | Pthisis, or TB. Caused by the Mycobacterium bovis bacteria, an infection caught from cattle or tanning or working with leather |
| Schistorrhachis | A congenital defect in which the spinal column is imperfectly closed so that part of the meninges or spinal cord protrudes, often resulting in hydrocephalus and other neurological disorders. Also called Spina Bifida |
| 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 caused by a poxvirus and characterised by high fever and aches with subsequent widespread eruption of pimples that blister, produce pus, and form pockmarks. Also called variola |
| Softening of the brain |
A localised softening of the brain substance, due to hemorrhage or inflammation. Three varieties, distinguished by their colour and representing different stages of the morbid process, are known respectively as red, yellow, and white, softening |
| 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, often resulting in hydrocephalus and other neurological disorders. Also called schistorrhachis |
| Spotted fever |
Any of various often fatal infectious diseases, such as typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, characterised by skin eruptions and caused by rickettsia that are transmitted by ticks and mites |
| Sprue |
A chronic, chiefly tropical disease characterised by diarrhoea, emaciation, and anaemia, caused by defective absorption of nutrients from the intestinal tract |
| St. Anthony’s fire |
Erysipelas, Contagious acute disease of the skin and subcutaneous tissue caused by a species of hemolytic streptococcus and marked by localised inflammation and fever. -- an eruptive fever which St. Anthony was supposed to cure miraculously |
| St. Vitas dance |
Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary. Chorea occurring chiefly in children and associated with rheumatic fever |
| 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 and characterised by a rise in temperature, convulsions, and coma. Also called insolation , siriasis |
| Swamp sickness |
Malaria, typhoid or encephalitis |
| Sweating sickness |
Infectious and fatal disease common in the UK in the 15th century |
| Tetanus | An acute, often fatal disease characterised by spasmodic contraction of voluntary muscles, especially those of the neck and jaw, and caused by the toxin of the bacillus Clostridium tetani, which typically infects the body through a deep wound. Also called lockjaw |
| Thrombosis |
The formation or presence of a blood clot within a blood vessel during life |
| Thrush |
A contagious disease caused by a fungus, Candida albicans, that occurs most often in infants and children, characterised by small whitish eruptions on the mouth, throat, and tongue, and usually accompanied by fever, colic, and diarrhoea |
| 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 at a local source of infection or derived from the growth of microorganisms. 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. It is caused by the bacterium Fusobacterium fusiforme in combination with the spirochete Treponema vincentii. Also called Vincent's angina , Vincent's infection . |
| Tussis convulsiva |
Whooping cough |
| Typhus |
Any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterised generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever , ship fever , typhus fever |
| Variola |
Smallpox |
| 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. The disorder is characterised by diabetes mellitus, liver dysfunction, and a bronze pigmentation of the skin. |
| 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 |
