Historical Medical Terms
Historical Medical Terms
This is a list of medical terms that might be found on
old death certificates, family records, even in obituaries
and newspapers.
I am in the process of adding to this list, so check back
if you don't find what you are looking for.
Ague: Malarial fever or intermittent fever. Chills, fever
and sweating.
Apoplexy: Stroke. Sudden loss of consciousness followed
by paralysis due to a hemorrhage in the brain.
Bilous fever: Typhus, sometimes intestinal or malarial fever.
Black tongue: Typhoid fever.
Blood poisoning: Septicemia.
Bloody flux: Dysentery.
Brain fever: Typhus or meningitis.
Camp fever: Typhus.
Canine fever: Rabies, hydrophobia.
Catarrh: Inflammation of a mucous membrane. Cough, thirst, fever.
Childbed fever: Puerperal fever.
Consumption: Tuberculosis. A wasting away of the body.
Convulsions: Epilepsy.
Dropsy: Edema, holding fluids in abnormally large amounts.
Dysentery: Severe diarrhea.
Enteric fever: Typhoid fever.
Flux: Dysentery.
French pox: Venereal disease, usually refers to syphilis.
Furuncle: Boil or abscess.
Gleet: See Catarrh.
Gravel: Kidney stones.
Hospital fever: Typhus.
Hydrophobia: Fear of water caused by the bite of a
rabid animal. Rabies.
Intemperance: Alcoholism.
Jail fever: Typhus.
Lockjaw: Tetanus.
Malignant fever: Typhus.
Milk sickness: Disease in cows transmitted to infants.
Chills, vomiting, trembling, gastrointestinal disorders.
Mortification: Gangrene.
Puerperal fever: Septicemia following childbirth.
Pleurisy: Inflammation of the membranes lining the
chest cavity. Chills, fever, dry cough, pain in the
affected side.
Putrid fever: Typhus.
Rickets: Vitamin D deficiency.
Scurvy: Vitamin C deficiency.
Spotted fever: Typhus.