Often in genealogy a researcher encounters an archaic medical term used for the cause of death, or perhaps in a journal or family correspondence, this list is intended to aid with interpreting those terms.
Malignant Fever - see typhus.
Malignant sore throat - see Diphtheria.
Mania - Insanity.
Marasmus - Malnutrition occurring in infants and young children, caused by an insufficient intake of calories or protein and characterized by thinness, dry skin, poor muscle development, and irritability. In the mid-nineteenth century, specific causes were associated with specific ages: In infants under twelve months old, the causes were believed to be unsuitable food, chronic vomiting, chronic diarrhea, and inherited syphilis. Between one and three years, marasmus was associated with rickets or cancer. After the age of three years, caseous (cheeselike) enlargement of the mesenteric glands (located in the peritoneal fold attaching the small intestine to the body wall) became a given cause of wasting. (See tabes mesenterica.) After the sixth year, chronic pulmonary tuberculosis appeared to be the major cause. Marasmus is now considered to be related to kwashiorkor, a severe protein deficiency.
Membranous Croup - Diphtheria.
Meningitis - Inflammation of the meninges (the three membranes covering the brain and spinal cord), especially of the pia mater and arachnoid, caused by a bacterial or viral infection and characterized high fever, severe headache, and stiff neck or back muscles. Synonym: brain fever.
Metritis - Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge.
Miasma - Poisonous vapors thought to infect the air.
Milk fever - Disease from drinking contaminated milk; fever which effects lactating women (mastitis?).
Milk leg - Post partum thrombophlebitis.
Milk sickness - Disease from milk of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds.
Morbus - Latin word for disease. In the last century, when applied to a particular disease, morbus was associated with some qualifying adjective or noun, indicating the nature or seat of such disease. Examples: morbus cordis, heart disease; morbus caducus, epilepsy or failing sickness.
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 - Sharp and paroxysmal pain along the course of a sensory nerve. There are many causes: anemia, diabetes, gout, malaria, syphilis. Many varieties of neuralgia are distinguished according to the part affected, such as face, arm, leg.
Nostalgia - Homesickness.
Palsy - Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles; loss of muscle control.
Paristhmitis - see quinsy.
Paroxysm - Convulsion.
Pemphigus - Skin disease of watery blisters.
Pericarditis - Inflammation of heart.
Peripneumonia - Inflammation of lungs.
Peritonotis - Inflammation of abdominal area.
Petechial Fever - Fever characterized by spotting of the skin. see typhus.
Phthiriasis - Lice infestation.
Phthisis - Chronic wasting away due to ,or a name for, tuberculosis or consumption. see consumption.
Plague - An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate.
Pleurisy - Inflammation of the pleura, the membranous sac lining the chest cavity, with or without fluid collected in the pleural cavity. Symptoms are chills, fever, dry cough, and pain in the affected side (a stitch).
Pneumonia - Inflammation of the lungs with congestion or consolidation, caused by viruses, bacteria, or physical and chemical agents.
Podagra - Gout.
Poliomyelitis - Polio.
Potter's asthma - Fibroid pthisis.
Pott's disease - Tuberculosis of spine.
Puerperal exhaustion - Death due to child birth.
Puerperal fever - Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant; septic poisoning associated with child birth.
Puking fever - Milk sickness.
Pus - A yellow-white, more or less viscid substance found in abscesses and sores, consisting of a liquid plasma in which white blood cells are formed and suspended by the process of inflammation.
Putrid fever - Diphtheria; typhus. see typhus.
Putrid sore throat - Ulceration of an acute form, attacking the tonsils and rapidly running into sloughing of the fauces (the cavity at the back of the mouth, leading to the pharynx).
Pyrexia - see dysentry.
Quinsy - (streptococcal) Tonsillitis; A fever, or a febrile condition. An acute inflammation of the tonsils, often leading to an abscess; peritonsillar abscess. Synonyms: suppurative tonsillitis, cynanche tonsillaris, paristhmitis, sore throat.
Remitting fever - Malaria.
Rheumatism - Any disorder associated with pain in joints.
Rickets - Disease of skeletal system caused by vitamin D deficiency.
Rose cold - Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy.
Rotanny fever - (Child's disease) ???
Rubeola - German measles.
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