Observations on distortions of the spine : with a few remarks on deformities of the legs / by Lionel J. Beale.

  • Beale, Lionel J.
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on distortions of the spine : with a few remarks on deformities of the legs / by Lionel J. Beale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    put an end to its sufferings. The original derange- ment in the functions of the digestive system becomes organic disease :—the intestinal tube and co-operat- ing organs, the liver, the pancreas, &c., become in- curably diseased—the mesenteric glands enlarge, the thoracic duct no longer conveys to the circu- lating system any portion of nutrient matter, and the child becomes a skeleton. But the cases to which I am now directing attention, do not always advance to this ultimate point, because some means are adopted to check the disease:—a certain degree only of debility is induced by insufficient nutrition, the growth of the bones is impeded—they are not supplied with a proper quantity of solid matter, and they give way to the weight which they were in- tended to support—the vertebra, most commonly those of the back, are compressed into a wedge-like form, the narrow part of which is sometimes lateral, and sometimes anterior—the ribs partake of the deformity, the form of the chest becomes narrowed, and the anterior part projects in the form of the breast of a bird. Such is the origin of one form of spinal curvature; and, as many other infantile diseases originate in the same manner, the above observations have neces- sarily taken a wider range. I would implore parents not to impute every derangement of a child's health to teething, many a serious disorder has been neg- lected in its incipient and only curative stage, by