On sanguineous tumours on the heads of new-born infants / by James M. Adams.

  • Adams, James Maxwell, 1818-1899.
Date:
[1844]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On sanguineous tumours on the heads of new-born infants / by James M. Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    gradually increase, and where the head, when it does present fiivourably, finds a ready passage—is not such a labour an easy one ? and in this accouchement does not the head suffer very considerable pressure, either in passing the os uteri {traversant Le col) or in ghding through the pelvis ? Do we not often see follow- ino- such accouchements sero-sanguineous oedema, the necessary cause of which is very strong and long-continued pressure ? Instead of easy labours, we should say speedy labours. It would go far, says Dr Black, to strengthen the opinion of M. Valleix, if future observation can show that they occur in cases where the first stage of labour is tedious and difficult, or where the membranes burst at an early period. Of - 41 cases observed by Dr Burchard, 29 were first and 8 second labours; at the same time, however, this predominance of cephalhasmatoma in first births is partly accounted for by the fact, that more than one-half of the accouchements at the Clinical Institution of Breslau were of primiparous females. In the few cases ob- served by myself, the first stage of labour was protracted; two of thorn were primiparous labours, of which the first stages occupied 10^ and 16 hours respectively. There are, no doubt, some circumstances which are difficult to explain by a reference to the views of M. Valleix. I make no account of the case of M. Fortin, for in it the head had evidently undergone the pressure of the os uteri; nor does the occurrence of cephalhasmatoma in breech cases offer a serious difficulty, for the application of forceps has been frequently required after the bii'th of the feet and trunk. But if Dr Burchard really diagnosed a case of cephalhgematoma before the rupture of the membranes, if he met with one case (a breech presentation too) in the second-born of twins, where it is difficult to beheve that much pressure could have been exercised, and if to these be added his case of the infant removed by csesarian section, in wliich this tumour existed, then it must be ad- mitted that his facts are stubborn things which would require very ingenious reasoning to contravene. An attentive review, however, of the various facts and arguments brought to bear upon this point, inclines me to regard M. Valleix's conclusions as the most correct, or at least the most plausible and rational yet propounded. With regard to the morbid anatomy of the affection, there prevails some contrariety of opinion and observation. M. Valleix says that the hairy scalp generally preserves its natural aspect, although some autliors, and among them Osiander, speak of its being of a deep red or livid colour. The aponevn-osis is always uninjured. The pericranium preserves its natural transparency, but is some- what thickened,—a fact first observed by M. Dieft'enbach* and * Rust's Handbiich der ChiniTgic, vol. i. p. 125. Berlin, 1030.