Medical and physiological problems, being chiefly researches for correct principles of treatment in disputed points of medical practice / by William Griffin and by Daniel Griffin.

Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical and physiological problems, being chiefly researches for correct principles of treatment in disputed points of medical practice / by William Griffin and by Daniel Griffin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    as well as the large intestines, were free from ulceration. There were seven-and-twenty holes of various dimensions from some that admitted a quill, to others, more numerous, that a finger or thumb would pass through. They were quite open ; the yellow fluid described flowing from them, >vhen raised up ; and occasion- ally, when much handled, more consistent faeces, ^but of a similar colour. My brother, who assisted me in the examination, agreed with me in the conclusion, that there was no observable difference between the fluids found external to the intestines, and that which flowed afterwards from them, by the perforations. These last had by no means the appearance of having been recently formed ; they were for the most part too large and open to suppose so for a moment, and they were evidently not all of the same age; some having minute openings with thin, floculent edges, others larger ones and more ragged, and many of the largest with thickened margins, as if of old standing. Independent of these appearan- ces, the vast number of them was much against the snpposition of their having occurred suddenly, as it would be rather too much to believe, that twentv-seven ulcers perforated the intestinal canal in a day or a night, without occasioning the slightest symptom of such an event during life. On examining the intestine on the inner side, the ulcers were found to be of much greater extent than the perforations would lead one to imagine; the coats ap- peared to be gradually eaten through, in a less degree at the outer area of the ulcer, and greatest towards its centre, where they at length gave way; there were many ulcers besides, which had not yet perforated the gut, although in most instances they seemed to have destroyed all but the peritoneal covering. In one only of the perforations had nature made any effort to accomplish a cure ; it was a large one at the lower end of the ilium, and the transit of faecal matter was prevented by effusion of lymph and aggluti- nation of its edges to the adjoining fold of intestine ; the adhesion was very slight and readily broken through. The mesenteric glands were considerably enlarged, some had suppurated in the right iliac region, and were filled with scrofu- lous looking matter. Two large absesses filled with matter were also found near the root of the left lung; through the substance of which minute tubercles were scattered; the right lung was healthy; the brain was not examined.