Report on the progress of pathology, practical medicine, and therapeutics; for the years 1842-3-4 / By James Risdon Bennettt.

  • Bennett, James Risdon, 1809-1891.
Date:
[1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the progress of pathology, practical medicine, and therapeutics; for the years 1842-3-4 / By James Risdon Bennettt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/66 (page 24)
    benefit. The pulse became dichrotonous; cupping alone gave any, and that but temporary, relief. Delirium, dilated pupils, with a dry and black tongue pre¬ ceded death, thirty-one days from the commencement of the illness. In the right middle lateral fossa at the base of the cranium was found a small quantity of yellow viscid pus, without odour ; this was within the arachnoid, and covered the inferior portion of the anterior cerebral lobe, the corresponding cortical part of which was slightly softened ; with this exception the brain was healthy. The right cavernous sinus was filled with thick glairy pus, and its parietes roughened and unequal; the ophthalmic vein was dilated and filled with pus, and here and there the surrounding cellular tissue was the seat of purulent deposits. The coronary, petrous, and lateral sinuses, as well as the internal and external jugular veins, and the trunk of the brachio-cephalic, and the mastoid and sub- occipital veins were filled with pus. The lungs were the seat of purulent depo¬ sits. [Intra-cranial phlebitis appears to have been the origin of the disease, and the pus in the arachnoid had probably escaped from an inappreciable opening.] Insanity, Contracted jaramen lacerum posterius in. Dr. Kasloff,* of Kiew, having for some years directed his attention to the state of the great vessels of the head in cases of insanity, has been induced to conclude that, in all its forms, insanity is most intimately connected with derangement of the circulation within the cra¬ nium. In particular he has remarked that the foramen lacerum posterius on one, and sometimes on both sides, is much contracted, so as necessarily to have involved great diminution of the jugular vein, and obstruction to the return of blood. Thecanalis caroticusdid not seem to have undergone any corresponding contraction. But along with the conti action of the foramen lacerum posterius was generally seen enlargement of the foramina transmitting veins from the skull. In every skull of maniac or suicide in the museum at Kiew, Dr. Kasloff found this contracted state of the foramen lacerum posterius. [Dr. Kasloff’s observations tend to show that a persistent obstacle to the return of blood from the head exists in insanity—an important fact, if true.] Parasites. The zeal with which microscopical investigations have latterly been pursued has led to the detection of numerous parasites, both animal and vegetable, in various parts of the body. It will, however, be impossible to do more than point out the references to some of the discoveries and observations that have been made in this department of pathology. An interesting paper, giving an account of the various entozoa that have been detected in different parts of the eye, is furnished by Messieurs Nordman and P. Rayer.f Filarire oculi humani have been seen in the liquor morgagni, and in the capsule of the crystalline lens ; monostomata in the crystalline lens, affected with cataract; dis¬ toma in the capsule of the crystalline lens of a child born with lenticular cataract ecchinoeoccus between the crystalline lens and choroid; other entozoa chiefly cys- ticercij in the subconjunctival tissue; confervoid growths in the posterioreham ■ her, removed by paracentesis oculi ;§ filaria papillosa in the anterior chamber of the eye of a horse. || Dr. Livois’ researches on ecchinococci** led him to examine 800 acephalocysts, and in no one instance did he fail to detect within them ecchino¬ cocci. He, therefore, concludes that the true hydatid is nothing more than the containing cyst of these parasites ; which, instead of being rare, are among the most common. They occupy different situations in the cyst, according to their degree of development, appearing as granulations or gemmules, adherent to the interior of the cyst as long as their head is not protruded ; but when fully de¬ veloped floating loose in the fluid of the sac. They are generally found in both situations, but sometimes only loose, escaping when the sac is opened. The containing cyst increases as the ecchinococci multiply by reproduction. Prof. Klencke’s experimentstf lead him to believe that hydatids may be, and probably * Zeitsch. ftir die Gesammt. Med. Jan. 1844. + Ann. de la Chir. Franc, et Etr. vol. vii, p. 191. X Annales d’Oculistique, March 1842. § Casper’s Wochenseh. Sept. 10, 1842. || Oesterreich. Med. Wochens. Jan. 14, 1843. ** Recherches sur les Eccliinocoques. Paris, 1843. ft Gazette M6d. Dec. 1843.