Vascular bronchocele and exophthalmos / [J. Warburton Begbie].

  • Begbie, James Warburton, 1826-1876.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vascular bronchocele and exophthalmos / [J. Warburton Begbie]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    not been met with and described; while, in our country, in France, Germany, and other parts of the Continent, it has formed the subject of many interesting, and some extended, observations. In America, likewise, it has not been overlooked. I am satisfied that in this city the disease is of frequent occur- rence, and, in hospital practice, have often encountered it. No session has passed since my appointment as physician to the infirmary during which the opportunity has not been afforded me of directing the attention of a clinical class to the remark- able phenomena the disease presents; while, as a general rule, my experience has been that of the last session, several cases having come under our notice. Up to the time when Dr. Begbie wrote, the instances of this disorder which had been recorded were merely isolated examples—or were, at all events, related as illustrations of what was properly regarded as a remarkable combination of symptoms, without any attempt being made to explain their occurrence or production. Thus, Parry, to whom undoubtedly credit belongs for having early and independently noticed the association of two of the symptoms, observes:— There is one malady which I have, in five cases, seen coinci- dent with what appeared to be enlargement of the heart, and which, so far as I know, has not been noticed in that connection by medical writers. The malady to which I allude is enlarge- ment of the thyroid gland.” It is perhaps scarcely correct to affirm that Dr. Parry attempted no explanation of the coincidence he had been shrewd enough to observe; but, as regards the causation of the enlarged thyroid, all he remarked was as follows : —“ One can scarcely avoid suspecting that the thyroid gland, of which no use whatever has hitherto been hinted at by physio- logists, is intended, in part, to serve as a diverticulum in order to avert from the brain a part of the blood, which, urged with too great force by various causes, might disorder or destroy the functions of that important organ. And so also, in a way equally accidental. Dr. Graves wrote—“ I have lately seen three cases of violent and long-continued palpitation in females, in each of which the same peculiarity presented itself—namely, enlargement of the thyroid gland; the size of the gland, at all times considerably greater than natural, was subject to remarkable variations in every one of these patients.”^ Equally ’ ‘ Clinical Lectures on the Practice of Medicine,’ vol. i, p. 193-