A treatise on the formation, constituents, and extraction of the urinary calculus. Being the essay for which the Jacksonian prize for the year 1833 was awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons in London / by John Green Crosse.

  • Cross, John, 1790-1850.
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the formation, constituents, and extraction of the urinary calculus. Being the essay for which the Jacksonian prize for the year 1833 was awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons in London / by John Green Crosse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    spirituous liquids or acids, which quickly determine the appearance of crystallized particles of lithic acid in the urine; and alkalies act in the same way, creating alkaline deposits. The rarity of calculous disorders in hot climates,1 and their entire absence in very cold ones, shew the great influence of the atmosphere in their production. The temperate zone, in which alone diseases of this class- can be said to prevail, probably exerts an influence in more ways than wre can explain: the sudden varia- tions of the thermometer is one of the most obvious of circumstances calculated to affect the human frame; a rapid and great fall of temperature checks the prin- cipal function of the skin by diminishing the quantity of perspired fluid, and the kidneys, as vicarious organs, are required to perform more duty. It is observed that where a sudden call arises for greater activity of function in any organ, and particularly if such call be frequently renewed, a greater liability to disease of that organ is induced.2 That the kidneys act in strict sympathy with the skin, is one of the best established facts in physiology; and the influence of climate must therefore be great upon the quality and quantity of the urinary excretion. In the county of Norfolk, where undoubtedly calculous disorders are very preva- lent, perhaps even more so than in any other district of the united kingdom, nei- ther the food, soil, nor beverage, so far as I have been able to ascertain, have any particular share in determining such a result. Minute observations upon the climate might better explain the matter; the great prevalence of a north-east wind, and the frequent, sudden, and very considerable changes of temperature, acting 1 In a recent publication, so many cases of urinary calculi, originating in a hot climate, are related, as to make us doubt about the great rarity of the disease in such locality. Mr. Burnard gives thir- teen cases occurring in natives of Bengal, twelve of them operated on in one year; he also quotes two congenital cases, one in an infant of four months, the other at six months. Mr. Brett gives seven cases of lithotomy performed on natives of India, chiefly boys. Other cases are related by Messrs. Lindesay, Spry, Turning; the last stating, that the analysis of thirty-one calculi shewed lithic acid and lithate of ammonia the most frequent, then oxalate of lime. Trans, of the Med. Society of Calcutta, vol. v, pp. 249, 259, 260, 263, 264, 273. 2 “ It is a law of nature, that the more an organ is called into action, the more it is liable to disease, which is but a derangement of its action.”—Richerand.