On spontaneous gangrene from arteritis and the causes of coagulation of the blood in diseases of the blood-vessels / by Joseph Lister.

Date:
[1858?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On spontaneous gangrene from arteritis and the causes of coagulation of the blood in diseases of the blood-vessels / by Joseph Lister. 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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    of lymph had been the result of this post mortem inflammation, then, I believe, for the first time observed in one of the mammalia.^ I cannot avoid expressing the satisfaction that it jias given me to find what I had inferred from other circum,stances, in my investiga- tions on inflammation, now established as a matter of observation. I had found that the blood-corpuscles, both red and white, were per- fectly free from adhesiveness within the vessels of a healthy part, but that in an inflamed region they stuck together just as they are seen to do between two plates of glass. Having thus observed that the corpuscles of the blood comport themselves in an inflamed part in the same manner as in blood drawn from the body, I inferred that the liquor sanguinis was, in all probability, similarly affected, although coagulation is not observed in the capillaries, in consequence of the movement of the blood ; and I gave the same explanation of the speedy coagulation of lymph, and of the formation of clots in inflamed vessels, as has been substantiated by independent facts this evening. In the paper before alluded to, the following passage occurs :— The non-adhesiveness of the red and white corpuscles, and the fluidity of the blood, seem to be due to one and the same mysterious and wonder- ful agency,—the tissues of a healthy body appearing to extend over the blood near them, a part of the same influence by which they are themselves protected from the action of chemical affinities tending to their decomposition. We now see that when an agent capable of producing inflammation acts upon a part in which the blood is at rest, coagulation of the blood does really occur in the vessels. There is an error of observation into which Dr Richardson has unaccountably fallen, which it appears important to correct. In speaking of the coagulation of a portion of blood enclosed between two ligatures in the jugular vein of a dog or cat, he mentions the formation of a large bubble of air within the vessel, a little prior to the occurrence of coagulation. I have frequently seen the pellucid appearance he describes, but find that it is in no way connected with coagulation, but is due to the subsidence of the red corpuscles, leaving a layer of clear liquor sanguinis at the top. If two ligatures be applied, about an inch apart, upon a subcutaneous vein of one of the legs of a cat, care having been taken not to disturb the connec- tions of the vessel, or inflict injury upon it, and the leg be suspended by the paw in the vertical position, the clear appearance will begin to show itself below the upper ligature within five minutes. If now the limb be left for several hours, the skin having been carefully replaced so as to prevent evaporation, the clear colourless upper layer will be found to occupy nearly two-thirds of the length of the portion of vein, and to be sharply defined from the black lower layer which contains all the red corpuscles. If now the upper part be 1 Tension upon the blood in the vessels, resulting from the bandage, supplied. I imagine, the place of the force of the heart in squeezing out tlie liq3san SaTninJn.^ ' °^ ^'^'''''^ usual ^ower of