A scientific and popular view of the fever of Walcheren, and its consequences, as they appeared in the British troops returned from the late expedition ; with an account of the morbid anatomy of the body, and the efficacy of drastic purges and mercury in the treatment of this disease / By J.B. Davis, M.D.

  • Davis, J.B. (John Bunnell), 1780-1824.
Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A scientific and popular view of the fever of Walcheren, and its consequences, as they appeared in the British troops returned from the late expedition ; with an account of the morbid anatomy of the body, and the efficacy of drastic purges and mercury in the treatment of this disease / By J.B. Davis, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    under Lind's notice. Now and then the stomach had an hour-glass contraction, and sometimes it was drawn far to the right side. In the majority of cases, however, this organ of- fered no vestiges of disease, and even where all the abdomi- nal viscera have presented morbid appearances, the stomach was natural. It did not prove to be the organ against which the Walcheren intermittent directed its most violent action, for it has been found perfectly sound in some of the very obstinate and complicated cases. The next part to speak of is the intestinal canal. Here t must necessarily detail the appearances produced by dysen- tery. Before, however, the structure of the intestines had un- dergone any organic change from the long continuance of the fever, certain marks of vascular derangement sometimes were sufficiently conspicuous. Now and then the small in- testines had acquired an enormous volume, and equalled the colon in dimensions, and sometimes they were small and contracted. They were various in their colour, being one while red, then of a dark purple or alight grey colour. Where they did not retain marks of inflammation, they were flaccid, of a pale blue colour, and closely surrounded with ramifi- cations of the mesenteric vessels turgid with blood. I have known the small intestines to be of a black colour, and to emit a very offensive odour. Sometimes their coats were much thicker than usual, and at others so thin and decayed as to tear between the finger, upon applying a very slight force. When they were firmer than natural, they were ge- nerally red on their inner surface,and their blood vessels as much distended as if wax had been injected into them. The val- vulae conniventes were particularly red ; bile was often found in large quantities in the ileum andjegunum; sometimes a fluid as black nearly as ink, and occasionally extravasated blood. I have elsewhere said that the convolutions of these bowels were often united together by coagulable lymph. The great arch of the colon was often much distended with air, and as large as the stomach, while there were partial stric- tures in its descending part and sigmoid flexure. I have found strictures in its transverse arch before any dysenteric affection has come on, and seen the whole intestine so much contracted as not to exceed the ileum in dimensions. The transverse arch of the colon has been so much distended with gas as to efface the scrobiculus cordis by its pressure against it. The caput coli was often of the size of the stomach, and sometimes covered with red spots. . When the fever had entailed dysentery upon the con- • stitution, the morbid appearances of the intestinal canal were