On some rare and new diseases : suggestions for the study of part of the natural history of disease : the Bradshawe lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1882 / by Sir James Paget.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some rare and new diseases : suggestions for the study of part of the natural history of disease : the Bradshawe lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1882 / by Sir James Paget. 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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    other similar ailment-s. But here are specimens 1 of the effects of phlebitis of the femoral and external iliac veins, which, with the history, may tell that gouty inflammation of the veins was, fifty years ago, if not a new disease, yet a much rarer one than it is now. Sir Henry Halford saw as much of gout, I suppose, as any man that ever lived; for he was for many years, during a very luxurious period, in the largest practice among the richest people in this town. He gave an account in 1832 of what he called phlegmasia dolens in the male.2 The disease so called was common and well known in women after parturition; so that, to justify his essay as a record of cases hitherto unobserved, it was enough for him to speak of phlegmasia dolens as occurring in men. He speaks of it as having been not long before regarded as £ immediately occasioned by a deposit of milk ;’ but that 4 being tested by a more exact pathology,’ it was now attributed to £ an inflammation of the veins of the pelvis.’ And he says, £ he was much mistaken if he had not seen three instances of it ’ in men £ within the last few years.’ He then relates the case of the nobleman from whom, several years afterwards, this specimen was taken by Sir Astley Cooper—an admirable example of phlebitis, which we may be nearly sure was gouty, showing the changes in the blood-clots and in the walls of the veins during many years. At the present time, phlebitis of this kind in a male can scarcely be called a very rare disease. There are few, I imagine, in large practice who have not seen many more than three cases within the last few years. So we may believe, I think, that the disease has become more ' 1732-3. Catal., 1848. 3 Published, in abstract, in the Medical Gazette, voL x. p. 172, May 5 1832.