Clinical lecture on phlebitis and thrombosis / by B. Wills Richardson.

  • Richardson, Benjamin Wills.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical lecture on phlebitis and thrombosis / by B. Wills Richardson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    season. His symptoms became so exasperated, that he was brought to hospital, I may say, in a dying state. On his admission, he was greatly prostrated; he was considerably emaciated, and his countenance wore an anxious, haggard expression ; but he was not jaundiced. The pulse was 120, and exceedingly weak. The skin was dry, hot, and pungent. He was constantly passing ex- tremely foetid, mucoid, bloody, occasionally bilious looking stools; and the rectum was so irritable that even opium could not be retained in any form. The epigastrium above and to the right of the umbilicus was very tender, in which part we felt some induration, and here there was dulness on percussion. There was no defined tumour apparent. There was no positive evidence of the liver having passed below the ribs. He had no rigors ; no sickness ; no shoulder pain; nor did I perceive any abdominal muscular rigidity, excepting in the situation of the epigastric induration. The tongue was white, flabby, and furred. Although I mentioned to the class at the time, the probability that there might be an abscess, yet I had not sufficient data before me to justify a more positive opinion on this point. We, in vain endeavoured to support the ebbing powers of life, and to check the exhausting purging. Astringents, sedatives, wine, and various kinds of nourishment were unavailing, and he died seven days after his admission. The post-mortem was made the evening of his decease. On opening the anterior abdominal wall it was found adherent in the situation of the epigastric induration, to an abscess which gave way with the slightest force, discharging a quantity of horribly foetid, light slate-coloured matter. This matter was found to have come from an enormous