Volume 6

Descriptive catalogue of the pathological specimens contained in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

  • Royal College of Surgeons of England. Museum.
Date:
1846-9
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Descriptive catalogue of the pathological specimens contained in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    inflammatory symptoms consequent upon such an injury. These appeared to yield to severe depletions, and he was able to return to his duty, though never feeling quite well. About five months from the accident he became gradually sluggish, had violent headaches, dilated pupils, occasional sickness, with irregularity of bowels, appetite, and pulse ; was very irritable and quarrelsome (contrary to his natural disposition), and frequently comatose, though readily roused. A small tumour soon appeared on the left side of the forehead, which quickly became painful, and evidently contained fluid. The other symptoms grew worse; urine and faeces passed involuntarily ; delirium and severe rigors, followed by epUeptic fits, came on ; and he sank, exhausted, nine months from the time of meeting with the accident. On dissection, the tumour, which was of the size of a small walnut, was found to contain pus, and to communicate through the opening in the skuU-waU with an abscess within. The brain-substance around this was condensed, and the surrounding dura mater firmly adherent to the bone, so as to limit the extension of the pus internally. Presented hy Sir Stephen L. Hammick. 560 B. A portion of an occipital bone, in which ulceration of the inner table, resulting in complete perforation, is said to have followed upon an injury. It is not improbable that the injury may have been a punctured fracture. From a seaman who, while drunk, fell against a door-scraper. An apparently slight wound of the scalp was the result, with but little haemorrhage. In consequence of his having been drunk, and the injury being considered of a trifling nature, the surgeon was not informed of it. The next day he did his work as usual, and was tolerably wcU, only feehng a little pain in the head. During the succeeding week he was several times intoxicated; and about fourteen days after the accident he became unable to go on with his duty, having increased pain in the head, shiverings, drowsiness, and nausea, general debihty and feeble pulse. The extenial wound had healed. He now came luider medical treatment, but gradually became worse ; and on the twenty-third day he was found in his hammock insensible, and died a few hours after. Presented by Sir Stephen L. Hammick. 607 A. A right patella (from a man aged 23), in which nearly the whole of the articular surface has been evenly removed by ulceration, in consequence of disease within the knee-joint. A large deposit of new bone has taken place upon the external surface, in the form of vertically disposed ridges, ending below in sharp spicules. Externally these are hard and smooth, but composed of cancellous structure within. A small piece from the outer side of the bone appears to have been fractured and reunited, as it is marked off from the rest by a vertical fissure. These changes were attributed to severe inflammation, resulting in abscesses over the bone, following a fall.