Twenty-eighth annual report of the county and city of Worcester Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

  • Worcester Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Twenty-eighth annual report of the county and city of Worcester Pauper Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tissue reaching from the extremity of the vermiform appendix to a portion of the gut higher up, and higher still there were several bands passing from the bowel to the connective tissue round the bladder. The supposition is that one of the glandulse epiploicse by some means found its way through the abdominal ring, drew a portion of the periphery of the gut after it, which became strangulated by the edges of the ring; that after a while this portion of the gut retracted spontaneously, the calibre of the gut became free and the symptoms of obstruction subsided. 10.—A. L., set. 84, female. This was a case of advanced senile dementia with paralysis. She was a very feeble, tottering, old woman, full of queer delusions and hallucinations both of hearing and vision : was restless and uneasy by day and night; would frequently yell and shout loudly for hours together, till she was quite exhausted. She only survived her admission for four months, during which time she suffered from chronic bronchitis and occasional attacks of diarrhoea. The assigned causes of her insanity were old age and poverty. Autopsy, 69 hours after death. Body fairly well nourished. Rigor mortis persistent; face and scalp puffy and oedematous, and a small wound near the occipital protuberance. Weather very cold and frosty. Calvarium very thick all round, in some places as much as two-thirds of an inch, and indurated ; no diploe anywhere. On removing the brain a large dark blood-clot was seen occupying the middle and posterior fossae on both sides, and extending some distance into the anterior fossae ; it was situated between the dura mater and arachnoid, and the quantity was estimated to be about four ounces. A quantity of dark clotted blood also adhered to the sides of the cerebrum and cerebellum. The vessels of the circle were thickened, rigid, and atheromatous, especially the internal carotids and middle cerebrals. The convolutions were much atrophied : in many instances they were not a quarter of an inch wide, and resembled bunches of white worms; there was some clear serosity in the sac of the arachnoid, and the meshes of the pia water. Membranes thickened but not adherent. Cerebral substance soft and nonresilient. Lateral ventricles dilated, and fornix reduced to a creamy pulp. No frosting anywhere. Cerebellum, pons, and medulla apparently normal. Weight of encephalon, 40 ounces. Heart of normal size (lOf ounces.) Yalves competent. Mitral not stenosed. Aorta atheromatous, and left ventricle hypertrophied. Old pleuritic adhesions on both lungs ; bronchi reddened and congested. Liver very fatty and friable. Kidneys contracted and granular.