Probationary essay on spina bifida : submitted ... to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh when candidate for admission ... / by Patrick S.K. Newbigging.

Date:: 1834

Credit: Probationary essay on spina bifida : submitted ... to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh when candidate for admission ... / by Patrick S.K. Newbigging. 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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$portion of the spinal column was divided in such a manner as to permit the kidneys and other viscera to be seen. Budgen * likewise relates a case in a girl eighteen years old, in whom the spinal canal communicated with the abdomen. Spina Bifida has, however, occurred independently of any failure in the organization of the spine, merely from the processes being smaller than na- tural, or from their not forming so complete a canal as they generally do. This has been observed by Portal,! at the junction of the last lumbar vertebrae and the sacrum ; but it is extremely rare, and ought not to be considered as an argument in fa- vour of the doctrine, that the tumors and opening in the colunni are caused by the pressure of the fluid from the brain. I come now to the third division of this branch of my subject, viz. the state of the spinal cord, and its envelopes. In some cases the spinal cord has been found perfectly natural; in others, the alter- ations of structure and position have been nume- rous, while in some instances it has even been want- ing. I propose considering it under the three heads of changes of structure and position, and of de- ficiency. The affection of the cord sometimes ex- * Philosophical Transactions, t Portal, Cours d'Annal. I\Iod.$