On cross furrows in the nails / by W.W. Wagstaffe.

  • Wagstaffe, W. W. (William Warwick), 1843-1910.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On cross furrows in the nails / by W.W. Wagstaffe. 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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    Reprinted from Vol. XVIII of1 St. Thomas's Hospital Reports.'] ON CROSS FURROWS IN TI By W. W. WAGSTAFFE, B.A., F.E^C.S., LATB ASSISTANT StTBGEON TO THE HOSPITAL. These are more than pathological curiosities and are worthy of observation for what they indicate. That they occur much more commonly than is thought is more than pro- bable, and I am accustomed to feel sure of finding them under very different circumstances. It was in the year 1870 that my attention was called to them by some remarks of Dr. Langdon Down and Dr. Wilks, at the Pathological Society, and it may be certain that any observations by these original observers and experienced pathologists are worthy of careful notice. In Dr. Langdon Down's case, which is recorded in the twenty-first volume of the Patho- logical Society's ' Transactions/ the cross marks on the nails were of the nature of opaque white lines, and were evidently connected with temporary arrests of nutrition. But if I remember rightly, he also mentioned the occur- rence in himself of the simple furrows which I am discuss- ing, and attributed them also to general defects of nutrition. Dr. Wilks gave examples of the same from his experience, and in the thirty-ninth volume of the ' Transactions' gives an illustration of the furrows occurring apparently from two bouts of sea-sickness in a patient. This engraving may be accepted as giving an excellent picture of the peculiar con- dition.