On the treatment of aneurism by manipulation / by William Fergusson.

  • Fergusson, William
Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of aneurism by manipulation / by William Fergusson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tion in the usual course, as to send the blood on the colla¬ teral vessels, and so, by giving comparative or total quietude to the circulation in the aneurismal tumour, lead to a natural cure, just as pressure or ligature might do. To illustrate this doctrine Mr. Turner referred to the case of a gentleman who had a distinct and formidable aneurism of the subclavian artery. In spite of all remonstrances to the contrary, this patient would persist in his favorite amusement of swimming in the open sea. On one occa¬ sion, soon after his usual indulgence, a change was noticed in the tumour. I cannot now charge my memory with the particulars, but it is sufficient for my present purpose to state that the aneurismal disease underwent a spontaneous cure in this instance. Professor Turner cited the case to illustrate the possible cure of aneurism by the displacement of fibrin; for he supposed that in this instance such an occurrence had taken place during the movements of the arms in the act of swimming. I remember being interested in this case as embodying an important pathological theory, and the leading features remained permanently on my mind. Many years after¬ wards, when in practice in Edinburgh, I was engaged in the treatment of a case of remarkable interest. A man about the middle period of life was, on getting into bed at night, suddenly seized with severe pain in the leg, which induced him to send for Dr Russell, then in practice in Edinburgh. Besides the pain of which the patient complained, the only thing peculiar which that gentleman could make out was that pulsation could not be felt in the arteries, or in the lower part of the superficial femoral. The symptoms led Dr. Russell to conjecture that sudden obstruction had taken place in this vessel, and that the case was analogous to some of those which Professor Turner had brought under notice some years before in the paper above alluded to. The distress in the limb in this patient was considerable, and the case being thought remarkable, many men of note were asked to see it. Among them I may mention Sir George Ballingall and Sir Charles Bell. The progress
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