Observations on the incurvations of the spine arising from softness of the bones, and on their treatment, particularly in regard to the female sex : also some remarks on abscesses of the hip-joint, and on incurvations of the spine from carious vertebrae : extracted from the lectures delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons in London in the summer of the year 1820 / by James Wilson.

  • Wilson, James, 1765-1821.
Date:
1821
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the incurvations of the spine arising from softness of the bones, and on their treatment, particularly in regard to the female sex : also some remarks on abscesses of the hip-joint, and on incurvations of the spine from carious vertebrae : extracted from the lectures delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons in London in the summer of the year 1820 / by James Wilson. 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.

    81/92 (page 81)
    separating from the carious surfaces of the bodies of the .vertebrae, and sometimes these substances will appear to be thickened and projecting; but this may in part arise from the diminished size of the bodies of the bones. Occasionally the whole of the bodies of some of the vertebrae are removed, their articulating, transverse, and spinous pro- cesses remaining; the spine under these circum- stances bends forwards, and forms a greater or lesser angle according to the number of the bodies of the vertebrae which have been destroyed. In elderly people, I have seen instances of a large proportion of the bodies of several vertebrae having been destroyed without much, if any, curvature having taken place; a deposition of ossific matter had adhered to the outside of the remaining parts of the bones, sufficiently large and firm to pre- vent the bend, the inter-vertebral substances had also been destroyed, and the spaces formerly oc- cupied by them were filled up with curdy matter. I have frequently seen the inter-vertebral sub- stances thickened, and with such marks of vas- cularity, that I cannot doubt of ulceration occa- sionally taking place in them. There are instances before us, where several of these substances and the contiguous bones have been destroyed and removed. These inter-vertebral substances have at all times much more vascularity than inter- articular or articular cartilages. F