Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson's reports of an experimental study of infective inflammations.

  • Burdon-Sanderson, John Scott, 1828-1905.
Date:
[1875]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson's reports of an experimental study of infective inflammations. 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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    they accord with each other -with the greatest exactitude as observed in Apr. No. 2. the different animals of the same series, notwithstanding the differences Qn Inf^~iye of duration of the morbid processes, are entirely different from those inflammations, described by me as characteristic of “artificial tuberculosis.” The ^derwm. second is that, in the experiments now before us, the animals were the subjects of serous and other inflammations from the beginning, whereas in tuberculosis no lesion whatever is discoverable by microscopic examination until the fourth or fifth week after infection. Dec. 30. Material derived from the lung of a patient who had died the day before of phthisis in the third stage, in the Hospital for Consump- tion, was injected into the peritoneum in three guinea-pigs, and under the skin in three others. The first three were dissected respectively, 29 and 44 days after inoculation, having either died of themselves or having been killed in articulo. The other two were killed, 24 and 68 days after injection. In the first three the lesions corresponded very closely with those already described. The pleura and peritoneum were inflamed and contained considerable quantities ef exudation-liquid. The liver, spleen, and lungs contained pycemic nodules, and there were similar nodules in the mesentery, omentum, and centrum tendineum of the diaphragm. One of the abscesses in the omentum was of very large size. The purulent liquid from the nodules contained rods and dumb-bells in great numbers ; the latter were found as usual to have become much more numerous after the liquid had been kept for a day in the warm chamber. The same forms were seen in the pleural and peritoneal liquids. Iu all of these animals the blood was found to present the usual alteratious. The plasma was particulate, the particles exhibit- ing the movement before described, and contained rods and dumb- bells. The other three experiments are of interest as showing how little the mode of insertion modifies the result as regards the internal lesions. They lived longer, but in other respects the morbid process was the same, and it is specially to be noted that the signs of pleural and peritoneal inflammations were quite as marked as in the others. Purulent liquid from one of the animals was injected ini the usual way into the peritoneum of a healthy guinea-pig, which, on dissection three weeks later had peritonitis and infective nodules in the usual situations. Feb. 27. A small female monkey died in theTIospital for Animals of pulmonary phthisis. The principal lesions were as follows :—In the thorax the morbid appearances are confined to the right side. The right pleura is everywhere adherent. The whole of the right lung, with the exception of the apex is either consolidated and airless, or beset with numerous disseminated nodules. These nodules are for the most part firm externally, but softened at their centres. Here and there, there are vomica?. The peritoneum contains clear liquid, along the border of the colon there are several nodules varying in size from that of a pea to that of a hazel-nut. Of these the smaller are grey, the larger yellowish white on section. Similar but smaller nodules exist in the mesentery. In the liver there are numerous softened nodules as well as around the portal vessels. Purulent liquid from the pulmonary nodules containing microzymes of both forms was injected in the usual quantity into the peritoneal cavities of five guinea-pigs. The tests were dissected at periods varying from 30 to 43 days after infection. The post-mortem appearances, both as regards the serous membranes and the internal viscera, resembled in all respects those already described. Conclusion. Considering the complexity of the subject, we have attempted to investigate, and the importance of the questions involved' in it, it is