Principles of human physiology, with their chief applications to pathology, hygiene, and forensic medicine : especially designed for the use of students / by William B. Carpenter.

  • Carpenter, William Benjamin, 1813-1885.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Principles of human physiology, with their chief applications to pathology, hygiene, and forensic medicine : especially designed for the use of students / by William B. Carpenter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    indifferently in every variety of the uterine state, that the ruptured follicles are found empty, or containing only an aqueous fluid. c. The coats of the ruptured Follicles have been ound in four different general conditions, apparently dependent on their relative degree of organisation ; and each class presenting, also, modifications of their respective characteristics, proceeding in part from the same cause, and in part also from changes connected with the period of their progress in which they were examined. I. The first class was distinguished by the attenuated state of the coats of the ruptured Follicle; and by the total absence of any organic changes in these, different from their con- dition previous to their discharge. The only alterations observable resulted from the mecha- nical dyeing of their coats of an inky-black, or of a yellow colour, proceeding from their con- tact with decomposed blood.—This first class of appearances was found indifferently in all ages and states, subsequent to puberty. II. The second general class of ruptured Follicles was characterized, in addition to the appearances just described, by organic changes in their coats; consisting, progressively, of an increased vascularity, a thickening, a whitening of the colour, and finally, a corrugation of their tissue. The white bodies thus formed, to which Dr. R. has given the designation of Corpora Alhida, may exist under two distinct forms :—1. As soft bodies of a yellowish fatty aspect, having the outer coat much thickened, whilst their inner remains as a delicate diapha- nous pellicle; these, after a lengthened period, present themselves as yellowish-white, and generally globular bodies, more or less fissured from their contraction, and sometimes in pro- cess of absorption, having a granular-looking structure, and seldom being divisible into laminae by simple dissection:—and 2. As dense bodies of a whitish, shining, fii-m structure, their inner coat being the seat of these changes, and their outer adhering loosely as a transparent pellicular layer; the inner layer presents itself as a thick, opaque, deeply-wrinkled or corrugated, and rocky cyst, or is sometimes partially diaphanous, and of a shining pearly aspect, and very white colour; and it sometimes contains a yellow, greenish, transparent fluid, or a clot of blood, either unchanged, or converted into a yellow or black pigment. This seeond variety appears to be the Corpus Luteum of Baer.—These white bodies, or Corpora Albida, were found by Dr. R. in every variety of uterine condition, subsequent to the establishment of menstruation, but never before it; and the dense kind, especially, were persistent for a long period. They had no necessary connection with the gravid condition; but they were occa- sionally (especially the dense variety) the only specialty observable in the ovaries of the puerperal female, some time after delivery. III. The third class was characterized by the presence of an organised yellow-coloured, brain-like, granular matter; forming bodies to which Dr. R. has given the name of Corpora Cephaloidea. These differed, according as the cerebrifonn matter was deposited between the layers of ruptured Follicles, having transparent pellicular walls, as in Class I., or having either their inner or outer coat thickened, as in Class II.;—or according as the cerebrifonn matter was deposited externally to the two inner layers of the Follicle.—The former of those varieties was found by Dr. Ritchie in menstruating females; also during the first months of the gravid state ; and sometimes even in the period of lactation. In some instances only one or two of the cerebriform bodies were found, but sometimes five or six. Their stnicture, especially in the more perfectly-organised specimens, presented a striking resemblance to the convoluted reddish-yellow surface of the brain, covered by its inner membranes, and painted with its scarlet-coloured and dark vessels. These cephaloid bodies undergo diminution in proportion to their age, and the absorbing power of the female. In those possessed of only thin coats, or having the outer layer as the seat of the thickening, the inner walls of the cysts speedily contracted and coalesced; so that their centres exhibited a delicate opaque streak: or, in those better developed, a serrated, curved, and well-marked white line, accord- ing as the cyst was of elliptical or of a globular form. This variety of cerebriform cyst was met