On the minute structure and chemical composition of tubercular deposits / by John Hughes Bennett.

  • Bennett, John Hughes, 1812-1875.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the minute structure and chemical composition of tubercular deposits / by John Hughes Bennett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    Sometimes softened tubercle seems partially or wholly composed of a granular matter, (c). At others, we only observe it to be mo- lecular, the molecules being exceedingly minute, as at (d). In some forms of tubercle the cor- '.^P.-'g) puscles are much larger and rounder than they are represented in Fig. 2, f \| l-^ ii^A^ still however preserving their peculiar ^''^^''■^ O character as in Fig. 4. In this manner, ^ ' they approach in form to the corpus- cles observed in scrofulous pus. But in those the application of acetic acid ^'ff-'^- l^onmM mid larqn- cr.r- , , , T ,• • 1 ii 1 pnsc.Irs in iiibai'dc. from a brn- enablesus to distinguish the nucleus, chial gland. characteristic of pus globules. The grey semi transparent granulation is of semicartilaginouS hardness, and presents to the eye a very different appearance from ordinary tubercle. On making a thin section of it, however, it will be found to be composed of similar elements, although more transparent and not so well defined. The addition of acetic acid, by rendering the fibrous tissue more transparent, and dissolving the granules, will permit the same structure to be seen, as in Fig. 1. When tubercle presents the cre- taceous orcalcarcous transformation ,.. ^ '' y\ in any degree, the different ele- ^-f^^'^^^ ments we have described become C O. '^ mixed up with hard gritty particles of earthy salts. These are of irre- gular form and size, and are larger and numerous in proportion as the tubercle is more and more calcare- ous. Crystals of cholcsterinc may Fi\/.n. Earihyma'trr^cindlulrrdccnr- also frequently bcseen in cretaceous ;«<■■''« '» « crciacmus roncrcUnn/mm concretions—(Fig. 4. a.) When ^'^ '^^'^^ of chnksierim. tubercle is converted into a mass of stony hardness, a thin sec- tion presents a granular appearance, made up of a congeiics of minute earthy particles, without any distinct form. _ Numerous instances occur in whi?h it is utterly impossible to distinguish tubercle from fibrinous exudations on the one hand, or cancerous growths on the other, except by paying attention to the minute structure now described. I have often been deceived in 'endeavouring to determine this by naked sight, and found on a imicroscopic examination, that so called tubercular masses were '■omposed of filaments, more or less mixed up with plastic or gra- nular corpuscles. A^jain, not unfroquently tubercle has been mis- taken for cancer, or the latter for the former. 1 f then we are asked to determine what is positively tubercle, as distinguished from all