On encephaloid cancer occurring as an isolated manifestation of malignant disease, and on the cancerous degeneration of warty excrescences : with the operative treatment applicable to each / by Richard G.H. Butcher.

  • Butcher, Richard G. H., 1819-1891.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On encephaloid cancer occurring as an isolated manifestation of malignant disease, and on the cancerous degeneration of warty excrescences : with the operative treatment applicable to each / by Richard G.H. Butcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the respite was of short duration—again the same scene was to be enacted, for ever the torture was returning. . . ^ At this time, too, a symptom was well marked which I had been watching for days, namely, a drooping of the eyelid on the affected side; it crept on almost imperceptibly, but finally was accomplished ; yet, on rousing the patient in speak¬ ing to him, there was proof that the motor power was only in abeyance, not annihilated, for the lid under such circum¬ stances was tardily raised, and kept open. The left side of the face, too, was slightly oedematous, which may probably be ascribed to the patient reclining towards the affected side, if not fully turned on it. On January the 6th the patient re¬ ferred great pain to the root of the neck while in the act of swallowing, and when the morsel was passing down, in addi¬ tion to the pain, a sense of suffocation ; on careful manipulation a small portion of the tumour could be traced passing from the neck downwards in front of the trachea towards the chest. On percussion over the first bone of the sternum, adulness was evident, quite opposite to the sound produced previous to the elicitation of those unpleasant symptoms. Thus the case went on until the 12th, when symptoms of rapid effusion in the chest were fully developed. The infor¬ mation to be derived from physical signs, so beautifully trace¬ able through all the stages of ordinary pleuritic effusion, were here denied, entirely masked by the abnormal growth muffling the thoracic cavity. The patient was now restless, tossing from side to side, rolling partially over the affected chest—anxious breathing, respirations quick and small, attended with severe stitches striking through the side, and a pulse rapid and faltering. The sufferings of the man at this time, though apparently smothering from oppressed respiration, were the most frightful I ever beheld: no opiates could quiet his state; suddenly he would scream out, at the same time making a violent effort to get from the bed; but would again instantly sink down exhausted and overcome. During these violent contortions the arm lay swollen in an alarming degree, as if paralyzed, immovable, by his side. Thus, these miseries were repeated over and over again, with but a brief intermission for twenty-four hours, when nature reluctantly succumbed, and death quickly followed. Plate II. exhibits the most accurate drawing, taken from a beautiful cast in my possession, of this body. Examination after death (29 hours).—It is unnecessary to advert to the external characters of the tumour; the thickness of the skin in various parts, its attenuation in others, the