Surgical pathology and therapeutics / by John Collins Warren.

  • Warren, John Collins, 1842-1927.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgical pathology and therapeutics / by John Collins Warren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    development of a specific, exceedingly poisonous substance having a very deleterious influence upon the organism. This poison, like that of the serpent, may spread itself all through the bod}', and, although small in quantity, may produce very marked effects. It probably varies greatly in amount in different cases. As to whether the poison is a product elaborated from the bac- terial cells as a specific excretion, or is the result of a tissue-meta- morphosis brought about b}' the organisms, which select from the tissues such substances as are most nutritious to them, is a point about which authorities dififer. Opinions at the present time are pretty evenly divided upon this point. It can easily be understood that when one or two important elements are taken from the chemical composition of a cell or from the matrix in which it lies, an entirely new chemical compound may be the result. The chemical nature of the tissues in which the bacteria grow is there- fore an important element in determining the nature of the com- pound that will be formed. It is a well-known fact that the albu- minoids, for instance, are necessary for the development of most toxines. Poisonous substances may be developed in one case which in another fail to form, owing to the absence of some important basic substance. The result of such action of bacteria upon the cells of the body is to produce what is known as irritation. If the action is suf- ficiently powerful, death of the cell will ensue, but if it be less powerful and continued for a certain length of time, the result wall be a growth of new cells. This action is probably exerted through the endothelium of the capillaries, for we often see bac- teria enclosed within such cells. These cells exercise an important influence upon the nutrition of the organ, as the}' determine to a certain extent what chemical substance shall be allowed to pass through the vessel's walls for its nourishment. The result of such a disturbance of nutrition upon the organ will of course aflect its functions, and this may go to the point of producing all the phenomena of an inflammation. The production of a general con- stitutional disturbance will be found discussed at more length in another chapter. It may merely be said here that the most gene- rally received opinion is that substances are produced which have a ferment-like action and increase the tissue-metamorphosis greatly throughout the body. Baumgarten, however, believes that the growth of foreign organisms in the body is alone suflicient to account for all the phenomena of fever without assuming develop- ment of a particular virus.