Pathological and surgical observations on diseases of the joints / Benjamin Collins Brodie.

  • Brodie, Benjamin, Sir, 1783-1862.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and surgical observations on diseases of the joints / Benjamin Collins Brodie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    the operation of the syphilitic poison ; where mercury has been exhibited improperly, or in too large quantities ; and under a variety of other circumstances. But, in these cases, the disease, for the most part, is not very severe ; it occasions a preternatural secretion of synovia; but does not, in genera], terminate in the effusion of coagu- lated lymph, or in thickening of the inflamed membrane. Sometimes it attacks several joints at the same instant, and even extends to the synovial membranes, which constitute the bursas mucosas and sheaths of the tendons. At other times it leaves one part to attack another, and different joints are affected in succession. In other cases, the disease is entirely local; produced by a sprain or other injury; or the application of cold ; and sometimes arising from no evident cause. The application of cold is, on the whole, the most frequent source of the complaint; and hence it is easy to explain, why it occurs much more frequently in the knee than in any other joint; and why it is comparatively rare in the hip and shoulder, which are defended by a thick mass of muscles from the influence of the external temperature. Where trie inflam- mation is thus confined to a single joint, it is more probable that it will assume a severe cha- racter, and that it may be of long duration. It is likely to leave the joint with its functions more or less impaired; and occasionally terminates in its total destruction. In itself it is a serious disease, but it is often confounded, under the c