Select clinical cases : including cases of labio-glosso-laryngeal paralysis, exophthalmic goitre, arterial pyaemia, general chronic arteritis, saturnine gout / by Samuel Wilks.

  • Wilks, Samuel, Sir, 1824-1911.
Date:
[1870]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Select clinical cases : including cases of labio-glosso-laryngeal paralysis, exophthalmic goitre, arterial pyaemia, general chronic arteritis, saturnine gout / by Samuel Wilks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    men was enlarged, and fluctuated on percussion, the legs and scrotum were also oedematous. The edge of the liver could be felt below the ribs; the breathing was oppressed, and there was much bronchial expectoration. The heart appeared healthy, no bruit being discernible, and the urine was carefully examined without finding any albumen. There was a long and daily report taken of this case, but it contained nothing of importance to point to the cause of this man's extreme distress and feebleness. The abdomen became more distended and tender, and the breathing much embar- rassed ; it is probable that the respiratory muscles had some- what degenerated, aud thus the difficulty of breathing which could not be accounted for from disease of the viscera. His hands were now so feeble that he could grasp nothing, and thus could not make use of his upper extremities to assist him in breathing. At the end of January he was tapped, and much relieved by the operation. He afterwards again became much oppressed in breathing, and on February 8th was obliged to leave his bed and sit constantly in a chair. Nearly every day he had paroxysms of difficult breathing, due apparently to want of muscular power. After a time he was unable to sit for any lengthened period, and for some days before his death spent many hours of the day standing. He died at last, February 27th, 1869. Post-mortem. — External appearance. — Flat, square-oval face, with long, irregular features; body very spare—indeed, wasted; slightly sallow complexion; considerable dropsy of the lower extremities, much of the abdomen. A small sore beside the buttock, also another small deep ulcer in the right lumbar region. No scar of syphilitic bubo. Head.-—Cranial bones natural, arachnoid and pia mater not thick, cerebrum rather tough and slack, no signs of old apoplexy, little venous blood in brain. Chest.—Costal cartilages very much ossified, so that the saw had to be used. Acute recent pleurisy; the usual trans- versely ridged appearance of the lymph, which was’in small quantity. Both pleurae showed old thickening over the lower lobes, contracting the substance of the lung; there were extensive effusions in both cavities. The lungs were healthy in texture, except for the com-