Softening of the stomach in children in Australia : with some observations on the disease in adults / by C.E. Reeves.

  • Reeves, C. E. (Charles Evans), 1828-1880.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Softening of the stomach in children in Australia : with some observations on the disease in adults / by C.E. Reeves. 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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    several instances, when the writer has brought the stomach and the fluid lionip, the softening has pro- gressed. In all the cases examined, the stomach has been empty, or only contained a small quantity, rarely more than from two to six or eight teaspoons- ful of fluid. It is not impossible tliat wlien a large quantity of it exists, but that complete destruc- tion and perforation of all the coats will ensue. In a case of sudden death, after a full meal, and while the process of digestion was going on, the stomach gave way Avheu it was touched, and its contents escaped through a large rent. In this case, the softening was precisely similar, and occurred under the same cir- cumstances to that observed when a rabbit is killed by a blow on the back of the head during digestion— the .stomach, in the course of a few hours, will be found softened. Softening of the .stomach, the result of disease, seems to be identical with softening observed as the result of digestion. It can scarcely be sui)posed that the changes found after death pre- ceded it. The rapidity with which children recover, if not gi'eatly reduced in flesh and strength, if thestom- ach can be tranquillised,'and the healthy motions some time passed, evidently show that they do not. The mucous membrane of the stomach appears to be in a highly irritable state, causing the gastric folUclcs to pour out a large quantity of juice, and any irri- tating fluid, or indigestible food increa.ses it. Milk is converted into hard curd as soon as it enters the stomach, and is either rejected as such by vomiting or by purging. Before the gastric juice can act as a solvent on the mucous membrane its vitality must have been either destroyed, or it must have undergone some alteivation to enable it to do so. In perforating ulcer of the stomach in adults, particularly young females, the vitality of the parts seems to be first destroyed and then removed by digestion, the mucous coat going first, then the others, the peritoneal one the last. It is oJily in this way that those cases of perforation can be ac- counted for in patients who have never had any, or