On a form of bronchitis (simulating phthisis) which is peculiar to certain branches of the potting trade : a graduation thesis to which was awarded the gold medal of the University of Edinburgh, August 2, 1864 / by Charles Parsons.

  • Parsons, Charles.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On a form of bronchitis (simulating phthisis) which is peculiar to certain branches of the potting trade : a graduation thesis to which was awarded the gold medal of the University of Edinburgh, August 2, 1864 / by Charles Parsons. 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.

    27/36 (page 27)
    ' Again, commensurate with this deficiency of nutrition iu the air vesicles is the impairment of tlieir elasticity iind tonicity. They become as it were paralysed, and offer little or no resistance to the ingress of air iu excess, whilst at the same time they contribute but feebly to its expulsion; a large portion of it apparently remaining rifcagnant, and the remainder being slowly expired. When the respiratory process is accelerated, as under unwonted (^xertion, inspiration and expiration become strangely commingled, and produce the extreme dyspnoea and wheezing so characteristic of emphysema; the normal exchange of oxygen and carbonic acid is interfered with, and though the oxygenizing surface of the dilated cells is increased, the blood is no longer perfectly arteriali;5ed. I shall have occasion to allude to this subject again presently. I proceed in the next place to consider the nature of the other post-mortem appearances that were observed, viz., the tough fibrous character of some portions, the I Jack nature of others, and the extensive infiltration of the whole with minute cretifications. Induration-matter is endowed to a remarkable degree with the property of slow contraction—a property which renders its presence most beneficial or most baneful; often becoming the seat of saline deposits.—(Adven- titious Products, Todd's Cyclop, of Anat. and Physiol.) It is not difficult to conceive how this exudation mater- ial mixed up with dust, slowly contracting and gradually hardening, sets up irritation in the surrounding tissues, and excites a species of chronic inflammation in them. The systemic disturbance, of course, is slight or impcr- ceptil^le on account of the protracted nature of the invasion. Those portions which have not submitted to the further process of softening maintain their thickened