On the tubercule of the brain in children / by James Maxwell Adams.

  • Adams, James Maxwell, 1818-1899.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the tubercule of the brain in children / by James Maxwell Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    is a morbid compound, not Busoeptible of organisation, and, tliercforc, incapable of undergoing any change that is not in- duced on it by external agents. Dr Oarswell states that the soft- ening is caused by the ' admixture of serosity, pus, blood, &c., which have been efiFused, or secreted by the tissues subjected to its irritating influence. The pus and serosity pervade the sub- stance of the tuberculous matter, and detach it.'* A tubercle -which has undergone this process to a considerable extent, presents much the appearance of an abscess, and many of the so-called abscesses of the hrain, it has been shown, are the remains of tubercles altered by the change just described. Another change sometimes observed is called the cretaceous formation. This appearance depends upon the removal of the watery portion and part of its animal constituents, thus acquiring an excess of its earthy particles. But in whatever condition it is deposited, tubercle is a body foreign to the structure in which it is found, and liable, from various exciting causes, to act as a local irritant, causing periodic congestions and consequent functional disorders. At length it gives rise to inflammation of the brain, or of its mem- branes. The former becomes red and vascular, softens, and is often converted into a lardaceous or pulpy consistence, hav- ing a shght yellow or greenish colour. This alteration is best seen in immediate contact with the tubercle. The membranes of the brain become vascular and pour out serum, or are thickened and rendered opaque by e£fusion of lymph, but often they present no change. M. Gendrinf is of opinion that it is rupture of the cyst of the tubercle which determines the actual disease or inflam- mation, softening, &c.; but this opinion is far from being supported by general observation, reason, or analogy. The effusion of serum, which is so frequently found within the cranium, is variable in quantity, and though it influences the symptoms, is far from being a necessary concomitant of the disease. There are various opinions as to the cause of the efi'usion—some believing it the result of inflammation communi- * Cyc. Pract. Med., vol. iv. Art. Tub. t Op. cit.