On the pathology of one form of encysted empyema / by Edward Latham Ormerod.

  • Ormerod, Edward Latham, 1819-1873.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology of one form of encysted empyema / by Edward Latham Ormerod. 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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    .'ARBUNCULAR INFLAMMxYTION OF THE LIPS AND OTHER PARTS OF THE FACE. itE disease which forms the subject of msiueration in the following pages be- ipgs to a class whose diffusion has been fetty steadily increasing in this country rring the last five years, (a) Before that rriod, it seems to have appeared quite Doradically, and to have been amen- Ide to ordinary treatment. Hence our *dical literature offers hut few original sservations on the subject, the know- Idge we possess respecting it being rrived chiefly from continental autho- iaes. Charbon and malignant pustule, ileed, — diseases with which French ygeons are so familiar,—present broad lUtures of similarity to the affection li.ich the accompanying cases are de- nned to illustrate; and, although some flfling differences exist between them, ttthe resemblance of their distinctive aaracters is evidently so close as to nmpel us to include them in the same liss, and to place them in the same lithological lignt. Kt appears that French pathologists icognise two maladies which they attri- tte to the same poison, and denominate ee “ charbon,” the other, “ malignant sstule.” I have transcribed briefly »rm a French author, (b) the following nnarks concerning the peculiar cha- :feteristics of each. In charbon, con- titutional symptoms precede the local imour. The patient feels ill first, and I’es not find ne has a swelling fre- lently till some days afterwards. In- ced, cases have occurred in which no iternal swelling presented itself, — a cculiar morbid and poisoned condition Vide Lancet, August 20, 1852,—a communi- ion from Mr. Hunt. i'a) Pathologic Externe de M. V. de Cassis. of the blood being the only indication of the existence of the disease. The tumour, when present, shows itself in- differently on any part of the body, whether exposed or covered, and ap- pears to commence in the deep tissues, and to proceed through the more super- ficial. Its advent is announced by a burning pain ; it is extensive from the outset, being both larger and more cir- cumscribed than the tumour of malig- nant pustule, is bright red at the circum- ference, and black in the centre. It advances with rapidity, and the consti- tutional disturbance becomes hourly aggravated. Malignant pustule differs from the disease whose presence is de- noted by the foregoing conditions, in many respects. It is produced by the inoculation of a poison on some of the uncovered parts of the body,—inocu- lation, indeed, of the same virus, which, having been received into the circulation in , charbon, disorders the blood, but here acting locally, always on exposed surfaces, and selecting a spot where the continuity of the skin has undergone solution. In this affection, therefore, local inflammation and swelling precede the constitutional disorder, so that some days frequently elapse before the patient feels ill. The disease commences gene- rally by a small vesicle, attended with slight itching; the superficial cutis at first is only affected, subsequently a yellow, seed-like tubercle forms, sur- rounded by a vesicular areola; the itch- ing becomes more troublesome, and the affection extends in both width and depth, attacking first the superficial, and subsequently the deep tissues. Con- stitutional disturbance rarely sets in till