The hemorrhagic diathesis / Charles P. Frantz.

  • Frantz, Charles P.
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The hemorrhagic diathesis / Charles P. Frantz. 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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    K TT orks of A. and G. de Negri, and Schunck, «d especially in those of Dedekind. Rurple among the ancients played an im- ortant role, and was, as is said, in Asia, JighWl with silver, In Rome the dignitar- js were known as the pnrpurati. The high stimation of the dyestuff by the ancients de- lended, as Lacaze-Duthiers says, upon the act that neither the plant coloring material, ior that of cochineal, which is mentioned by >liny, was able to withstand the burning sun if Italy, of Greece and of the Orient, as could nirple. Purple fabrics were distributed, all ver Europe and Greece. One of the prettiest lustrations is to be found in Rome, where rom the shells of the creature that have been tilized there has, in the course of time, ac- umnlated an entire hill, the “Monte Testa- MEDICAL FORTNIGHTLY 443 eio. The purple secretion is a peculiarity of the pecies Purpura and Murex, and it was es- jecially the varieties, Purpura haemastoma md lapillus, Murex brandarks, trunculus md erinaceus, which succeeded in ancient hues to industrial value (Negri). An examination of O. Schmidt’^ account md the description which Pliny teives of bese snails used for coloring purposes, will how that the ancients designated our present pceies Purpura as Buccinum; Murex, oh! he contrary, was Purpura. That well known investigator foundVin ^.quileja the location of an old purple fac- ory, and was able to confirm that the shells and shell fragments there found belonged mly to two kinds, Muiex brandaris and runculus. After the overthrow of antique culture,the manufacture of purple, as well as other man- ufactures became forgotten, and it remained or the new era to rediscover them. In the year 1683 William Cole, in Bristol, aroused great excitement by discovering a snail with the help of which a dyer of the neighborhood was able to prepare an article which would impart a beautiful and endur- ing xed color (Sace). Fabius Columna 1616) and Major (1675) had already made mention of the purple of the ancients (see Schunck). The observations of Cole were continued by Bernard de Yussien, Reamur, Duhamel and others. Among the fisher people on the shores where the purple snail is abundant, this col- oring material seems not to have gone en- tirely out of use. Lacaze-Dulthier’s was sur- prised to see that the fishers on the strand von Mahon, dipped little pieces of wood in the liquor of the purple snail, and therewith made marks upon their wash, which, not be- ing immediately visible, were by the sun- light brought put in a beautiful color. Interesting is the statement of Schunck, that purpled dyeing had for a long time'been systematically carried on by the natives of the Pacific coast of Central America, namely, Nicaragua and Costa Rica; and it would also be interesting to learn if this art had been first obtained from Europeans, or whether they had discovered it themselves. The se- cretion of the purple gland resembles in ap- pearance and consistency^ pus, and can be collected with the aid of a brush. If a light be used the chromogen contained therein, becomes first, green, then blue, and finally purple red Duhamel (1736) first correctly perceived that light was the effective agent. It is worthy of note that a discovery of such high grade as the change of substance by means of li^ht, so long preceded the inven- tion of photography. According to Schunck the change of the ebrompgen is the result only of the influence of direct sunlight, while an artificial light and moonshine, do not produce the same effedt. Tn darkness the chromogen remains a long time unchanged, and then, by exposure to light, will take on the purple color., , How glorious is the origin of man’s “pur- ple and fine linen!” The Bible account of the evolution of the world contained in Genesis was not original with the Hebrews, but borrowed from the east, during the captivity at Babylon. Modern discovery by the telescope showed the glowing masses of matter in a gaseous state and performing gyratory movement. According to Laplace, the matter of the solar system was once diffused thus through space, and extended far beyond the outermost planet, Neptune. Heat and gravitation of this neb- ulous mass caused contraction, and rotation brought on centripetal and centrifugal forces, from the rings thus formed and cast off, spheres wrere fromed as dew drops are formed. Thus all the planets were formed. Living things are found in the earth’s crust. The first remains are of those of simplest and featureless forination, so low in structure as to be neither mineral, vegetable or animal. .. Gjpe of these protozoa is the ameba, a jelly- like particle, hardly distinguishable from water in which it lives. Another is the Sponge. Out of these primordial forms, de- veloped all animaDand vegetable life. They multiplied by budding and composed rocks. Then came radiates, sub-kingdom of animals, like the rays of stars or limbs of a tree like the coral. Some plants capture ihsects. The principle of sex holds throughout the vegata- ble and animal worlds. Some plants are sensitive, possessing nervous vitality. All