Volume 1

The diseases and deformities of the foetus : an attempt towards a system of antenatal pathology / By J.W. Ballantyne.

  • Ballantyne, John William.
Date:
1895
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Credit: The diseases and deformities of the foetus : an attempt towards a system of antenatal pathology / By J.W. Ballantyne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    have been put upon record1 were examples of general obesity or adipose polysarcia; but in their description little or no emphasis lias been laid upon the state of the subcutaneous tissue. A few instances, however, are to be found in which the authors who related them referred specially to the general obesity, and of these the cases of Clauder, Saudi fort, Walther, and Chambers,2 are worthy of note ; but none of the cases above mentioned was exactly similar to that described in the foregoing pages as Specimen D. For in this instance the microscopic appearances of the subcutaneous layer were not those of normal adipose tissue, they were rather those of a reticular structure from which most of the oil globules had disappeared. The characters of the subcutaneous tissue were somewhat of the nature of those described in the recorded cases of adipose sclerema, or adipose oedema neonatorum; but they did not entirely correspond with the conditions found by me in specimens of these diseases.3 Possibly the differences may have been due to the post-mortem changes which had occurred in Specimen D. The exact pathology of the appearances in this case must then be left doubtful; but it seems most likely that it was of the nature of general obesity with dropsical changes and with the results of intra-uterine maceration added thereto. The fact that the mother was herself very stout may possibly be considered as supporting this view; although it is usually believed that whilst obesity is often hereditary it is rarely congenital. Among the lower animals a somewhat similar condition has been occasionally observed, and foetuses thus affected have been called by the Germans Speck-Kalber (lard calves). They show enormous accumulations of fat in the subcutaneous connective tissue. 1 The bibliography of these cases will be given at the end of the chapter in which giant foetuses (the so-called foetal hypertrophy) are considered. 2 Clauder (D. F. W.)—“Stupenda pueri recens nati obesitas ex matris gravida; impressione,” Miscell. curios, sive Ephemeridum. Dec. ii., An. 6, Observ. cxc., p. 380. Norimhergse, 1688. Sandifort (E.)—Observationes anatomico pathological, lib. iv., cap. ii., p. 21. Lugduni Batav., 1777. Walther, (P. F. von)—Ueber die angebolirnen Fetthcmtgesclmiilste, p. 18. Landshut, 1814. Chambers (H. Iv.)—Corpulence, p. 139. London, 1850. 3 “Sclerema and (Edema Neonatonun,” Brit. Med. Journ., Feb. 22, 1890.