Researches on the pathology of the intestinal canal. Part III. On the diseases of the mucous membrane / by John Abercrombie.

Date:
[1820]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Researches on the pathology of the intestinal canal. Part III. On the diseases of the mucous membrane / by John Abercrombie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    dark red colour, and fungous appearance. These portions were ob- served through the whole tract of the intestine, generally in broad rings, going quite round the intestine, with intermediate portions of a healthy appearance. They were most numerous in the small intestine. No ulceration was observed in any part. I shall only add one other case, showing the state of the parts when the symptoms had ceased after long continuance, and the patient died of another disease. Case XVI.—A lady, aged 24, had been of a feeble and delicate habit from her early years ; but, from the age of 15 or 16, had been almost constantly in a valetudinary state ; was generally confined the whole winter with cough, pain of her bowels, and diarrhoea ; got a little better during the summer, but was constantly, more or less, af- fected with diarrhoea and occasional pain in the bowels ; variable ap. petite, bad digestion, and general debility. In this manner she had passed six or seven years, when she came to Scotland in summer 1815. She was then much emaciated, with a constant loose state of her bowels ; the evacuations were fluid and whitish, and usually oc- curred four or five times every day. When at any time they were less frequent, she became oppressed about the stomach, and extreme- ly uneasy. She had frequently pain in the bowels ; her appetite was bad ; the pulse natural. In the winter the same state of her bowels continued, and she had a loud noisy cough, without expectoration. In summer 1816 she began to improve considerably, having appeared to derive benefit from large doses of the tinct. muriat. ferri, combined with tincture of hyosciamus. The bowels got into a more natural state ; the stools became consistent and healthy, and from this time there was no return of the former state of her bowels ; but her appe- tite was bad, with very bad digestion, and she made little improve- ment either in flesh or strength. In the following winter her cough returned, at first without expectoration; but afterwards she had pain of her breast; frequent pulse, and purulent expectoration, and died of phthisis iu May 1817> without any complaint in her bowels. Dissection.—The lungs were extensively tubercular, with numerous small abscesses. The lower half of the stomach was contracted, and considerably thickened. The pylorus also was a little thickened, but not hardcued. Ou the internal surface of the intestines, there were many portions, several inches in extent, of a dark red colour, and more vascular than the other parts; and, on many places, there was the appearance of small, smooth cicatrices. '1 he other viscera were healthy. Besides the various forms of the disease which are exemplified in the above cases, there are some others which arc deserving of notice. One appearance has been observed which does not oc- cur in any of the cases which I have mentioned, I mean small tubercles or pustules resembling small-pox, covering the mucous membrane. This appearance has been observed by retit, and