Cases of organic diseases of the heart. With dissections and some remarks intended to point out the distinctive symptoms of these diseases. Read before the Counsellors of the Massachusetts Medical Society / By John C. Warren.

  • Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856.
Date:
1809
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases of organic diseases of the heart. With dissections and some remarks intended to point out the distinctive symptoms of these diseases. Read before the Counsellors of the Massachusetts Medical Society / By John C. Warren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    did he ever lie on the left side, except a short time after the application of a blister. At the end of the fifth day his sufferings abated, but the sudden affu¬ sion of a small portion of a cold liquid on the head produced a severe fit of epilepsy. This was follow¬ ed by a return of the symptoms equally distressing, and more durable, than in the first attack*. This violent agitation gradually subsided, and was followed by a pleasant calm. The natural func¬ tions resumed their ordinary course; his appetite returned; his enjoyment of social intercourse was unusually great; and he amused and instructed his friends by the immense treasures of information, which his talents and observations had afforded him, and which, he seemed to feel, would soon be lost. At the end of September the feet began to swell, and after some time the enlargement extended up to the legs and thighs, and increased to an extraor¬ dinary degree ; the abdomen next swelled, and, after it, the face. Toward the end of October there were some indications of water in the chest; there was a constant shortness and difficulty of breathing ; the cough, till now rare, became more frequent and troublesome ; the contraction of the thoracic cavity rendered the action of the heart more painful, to that * During’ this time it was thought adviseabie to acquaint his friends, that an organic disease of the heart existed, which doubtless consist¬ ed in an ossification of the semilunar valves of the aorta, attended, perhaps, by enlargement of the heart; that the disease -was beyond the reach of art, and would prove fatal within three months, pos¬ sibly very soon ; that if it lasted so long, it would be attended by fre¬ quent recurrences of those distressing symptoms, general dropsical affections, and an impaired state of the mental faculties.