On myxoedema and allied disorders : being the Bradshaw lecture delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, on November 10th, 1898 / by William M. Ord.

  • Ord, William M. (William Miller), 1834-1902.
Date:
[1898]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On myxoedema and allied disorders : being the Bradshaw lecture delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, on November 10th, 1898 / by William M. Ord. 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.

    18/28 (page 16)
    out a very appropriate quotation from the Ingoldshy Le- gends :— “He grew sleek and fat, In addition to that, A new crop of feathers Came thick as a mat.” Only we must pass over the fact that the patient did not, like the jackdaw, get fatter. The patient left the hospital on the 28th August, 1892, but continued to attend as an out-patient for some months afterwards, taking the glycerine extract regularly, hut only now about twice a week. The fourth photograph shows him in a later stage of improvement, almost, if not quite, amounting to cure. His attendance now became irregular. He appears to have taken up service as a waiter’. I learned at the time that he was a very good waiter in a general way, but was somewhat expensive in consequence of a tendency to drop plates and dishes when he was handing them. It is certain, however, that at this time he began to indulge in alcoholic stimulants, and to have neglected his thyroid treatment. The signs of myxoedema gradually returned, and at the beginning of July he had a fit, in which he lost consciousiress for some hours, and this was followed by a secoird and a third fit during that year. In the last of these the tongue was bitten. He was again admitted in the St. Thomas’s Hospital on the 13th jSTovember, 1895. Much of the appearance presented at the time of his first admission had now returned, and his urine now was of a specific gravity 1028, with a trace of albumin. Shortly after his admission he was seized with convulsions and was unconscious for one hour. On the 14th November, he had two fits, after which he became very violent, struggling and talking incoherently. He sweated profusely all the next day and was still very violent, requiring restraint by a male attendant. He then became comatose for some hours and died on the 16tli November. The temperature, which had been 98’2 at the time of his admission, rose on November 13th to lOO'G. At the post mortem examination the thyroid gland was found to be very small and flabby, the isthmus being little more than a strand of connective tissue. It is important to state that the adrenals were diseased, the left being increased in size by enlargement of the central cavity, which contained several calcareous and caseous nodules, some surrounded by miliary tubercles. The right adrenal showed a similar change, but with all this the mass of