Physical diagnosis : a guide to methods of clinical investigation / by G.A. Gibson and William Russell.

  • Gibson, George Alexander, 1854-1913.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Physical diagnosis : a guide to methods of clinical investigation / by G.A. Gibson and William Russell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    in the cutaneous capillaries, and this may be temporary or permanent. Temporary pallor occurs from cardiac failure, as in emotional syncope and enfeebled conditions of the heart, such as fatty heart. It may also occur from constriction of the arterioles, as in such mental states as fear and pain, as well as under the influence of external conditions, as, for example, cold. Permanent pallor may be the result of a diminution in the number of the red corpuscles of the blood, or of a deficiency of haemoglobin, as in chlorosis, antemia, and leukasmia, as well as chronic Bright's disease and other affections. Or it may be caused by a reduction in the amount of the blood due directly to haemorrhages, and indirectly to effusion of the serum or to deficient assimilation. Pallor of the skin is, as a rule, attended by paleness of the mucous membranes, which are apt to be dry. The causes which induce it are apt to lead to dropsy, and when this is the case the pallor becomes increased. Redness of the SJcin.—Eedness of the skin is due to hypertemia. Temporary excitement, such as is frequently caused by an interview with a medical man, may cause dila- tion of the arterioles and rapid as well as powerful action of the heart, attended by flushing of the skin, but this rapidly subsides. A more permanent redness, however, is one of the most frequent symptoms of acute diseases, as in the flush over the malar bones in acute pneumonia, in which it is of a dusky tint, and in hectic fever, where it is brighter in hue. A dull diffused redness of the face, with arborescent mark- ings of a purple or blue colour, caused by stasis in the venous radicles, and commonly termed venous stigmata, is common in chronic disease of the heart, involving the systemic veins, and is also very frequently a symptom of chronic alcoholism. Blueness of the Skin, or Cyanosis, is the result of venous