A case of bronzed skin (melasma), without disease of the supra-renal capsules / by William Moore, M.D.

  • Moore, William, M.D.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of bronzed skin (melasma), without disease of the supra-renal capsules / by William Moore, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    normal, and the capsules of a pale yellowish colour; the left slightly larger than the right, but neither of them enlarged or thickened in any way; their length did not exceed an inch and quarter, whilst their width was somewhat less. A section showed the normal cortical structure (without any adventitious deposit of any kind) with the dark brown central part. Large branches of the semi- lunar ganglion entered the capsules on their upper part, but not larger than those off-sets from the ganglion which are usually seen, nor larger than we could expect from the immediate proximity of these bodies to the ganglia. A microscopic examination of the capsules showed fine tubules in the cortical structure, which, as far as I could determine, was free from deposit of any kind, whilst the dark central part seemed made up of a fine net-work of veins. However, my colleague. Dr. Little (than whom it would be difficult to get a more competent opinion on an histological point of the kind) assures me he could find no adventitious deposit, or structural disease of any kind. He says;— The organs are of very small size, though not perhaps smaller than might be expected in a woman of the advanced age of the.patient; this smallness in size will be observed to have occurred almost wholly at the expense of the medullary portion. They presented an universally pale aspect—a characteristic, however, shared by all the other viscera. The capsules are occupied in no part by any local morbid development. The microscopic sections have the natural distinctions of the cortical and medullary regions Avell and normally marked. There is considerable deficiency (as compared with the healthy adult organ) of the latter. I regret the semi-lunar ganglia were not examined microscopi- cally. Dr. Thomas Little has kindly given me the details of a case of bronzed skin, which occurred in the practice of Dr. Lynn, of Sligo, and which he (Dr. Little) had assisted in the examination of. In this case too the supra-renal capsules were found perfectly healthy in structure; the organs Avere unquestionably of small size, the diminutive size being more remarkable, as the lady was not more than forty-five years of age. This lady, for some time before death, was of unsound mind. Though in sufficiently affluent circumstances, she was perpetually haunted by a fear of poverty, so much so as to deny herself the necessaries of life. This patient had been severely burnt about the hands and face from a gas explosion, and the scars loft were the parts on which the discolouration became most strongly