A treatise on diseases of the bones / By Thomas M. Markoe.
- Thomas M. Markoe
- Date:
- 1872
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on diseases of the bones / By Thomas M. Markoe. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![scess character i.s nut only the ])riin!irv but the only feature of the disease thr()U«;h<)ut its whole course. Such abscesses pre- sent themselves in three situations: 1. In the cancellous struct- ure; 2. In the medulla; and, 3. Between the periosteum and the bone. As a j^cneral fact, it may be stated that all of these abscesses are of a chronic character, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, that they are made up of a series of suc- cessive attacks of acute or subacute inflammation, each of wliich subsides to a certain extent, but, by their constant recur- rence, finally lead to the formation of the abscess, and thus jjrive to the whole case a chronic course, though made up in part of acute elements. Thus, to take one case as an example: Bernard liilev, aged twenty-one, was admitted to the New York Hospi- tal, June IC, 1857, with a diseased condition of the lower half of the left tibia, of which he gave the following history : About seven years ])revious, he had, without any assignable cause, a sudden attack of acute inflammation in the upper part of this leg, Mhich was attended with severe pain, rapid and considerable swelling, and suppuration, which discharged itself on the ante- ri(^r ]>art of the limb at the end of about three weeks. The inflammatory symptoms subsided, l>ut the abscess continued open for al)Out a year, when a small piece of bone came away, and it soon healed up. lie had been much reduced in health by this attack, and was not yet able to walk about, when, as the abscess above healed up, pain and swelling gradually came on in the lower part of the leg, and, after nine weeks, an ab- scess formed and oi^ened, a piece of bone came awa}, and soon after the sore healed sc>undly. Several other abscesses formed, in the same way, (hning the next four years, though they were not all accompanied with a discharge of bone. Since this time, say, for the last three years, he had been improving in health and strenfjth, but the lower half of the tibia had been the seat of frequent attacks of j)aiji, lasting for a few days, not attributable to any jiarticular cause, and usually relieved by liot fomentations. The tibia is now very much enlarged in its lr»wer half, but there is no evidence of any formation of matter, and, during the intervals between his attacks of ]>ain, he is able to walk about, and to use the lind) freely. The pains are always most severe at night. There is no suspicion of a syphi-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21014413_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
