A case of status lymphaticus / by J.H. Musser and J.T. Ullom.

  • John Herr Musser
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A case of status lymphaticus / by J.H. Musser and J.T. Ullom. 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.

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    heart muscle was deg-enerated, and we naturally seek the cause of this condition. There was an infection of the larynx, trachea, and pulmonary tissue, with consolidation of one lobe and small patches throughout the lung. Our alternative is a toxemia, and we have two possible sources for that—one the infection, and the other the toxin, the product of the lymphatic system. While the source of the toxemia might have been the infection, yet the experiments of Lochte in hyperthymization proved that there was a direct depressant and paralyzant effect on the heart muscle, and until there is a further study on the subject no one can deny the plausibility of a theory of an autointoxication with its source resident in the lymphatic appar- atus. In fact all our clinical experiences show that an infection of the type we had to deal with would not have caused such toxemia in a few hours. The question arises as to whether the condi- tion of status lymphaticus causes a lowered vital resistance, thus rendering the organism more' subject to an infection, or whether the infection was a mere coincidence and became a factor in causing death. Two positions are open to us. We can say that the infection destroyed the vital equilib- rium and permitted the toxemia due to the thymus to kill, or we can say that the lowered
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