Intestinal obstruction / by William Brinton; edited by Thomas Buzzard.

  • William Brinton
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Intestinal obstruction / by William Brinton; edited by Thomas Buzzard. 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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    the tube above its division scarcely differs from that pro- ducible by a Hgature or an ordinary stricture. Lastly, if, in a thuxl rabbit, w^e divide both the pneumo- gastric nerves near their origin, and thus artificially para- lyse the oesophagus, the resulting accumulation of* food not only amounts to an obstruction, but becomes some- times so great as to thi'eaten the suffocation of the animal; and thus forms what is virtually an obstacle no way less complete or dangerous than a ligature. Some would, perhaps, suggest that these two forms of obstruction might be conveniently distinguished by apply- ing to the one, and withholding from the other, the ej^ithet mechanical. But the propriety of such'an epithet seems very doubtful, inasmuch as the impediment caused by a mere failure of contractile power is, strictly speaking, quite as mechanical as any physical obstacle impacted in the bowel. It therefore appears to me better to recognise the true relation of the two, than vainly to search aftfer words; to which, after all, we should have, to assign a ncAV and arbitrary meaning, in order to render their use of any real service. Hence we may recognise at the outset that, in many forms of intestinal obstruction, the physical obstacle is from the very first enhanced by local embarrassment or failure of peristalsis; that in rare instances, it is exclusively due to such want of propulsive energy; that in almost all instances, the later stages of that mischief which is brought about by such obstruction afford abundant evidence of a more diffuse paralysis, itself amounting to a further in- crease (or at any rate upward displacement) of the original stoppage. Conceding all these points, and deferring their due consideration to a more fitting occasion, there can be * Such an animal, under these circumstances, often eats greedily, and swallows (as to the pharynx) easily.
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