Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain, to Charles William Quin / [William Patterson].

  • Patterson, William
Date:
1794
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters concerning the internal dropsy of the brain, to Charles William Quin / [William Patterson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/98 (page 21)
    C 2* ]- of illuftration. Neither does the phlegmon, which is an inflammation of the cellular membrane; nor , does the inflammation of pituitous membranes,. whofe texture differs materially from that of the. meninges of the brain ; nor in any meafure does the inflammation of mufcular iibres feem applicable to this purpofe. I fliall, therefore, confine my attention to the 3d fpecies, the inflammation of Diaphanous Mem¬ branes fa difeafe which is at prefent more known by its termination, than by its fymptoms. Under this name are comprehended all thofe membranes poflTefling a firm hard texture, and a certain degree of tranfparency; fuch as the pleura, peritonaeum, pericardium, meninges of the brain. See. From the fmall fhare of fenfibility which thofe membranes, in their natural ftate, feemed fo enjoy, it had been too haftily concluded, that they could not be the feat of inflammation or of acute pain. But it is unneceflTary to take up time in refuting an opinion, which is fufficiently contradided by the fymptoms of the difeafe, and by the numerous diflfe^lion of mor¬ bid bodies. The particular fymptoms which cha- raOierize the inflammation of thefe membranes, are not yet fully afeertained. That it is attended, how¬ ever, with confiderable pain, and with a high fever; and that the fever is in proportion to the inflamma¬ tion and pain; appear to be fadfs fubftantiated by obfervation. But from thofe difeafes with which it ! is liable to be confounded, it is particularly difiin- j guifhed by its termination. _-_ ^