Case of hypertrophy of the spleen and liver, which death took place from suppuration of the blood / by John Hughes Bennett.

  • John Hughes Bennett
Date:
[1845?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of hypertrophy of the spleen and liver, which death took place from suppuration of the blood / by John Hughes Bennett. 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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    CASE OF HYPERTROPHY OF THE SPLEEN AND LIVER, WHICH DEATH TOOK PLACE FROM SUPPURATION OF THE BLOOD. BY JOHN HUGHES BENNETT, M.D., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on the Practice of Physic, and on Clinical Medicine, Pathologist to the Royal Infirmary, &c. (From the Edin. Med. and Surg. Journal, No. 165.) The very remarkable case about to be related derives unusual interest from its similitude in almost every respect to the one just recorded by Dr Craigie.* Although the most evident lesion dur- ing life was enlargement of the spleen, I agree with him in thinking that the immediate cause of death was owing to the presence of purulent matter in the blood, notwithstanding the absence of any recent inflammation, or collection of pus in the tissues. Numerous authors have asserted f that they have found puru- lent matter in the blood, independent of any local inflammation, or abscess from which it could have been derived. Hitherto all such statements have been very vague, because no measures were taken to ascertain whether this purulent-looking matter was really pus. We frequently meet with animal fluids, ■which, to the naked eye, resemble pus, although, when more minutely examined, they are found deficient in the peculiar cells that characterize that mor- bid product. Gulliver more especially has pointed out that the colourless coagula which form in the heart and large vessels break down mechanically or by maceration into a pulpy mass or fluid. • See Dr Craigie's case in same Number of Journal from which this is extracted f Bichat, Ribes, Gendrin, Andral, Bouillaud, Caiswell, &c. &c.
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