A discourse on some of the diseases of the knee-joint; delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society, at their annual meeting, May 31, 1837 / [George Hayward].

  • George Hayward
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A discourse on some of the diseases of the knee-joint; delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society, at their annual meeting, May 31, 1837 / [George Hayward]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    limb or the life of the patient. Though surgeons did not, till recently, know the exact difference in these morbid affections, they soon discovered, that they were not precisely the same; and they therefore made a division of white-swellings,—a very loose and inaccurate one, to be sure,—into the rheumatic and the scrofulous. It is not, however, so singular, as at first view it may seem to be, that diseases, differing from each other as much as those do of which I have just spoken, should be confounded under a common name. There is a close resemblance in their morbid appearances, when they have advanced to that stage that the removal of the limb is necessary to preserve the life of the patient. In each of them, we find, at this period, that the synovial membrane is thickened, and oftentimes changed in structure, the cartilages ulcerated, the bones carious, and not unfrequently a collection of pus in the cavity of the joint. But, though the mistake might easily be made, it is not the less important to avoid it, as the same treatment is not adapted to all of them. They can be dis¬ criminated by careful attention to the diagnostic marks of each; and, though I may not have described them clearly, they nevertheless have a real existence. It was my intention, to trace only the prominent features of these diseases, in the hope of calling your attention to an obscure but important subject, and one which has too long been consigned to unmerited neglect. If I shall be fortunate enough to do this, my purpose will be answered. 4
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