On visceral hæmorrhages in stillborn children : an analysis of 130 autopsies being a contribution to the study of the causation of stillbirth / by Herbert R. Spencer.

  • Spencer, Herbert R. (Herbert Ritchie), 1860-1941
Date:
[1892]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On visceral hæmorrhages in stillborn children : an analysis of 130 autopsies being a contribution to the study of the causation of stillbirth / by Herbert R. Spencer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the size of a peeled almond, or extending the whole length of the cord, or filling up the processus vaginalis [as shown in the above Woodcut]. Under the microscope the loose tissue of the spermatic cord is seen to be everywhere in61- trated with blood, and the veins to be greatly distended. This grave injury may possibly explain certain cases of non- descent of the testicle when it occurs before the organ has left the abdomen (as in the museum specimen exhibited). The healthy testis of a new-born child is a small lilac- grey organ, nearly a centimetre long and half a centimetre broad. On cutting into it the section is of a dark pink colour. When the organ is congested, or has blood effused into it, the colour of the tunica albuginea becomes much darkened till it may assume a dark-blue aspect, and some- times enlarged veins may be seen just beneath the surface. On section the testis is then found to be of a dark brown- red, black-red, or even quite black colour (according to the amount of blood effused), and the cut surface bulges from the capsule. In some cases the haemorrhage will be found in small scattered patches; in others it radiates in the mediastinum. Often the brown-red streaks seen in the mediastinum are merely dilated vessels without actual effusion. In some cases it can be observed with the naked eye that the blood is collected mainly under the tunica albuginea; this is usually very obvious to the naked eye on holding a microscopic section to the light. The epididymis is much less affected by congestion or haemorrhage, probably owing to its denser structure. On microscopic examination with a low power there is found great congestion of, and haemorrhage into, the hilum of the testis, and blood is effused extensively into the connective tissue of the body of the gland (PI. V, fig. 3). The colouring matter of the blood collects beneath the capsule as an orange-coloured deposit, and in places, in the body of the organ, it shows a tendency to crystallise. Con- gestion of, and haemorrhage into, the epididymis is also found ; but the injuries to this structure are strikingly less than those of the testis.