Myxœdema, cretinism and the goitres : with some of their relations / by Edward T. Blake.

  • Blake, Edward T. (Edward Thomas), 1842-1905
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Myxœdema, cretinism and the goitres : with some of their relations / by Edward T. Blake. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mental myxoedema, whilst it is usually absent in chronic experimental myxoedema. That the septic and infective invasions connected with child-bearing predispose to the disease, is shown by the interesting table of Hun and Prudden. Sixty-four myx- oedematous women had Jbad over three hundred children and twenty-nine miscarriages. Myxoedema occurs at all ages, and in both sexes. It occurs in the male, as in the following case,^ but it is most frequent in women between the ages of 30 and 6.5. It is especially common at the menopause. Several members of one family are sometimes afflicted. Case 1. Myxoedema in the Male. (See Frontispiece.) J. Taviner, age 45, was admitted into the Paddington Infirmary, under the care of Dr. Savill, on Nov. 1,1888. His symptoms commenced about eight years before with weak- ness, pufiiness of the skin, first in the forehead and eyehds, then in the feet, and a tendency to feel the cold very much. The family history shows great longevity in his ancestors, and he has a healthy family of three. There is nothing of importance in the previous history, except that he used to drink beer and spirits heavily ; no history of syphilis. His condition when admitted was very typical of the disease. The following note was made :—He is a finely formed man, with a chest measurement of 40 inches; the face looks swollen, especially round the eyes, nose and cheeks ; the lips are thickened; the skin is very dry a.nd somewhat wrinkled ; the hair on the scalp and face is scanty, wiry, and brittle. The expression of his countenance is dull and placid, and there is a pink flush on the nose and on each cheek. The skin of the extremities is very dry and scurfy, while the hands are flat and spade-like. ]n both supra- clavicular regions there is a distinct fulness. The thyroid cannot be felt. ' For the excellent coloured illustration, and for the details of the case, which was read before the Medical Society, I am indebted to Dr. Savill,