Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair ; edited by John Davy.

Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some account of the last yellow fever epidemic of British Guiana / by Daniel Blair ; edited by John Davy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    In three cases there was remarkable cadaveric rigidity. In one case excessive obesity. The muscles in one case were pale, softened, and easily torn, and of a dirty colour. Sloughy suppurating ulcers of the temples and eyelids and calves, and outer aspects of legs and bullce containing yellow fluid (rendered green by muriatic acid) and indu- rated lymphatics, in one case. Bloody clotted extravasation, without apparent lesion of surround- ing parts over sternum, 1. Crepitation in subcutaneous cellular tissue, 1. Infiltration of bloody serum into subcutaneous cellular tissue, 1; blistered surface in a raw putrid state, 1. Blistered surfaces deep crimson, or dark and bloody, many. Putrefaction considerably advanced after 12 hours, 1.* In general the subcutaneous cellular tissue and muscles were healthy in appearance. The skin might be of a deep yellow and peritoneum white, as in e Case 2728.' The peritoneum generally took a livid or slate colour from the hyperaemiated condition of the subjacent coats of the stomach and intestines. In 13 cases it is recorded as yellow, in 3 cases as white, in 1 as remarkably pale, injected and dull in 11, congested in 1, claret or roseate colour over stomach in 1, and green in 1. The colour was partial. Thus in some of the cases in which yellowness was observed the colour was con- fined to the stomach, and in two cases exclusively to the intestines. Abdomen was tympanitic in 3 cases only; its cavity contained a con- siderable quantity of yellow serum in 1 case ; was painfully hot to the hand 3 hours after death in 1 case. Mesenteric glands were enlarged and congested in 1 case. Mesentery was extensively ecchymosed in 1 case. Mesenteric vessels gorged in 10 cases. * [In all the fatal cases which occurred in Barbados during the last inva- sion of yellow fever, the tendency to rapid putrefaction was strongly marked. It may be observed that the same tendency is exhibited within the tropics in all instances of rapid termination of acute diseases, especially if blood-letting has not been largely used. It seems referable to two circumstances, — high atmospheric temperature favourable to the putrefaction of animal matter; and the large proportional quantity of blood in the cadaver favouring slow cooling, or the retention of heat in the body. In appreciating and describing the appearances which present on post mortem examination within the tropics, or wherever the atmospheric temperature may be high, ample allowances must be made for the influences referred to, or the gravest mistakes will be committed, especially as regards inflammation. How often are parts stained or dyed by the dissolved colouring matter of the red corpuscles of the blood said to be inflamed — highly inflamed! ] — Ed.