A report of microscopical & physiological researches into the nature of the agent or agents producing cholera / by T.R. Lewis and D.D. Cunningham.

Timothy Richards Lewis

Date:: 1872

Credit: A report of microscopical & physiological researches into the nature of the agent or agents producing cholera / by T.R. Lewis and D.D. Cunningham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$[ -A2 ] Experiment XYI.—A healthy pariah clog was put under the influence of chloroform at 7 a. m., and half an ounce of __ x , , the supernatant fluid of a choleraic fluid), oo hours old: deatii in evacuation* winch liad been kept six hours. ~ x right brachial vein, and was full of fine granular for four days was injected into the The fluid injected was peculiarly foetid, debris and bacteria. The animal rapidly recovered from the influence of the chloro- form, hut continued in a profoundly depressed condition until about 1 p. m., when he died. During the interval he neither vomited nor passed any stool. A post-mortem examination was performed at 4-30 p. m. „ x Rigor mortis was strongly marked. Post-mortem appearances: ,, . , . ,-P'J ., 1 There was no fluid m the peritoneal cavity ; hut there was a certain amount of injection of the omentum and mesentery with a good deal of. dark pig- mentary deposit in the same localities. The intestines were very pale, externally almost white. Throughout the entire course of the small intestines, from the pylorus to the ileo-coecal valve, the mucous membrane was congested, softened, and apparently partially disorganised. It was coated with a thick layer of semi-fluid mucous material; and on this being wiped off, the surface beneath presented a brush-like aspect due to the injection of the villi. The material was, in some parts, yellowish- white ; but in general was of various shades of pink and resembled strawberry-cream in appearance. On microscopic examination, it was found to be com- posed almost entirely of cylindrical epithelium mixed with bacteria and amorphous particles. The large in- testine also contained pinkish mucus, was not injected save along the Extreme congestion and disorganisation of the muc- ous membrane of the small intestines. This creamy fluid, on mi- croscopic examination, was found to consist almost en- tirely of perfectly preserved cylindrical epithelium. but the membrane edges of the rugae. The stomach contained semi-digested * This dejection was passed by a patient in the General Hospital. He was a sailor who had been in the harbour for only three days, and who had, previous to his seizure, never been over the side of the ship. The symptoms came on with extreme violence and sudden- ness, whilst he was in full health. The evacuations were extremely characteristic, and the term “rice-water” was peculiarly adapted to describe their appearance. That examined was passed two hours after seizure. On microscopic examination, the flocculi were found to consist entirely of brightly refractive cells, resembling those found in recent exudations, embedded in shreds of fibrinous material (so perfect was the resemblance that slides consisting of the flocculi and slides of quite recent fiocculent exudation, removed from the surface of the liver, associated with peritonitis, when placed under separate microscopes could not be distinguished the one from the other); these cells in the course of a few hours broke down completely, whereupon the extraordinary resemblance which this dejection bore to rice- water disappeared.$