Constitutional syphilis : being a practical illustration of the disease in its secondary and tertiary phases / by James George Beaney.

  • James Beaney
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Constitutional syphilis : being a practical illustration of the disease in its secondary and tertiary phases / by James George Beaney. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SUBSTERNAL TENDERNESS A SYMPTOM. deposition of fibro-plastic material in the various tissues of the body; and by the formation of distinct deposits, or by interstitial exudation, the different viscera may be so affected as to involve the life of the individual. The liver is frequently the seat of syphilitic lesion; the bi-ain and its membranes are also liable to its invasion, inducing epilepsy, mania, paralysis, and many other serious and fatal diseases. Syphilis of the lungs is frequently mistaken for other diseases of these organs. Until the disease declares itself upon the skin and mucous membranes, the symptoms are frequently obscure, but from well-directed observations I find many persons complain of tenderness under the clavicle, and I have frequently found this symptom to be an excellent diagnostic sign, as weU as the substernal tenderness pointed out by Dr. Brodrick, of Madras. This gentleman thus writes in the Edinburgh Medical Journal, on substernal tenderness:— It can only be detected by pressure on the bone, and when searching for it formerly I used to knead the bone with the fore and middle fingers, carefully, from the manu- brium to the scaphoid cartilage. In a case of suspected constitutional syphylis, if the patient be asked if he has got a pain in the breast-bone, he will probably answer in the negative. The medical man should then knead the sternum carefully and gently along the whole of its course, and the tender spot will generally be found at the com- mencement of the lower thii^d. With much practice and observation in this class of cases, I now generally succeed in touching the tender spot at once, to the great surprise of the patient, previously quite ignorant of the existence of the tenderness. If sub- sternal tenderness be found, I believe we are quite safe in assuming that the subject of it labours under acquired venereal taint, which may have been masked by divers
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