On the relief of excessive and dangerous tympanites, by puncture of the abdomen : a memoir / by John W. Ogle.

  • John Ogle
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the relief of excessive and dangerous tympanites, by puncture of the abdomen : a memoir / by John W. Ogle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    the diaphragm ; and no doubt serious damage, by pressure on the various nerves, eminently the sym- pathetic system, and upon the blood-vessels, as well in the abdominal [2] as the thoracic cavity [3]. The likelihood of unwonted pressure on the sympathetic system by over-distended stomach and bowels, and the consequent evils, will be apparent on considering the relation of those viscera to the grand solar plexus and to the various ganglia which exercise such important influence upon the circulation, and upon the numerous secreting organs whose action, reflexly, on the heart and lungs, is so conspicuous. This ex- cessive gastro-intestinal distension possesses the sig- nificance of that paralysis, more or less complete, of the diaphragm which arises from lesion of the phrenic or internal respiratory nerves, division or inter- ference with the direct influence of which, as we know, ere long produces death * [4]. And, of course, interference with the inspiratory descending move- ment of the diaphragm, limiting the due and proper expansion of the chest cavity, quickly limits the exchange of the respiratory gases in the blood, and leads to swift disaster.f * Those threads on which our lives hang, as Mr Hilton says. f This limitation will be the more serious if there be, in addition, disease of the lungs or heart, such as emphysema. Sir T. Watson, in his lectures, alludes to the further encroachments on the office and capability of emphysematous lung by a distended abdomen. Some interesting observations by Dr G. Harley appear in a communication to the ' Lancet' (March 24th, 1888, On the Effects of Moderate Drinking, &c) regarding the evil effects of wind-distension of the stomach in organic disease of the heart. He adduces cases tending