On periostitis, or inflammation of the periosteum / [Sir Philip Crampton].

  • Sir Philip Crampton, 1st Baronet
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On periostitis, or inflammation of the periosteum / [Sir Philip Crampton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/30 page 334
    and the constitutional disturbance is proportionably severe. The finger, which is the seat of the disease, and soon afterwards the hand, become swollen and tense almost to bursting ; erysipelatous inflammation, attended with oedema, quickly extends over the hand and arm—the fingers become livid, and if relief be not obtained by a timely operation, the disease terminates in the destruction, by sphacelus, of one or jnore of the phalanges. But the mischief does not always end here, as the mortification sometimes extends to the integuments of the hand, and even of the fore arm ; deep seated abscesses are formed among the mus¬ cles, and after weeks, or even months of suffering, the patient may be esteemed fortunate who escapes from a neglected inflammation of the periosteum of a single phalanx, with a stiffened and mutilated hand. In the paronychia of the sheath (paronychia tendinei) the suppuration, after having proceeded to a greater or lesser extent along the sheath, finds its way to the surface through a small opening, which soon throws up a, painful fungus, perforated in the centre, through which a probe may be readily passed down to the tendon, but no farther. In the parony¬ chia periostei, on the contrary, the disease, when committed to nature, I believe uniformly produces sphacelus of the soft parts 5 and the probe being in¬ troduced through the slough, passes down at once to the naked bone. I have been led into this short digression upon the subject of paronychia, from a consideration of its vast importance, since there is.
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