Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson's reports of an experimental study of infective inflammations.

  • Burdon-Sanderson, John Scott, 1828-1905.
Date:
[1875]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson's reports of an experimental study of infective inflammations. 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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    on the 22nd day; it was inoculated in two places. Both wounds arc open and have indurated borders. Numerous small sub-cutaneous abscesses are scattered over both flanks in the neighbourhood of the wounds. The right middle lobe of the left lung contains in its depth a hard nodule about two lines in diameter. There are one or two sub- serous nodules in the spleen. The other organs are healthy. No. 3 died on the 26th day. The wound is open and a cord of induration extends from it for three-quarters of an inch to an abscess which is in immediate contact with the scapular gland, lying between it and the wound. The abscess measures five lines in diameter, and the gland, which is softened and contains creamy pus, is nearly as large. The other sub-cutaneons glands are healthy. [In this animal the internal organs were destroyed by its companions, so that they could not be examined.] No. 4 died on the 27tli day. A very large abscess exists at the seat of inoculation, and a smaller one in its immediate neighbour- hood, The scapular gland of the same side is enlarged and softened. The internal organs are found, on scrupulous examination, to be healthy. —On the 18th of November a guinea-pig was inoculated with pus from a pyaemic abscess in the posterior mediastinum of a patient Avho died in hospital on the previous day. The bodies of several dorsal vertebral were diseased, and their excavated and roughened surfaces formed part of the wall of the abscess. There were pyaemic nodules in the lungs and kidneys. The animal was killed 32 days after inoculation. An abscess three or four lines in diameter, containing creamy pus enclosed in a membranous capsule, exists at the seat of inoculation. The capsule is firmly adherent to the skin and panniculus. The subcutaneous lymph- atic glands are not enlarged, and the internal organs are healthy. To these observations made in 1867-8 I append another of more recent date.* A girl aged 16 was admitted into the London Hospital on the 3rd July 1870, with strumous disease of the bones of the little finger and great toe. On the 12 th of January 1871 the diseased organs were removed. The wound of the foot healed favourably, but that of the hand became unhealthy. Pytemic symptoms (infective fever) appeared on the 26th. On the 7th of February an abscess was opened in the neighbourhood of the elbow joint. Pus was collected in calcined glass tubes which were immediately sealed. The same day the pus so collected was injected into the peritoneal cavities of several guinea-pigs according to the following method. In each case a sharpened cannula previously boiled is first introduced through the anterior abdominal Avail into the peritoneum. A capillary tube open at one end and expanded at the other into a closed bulb having been prepared, the pus is discharged into a calcined cup of glass, like that used for holding vaccine in my former experiments. The open end of the capillary tube is then dipped into the pus, and filled by capillarity to a certain distance. [If desired, the quantity taken up can be easily determined by the balance.] The charged end is then passed by the cannula into the peritoneum, and the bulb slightly warmed, by Avhich means the whole of the pus is dis- charged.—Nine weeks after inoculation two of these animals Avere dissected. Both exhibited the same appearances. The lesions observed (in No. 1) were as folloivs:—At the seat of puncture there is a slight induration. The inguinal glands are enlarged and softened on both sides ; the scapular glands are also somewhat enlarged; but the other subcuta- neous glands are normal. The inguinal glands, particularly on the right Apr. No. 2. On Infective Inflammations, by Or. Burdon Sanderson. Experiments in 1871. * This experiment is briefly referred to in my report for 1871.