An essay on the use of nitric acid, as an escharotic, in certain forms of hemorrhoidal affections; illustrated by cases / by John Houston.
- Houston John, 1802-1845.
- Date:
- 1843
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An essay on the use of nitric acid, as an escharotic, in certain forms of hemorrhoidal affections; illustrated by cases / by John Houston. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![! fering somewhat as to their origin and nature, produce never- theless equal inconvenience, and admit of cure by the same means. One of these is that to which the term “ erectile” has been applied, from the supposed resemblance of the disease to congenital affections of this class; the other,—a congested, hy- pertrophied, and tender state of the membrane, the result of irritative, or inflammatory action. The first is regarded by many as a sort of aneurism by anas- tomosis of the small vessels of the mucous membrane and sub- mucous tissue exclusively, and may be independent from the first of varices of the general veins about the anus. Mr. Colles, who had an opportunity of examining the structure of one of those tumours in a person who died of another disease, says, “ on slitting up the rectum, I saw three blood-vessels, each as large as a crow-quill, running for some way down the intestine and then dividing into a number of branches; these vessels ra- mified very profusely, and each seemed by interweaving of its branches to form one of these tumours. The trunks and branches 1 ! were covered only by the lining membrane of the intestine. This examination shows us how inapplicable to this disease are the I terms ‘ varicose tumors,’ ‘ hemorrhoidal excrescences.’ ” This ]i affection may occur in youth, and has been seen high up in the j intestinal canal; but its most frequent seat is the lower part of i I the rectum. There is not originally or necessarily any pain aris- I ingout of it; but, by long exposure in the rectum to many ji sources of irritation, and by enlargement and prolapse from the 'jaiuis, it runs into a state of actual disease, of which Cases I. |( and II. may serve as examples. It differs from ordinary naevi in not being necessarily congenital, but resembles them too ;i much in its persistent tendency to increase in growth. They are, |lboth, affections which equally require operations for their re- limoval. The second variety of the vascular tumour is of a chronic in- Ifflammatory nature, and may be best described by comparing it ||tto the red, villous, tender, hemorrhagic surface exhibited by](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2172782x_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
