Case of white fibro-serous discharge from the thigh / by A.B. Buchanan, M.D.

  • Buchanan, Andrew Bogle.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of white fibro-serous discharge from the thigh / by A.B. Buchanan, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    19/34 (page 15)
    ]5 eflusiou from the skiu^ iu this cusc froui a female subject, occurred in the north of France. It is referred to by Haller, in his ' Physiology/ The description by Dr. Bour- don being short, may be translated in full.' I have met, in the course of my practice, with a young ■woman twenty years of age, from the upper part of whose left thigh as much milk is discharged by small pustules over the pubes, and even upon the labia vulvae, as a nurse could supply from her breasts. This milk yields butter, curd, and serum, like cow's milk, from which it only differs by a sensible acrimony perceived by the tongue in tasting it. The thigh from which it flows is much swollen, and the oedema, which is unaccompanied with pain, is relieved and diminished in proportion to the amount of the discharge. Sometimes it runs so profusely that the patient has to keep the part bandaged, with firm compresses over the pustules, in order to check it, inasmuch as the abimdant loss proves ex- tremely exhausting. The patient is well formed, with a suffi- cient amount of embonpoint, and with her breasts proportion- ately developed. At seven years white menstrual discharges made their appearance, and have since continued regular, both in quantity and quality. But for the last seven or eight months, if I mistake not, since this milk has begun to flow, she has not menstruated. Except for the exhaustion which has been mentioned, her health is good. 3. A somewhat similar case, not, however, said to have been chronic, and of which the history is very imperfect, is mentioned by Dr. llommel.^ A woman who was nursing twins began to complain, a few days after the death of one of them, of a sense of dull pain and tension beneath the ribs on the right side of the abdomen, and over the um- bilicus. This feeling was succeeded by itching, the itching by scratching, and the scratching by an exudation of fluid from the skin, the colour, taste, and consistence of which 1 Extrait d'une Lettre a M. Lemery, par M. le Dr. Bourdon ^ Ciimbrai, contenant quelque chose de fort singulier; 'Journal de S(;.ivans,' June 5, 1684.