Inaugural dissertation on enlargement of the heart : submitted to the Medical Faculty of the University of Edinburgh, in conformity with the rules for graduation, by authority of the Very Reverend Principal Baird, and with the sanction of the senatus academicus / by William Robertson.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inaugural dissertation on enlargement of the heart : submitted to the Medical Faculty of the University of Edinburgh, in conformity with the rules for graduation, by authority of the Very Reverend Principal Baird, and with the sanction of the senatus academicus / by William Robertson. 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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    ] 6 was very white, apparently from thickening of its lining membrane. Lungs gorged with blood and serum. The weight of the heart, when all the blood was squeezed out of it, was gxxii. This case embraces several points of interest. The peculiar appearance of the cavity of the left ventricle renders it probable, that an inflamma- tory process had at one time being going on there, and that the thickened and shortened state of the aortic and mitral valves, was the effect of the contraction of a portion of coagulable lymph, thrown out upon these valves, during the course of the inflammation. Many similar instances of contraction of these valves have fallen under the notice of Andral, and he has given a valuable re- cord of his reasons, for believing inflammation to be the primary disease in such cases.* Another interesting feature in the case of Galloway, is the example which it presents of “ active aneurism of the heart,” caused undoubtedly by disease of the valves: and it becomes necessary to consider, how these valvular derangements operate in pro- ducing enlargement. A valve, which has suffered from inflammation, may offer a double obstacle to the circulation: by its contraction, it presents an obstacle in an orifice through which blood * Amlral Clinique, p. 239, and Appendix to Cullen, by Gregory.