Volume 1

A treatise on syphilis : historical and practical / by E. Lancereaux ; translated by G. Whitley.

  • Étienne Lancereaux
Date:
1868-1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on syphilis : historical and practical / by E. Lancereaux ; translated by G. Whitley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    throughout the whole organ. The affected points are hard when cut, they appear darker, drier and more consistent. Sometimes they are of a blackish red colour and resemble hsemorrhagic deposits, and it is even difficult to distinguish them from inflammatory coriges- tions. Later on, the redness disappears, especially at the centre ; the tissue of the organ, while becoming drier and harder, takes on a paler colour; sometimes, on the contrary, it is of a greyish red. Prom this moment, the augmentation of the conjunctive tissue is evident. At the points where the change takes the form of a deposit, there is afterwards seen a retraction, a thickening, and a cicatricial depres- sion, as we have seen in the syphilitic lesions of the liver, the testicle, and the iris. White and thickened in such cases, the fibrous cap- sule of this gland generally adheres to the diaphragm (perisple- nitis). Gummy deposits show themselves in the spleen with their usual characters, that is to say in the form of rounded, whitish or yellowish nodosities, single or multiple, and more or less deep-seated. These manifestations are comparatively rare, a few cases only giving evidence of their existence. Willis has given a sketch which repre- sents one of these tumours situated in the substance of the splenic parenchyma, near the fibrous capsule. Hutchinson and Jackson have given two cases in which a similar change is mentioned, and it would perhaps be possible to connect with these different cases an observation by Meyer, in which the spleen, developed and increased in size, presented whitish deposits upon its capsule [Obs. VI.*]. A simple increase in the volume of the spleen is, on the contrary, frequent, at least in the cases which we have ourselves observed. But since no mechanical impediment to the hepatic circulation existed, and since there was no other cause to explain the existence of this change, we are almost compelled to attribute this modification to the syphilitic diathesis. The organ generally measured from six to eight inches; its consistence was soft, its colour brownish, mottled, and of a greyish white at some points. The microscope showed in it granular elements in the process of retrograde evolu- tion. Deep Lymphatic Glands.—The study of the syphilitic changes of these glands has only been made within the last few years. Swediaur admits that in his time no authentic observation of these • See Schtnidt's Jahrbiicher, t. cxiv. j). 312, 1862.