Researches on phthisis, anatomical, pathological and therapeutical.
- Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis
- Date:
- 1844
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Researches on phthisis, anatomical, pathological and therapeutical. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
64/616 page 24
![diate contact with healthy pulmonary tissue, or, if not actually healthy, simply engorged to a slight amount; this is, in truth, extremely rare. But might it not be considered that some motive exists for inquiring whether this cavity was really tuberculous or the pa- tient really phthisical? Might it not be urged that there were neither tubercles nor gray granulations in the lungs, nor ulcer- ations in the larynx, trachea, or intestines,—lesions of such common occurrence in phthisis ? True; but, on the other hand, the purulent matter in the cavity was perfectly similar to that usually found in tuberculous excavations, its lining membrane differed in no respect from those observed in the latter; and, lastly, one of the cervical glands was partially tuberculous: this last argument is perhaps one of the most conclusive; for, as we shall hereafter see, I have never observed tuberculous transfor- mation of the lymphatic glands except in phthisical subjects. Among the circumstances of this case which deserve to be briefly recalled are, the pleurisy, occurring on the left side, and accompanied by sharp pain at its invasion; the partial and general attenuations of the mucous membrane of the stomach, unassociated with notable softening; the altered colour of the uterus resulting from inflammation; and the oedema of the lower extremities evidently referrible to the obstruction of the femora] veins. I shall conclude the remarks it was my intention to make upon the subject of tuberculous cavities, by observing that I have not in a single instance discovered, in the midst of healthy pulmonary tissue, cavities communicating with the bronchi and lined, like old-existing tuberculous excavations, with a false mem- brane of slightly grayish colour and opaque semi-cartilaginous appearance. Nevertheless, such cavities have been observed by Laennec, and subsequently by several other investigators, in the bodies of persons who had, during periods of variable duration, laboured under the symptoms of phthisis; and on the evidence of their structure it would appear difficult to avoid regarding them as consequences of softening of tubercles, and a mode of cure of this morbid product. The preceding case is well calculated to support this view; for here, as in the instances referred to, supplied by the experience of other observers, the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21015235_0064.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
