On diphtheria : its history, progress, symptoms, treatment, and prevention / by Ernest Hart.

  • Hart, Ernest, 1835-1898.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On diphtheria : its history, progress, symptoms, treatment, and prevention / by Ernest Hart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    more or less limited, which gradually extended itself, while swelling and redness of the pharyngeal region supervened; in attacking fresh parts, the diphtheric patch tended less to progress towards the larynx than to invade the whole of the pharynx and the nasal fi»ss£e. M. Trousseau, in the paper iu which he affords this description, remarks that this epidemic resembled less those which M. Bretonneau observed at Tours than the epidemic which prevailed in Paris in 1855. It had the same characters as those which have been seen since in this country. Some rare complications presented themselves; amongst others, meningitis, and various gastro intestinal affec- tions. These, also, we have seen here. The state of the respi- ration does not appear to have been the subject of any special researches. The convalescence was long and difficult, thwarted by many accidents, and prolonged by the extreme debility which Dr. Faure especially indicated as a characteristic inci- dent. Besides this, some cases were observed of par.alysis of the soft palate, and many in which the recovery was delayed by that invincible disgust for food which affords so serious an obstacle to the efforts of the physician. This description is due in great part to M. Perrochaud, of Boulogne. M. Trousseau, however, expresses his regret that the examina- tion of the false membranes was not made more carefull}', and the mode of propagation to the nasal fossm noted. For it is certain that in severe cases of diphtheria the nasal mucous membrane ought to be the object of the most careful attention. In this view, which is abundantly sup])orted by English expe- rience, M. Bretonneau concurs in his later writings. The diph- theric condition of the posterior nares easily escapes atten- tion, but it cannot be neglected without incurring imminent danger of seeing the patient sink under its effects. Hence, in all accounts of epidemics of diphtheria, it is highly important that the influence of the disease, when seated in the nostril, should be carefully detailed. It is for this reason that an account rendered by M. Lemoine of an epidemic observed at Nibvre deserved to be