Case of cholera, in which the blood was remarkably altered / By James M. Cowan.
- Cowan, James M.
- Date:
- 1854
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Case of cholera, in which the blood was remarkably altered / By James M. Cowan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![CASE OF CHOLERA, IN WHICH THE BLOOD WAS REMARKABLY ALTERED. By JAMES M. COWAN, M.D., EDINBURGH. [Eepi^inted from the Monthly Journal of Medical Science for March 1854.] Since the researches of Bennett and Virchow, on the structural alterations of the blood, every observation connected with that sub- ject has acquired a degree of interest hitherto unknown. Hence the following case, though an isolated one, may not be undeserving attention :— Mrs G., set. 61, wifex)f a shoemaker, living in No. 48, Candlemaker Row, was admitted into the Edinburgh Cholera Hospital at 1.5 p.m. of the 8th of February 1854. Immediately thereafter I found her pulseless at the wrist, complaining of cramps in the calves of both legs, recurring every four or five minutes, and when present, giving rise to great pain. Slie had also, almost incessant purg- / ing and vomiting. The stools presented the usual appearances of rice-water discharges, and the matter vomited seemed to contain some bile. The surface of the body generally felt cold, the skin doughy, the tongue and breath were also cold, the former being coated with a thick brown fur. She had a peculiar sunken expression ; countenance of a deep sallow tint; eyes mucli depressed in the orbits, and surrounded by a very pronounced dark areola. The voice was very weak, almost whispering. At 10 o'clock P.M. of same day, the heat of surface is reported as good ; the pulse barely perceptible at the wrists ; occasional vomiting; excessive thirst ; purging almost incessant. She has made no water. It is doubtful when urine was last passed—according to her own account, not since the day of seizure, four days before admission. Feb. 9th, 10 a.m.—Had slept during the night ; vomiting is abated ; purging continues much the same. Pulse small and thready, but quite perceptible ; temperature good; thirst not so urgent. 2 p.m.—Pulse evidently rising in strength. I drew off by catheter about 5ij. of turbid dark-coloured urine, which was found highly albuminous, and presented the same reaction on the addition of nitric acid, as Dr Parkes has pointed out in the urine of cliolera. 11 P.M.—Pulse is described as of natural strength, 90 per minute. Within the last two and a half hours has had three stools, chiefly fluid of a dark green colour, and containing a very small prnpnrlioii of solid flocculcnt matter. Other symptoms have disappeared.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21364710_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
