The diseases of the heart and the aorta / by William Stokes.

  • William Stokes
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The diseases of the heart and the aorta / by William Stokes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    appear,—that the signs of a recent and trivial affection at one portion of the heart may altogether obscure or prevent those of a disease longer in standing and much more important,—that functional alteration may not only cause the signs of organic lesion to vary infinitely, but even to wholly disappear,—that the signs on which he has formed his opinion to-day may be wanting to-morrow, —and lastly, that to settle the simple question between the existence of functional and that of organic disease will occasionally baffle the powers of even the most en- lightened and experienced physician. Yet, even since the times of Corvisart and Laennec there has been a great advance in our knowledge of car- diac and arterial disease ; and, in proof of this assertion, it is only necessary to refer to the many works of a formal nature, and again to the numerous and equally valuable class of monographs which have been produced on these subjects during the last few years. From unavoidable circumstances, the composition and printing of this work have been spread over a period of several years. This, I trust, will be taken as an apo- logy for my omitting to notice some important addi- tions to our knowledge, which appeared subsequently to the printing of the chapters devoted to the considera- tion of these subjects. Thus I have been unable to notice the observations of Virchow on obstruction of the arteries in cases of dis- ease of the aortic valve, nor the confirmatory researches of Dr. Kirkes, which have been recently published, nor, again, those of Dr. M‘Dowel on the diagnosis of dilata- tion of the heart. The memoir of Dr. Gairdner, with reference to the relation between simple dilatation of the heart and the atrophic diseases of the lung, contains much matter for consideration, and should his views as to the
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