Researches on phthisis: anatomical, pathological and therapeutical / by P. C. A. Louis.

  • Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis
Date:
1844
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Researches on phthisis: anatomical, pathological and therapeutical / by P. C. A. Louis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    characters of its lining mucous membrane, and point out a pe- culiarity of structure, commonly neglected by observers, which it invariably presents in the healthy state. § 1. Mucous Membrane of the Small Intestine in the natural state. In the healthy state the walls of the intestine are very thin and semi-transparent,—to such a degree, that if a fragment of them be spread out on the fingers, the lines and furrows in these may commonly be distinguished through it. Here are, nevertheless, the mucous, muscular, and perito- neal coats united by a little cellular tissue. As soon as any one of these tunics undergoes morbid alteration of any kind, the semi-transparency disappears. The mucous membrane of the small intestine is naturally white, and somewhat thicker in the jejunum than in the ileum, where it may be compared to a sheet of blotting-paper. If an incision be made through the mucous membrane, one side of this raised with a scalpel, and then seized with the points of the fingers or with a forceps, strips of from five to ten lines [10 to 20 millimeters] long, may be removed. This experiment suffices to show the amount of consistence of the mucous membrane in the natural state; and when such strips cannot be obtained in the manner described, the neces- sary inference is, that the tissue is more or less seriously altered in structure. From place to place, at intervals of greater or less extent, there are seen on the surface of the membrane certain oval patches of very variable dimensions. They are observed in the lower three quarters, sometimes in the entire extent, of the in- testine, and vary in number from twenty to thirty, or often- times more. They are seated opposite the attachment of the mesentery to the bowel, and measure from one inch and two lines to four inches and ten lines [3 to 13 centimeters] in width, by from six inches and five lines to eight inches [16 mention that these had been communicated to M. Chomel several months before tlie appearance of the work in question; and that, far from suppressing any of my own details in consequence of its publication, I have thought it expedient to leave them completely imaltercd, as furnishing an additional proof, that the same attention in observing facts of the same order must of necessity lead (o the same results.