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

  • Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

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.

    16/616
    As certain writers considered themselves justified in ques- tioning the accuracy of some of the general facts recorded in the first edition of these Researches, I have felt it my duty to inquire if I had in reality drawn premature conclusions. I with this view acted precisely as if, in the first instance, I had not taken all necessary precaution against the occurrence of error, and immediately applied myself to fresh investigations. These investigations, conducted since 1825, have corroborated the first, and led to the same conclusions; and similar results have been obtained by other persons, whose accuracy, as observers, leaves nothing to be desired. It consequently appears to me impossible, at the present day, to doubt the reality of the laws deduced from renders the latter transparent, and displays nuclei within them in avery distinct man- ner, renders the tuberculous corpuscle also more transparent, without disclosing true nuclei in it. If enough water be added to the tuberculous corpuscles to make them float, their form is discovered to approach that of an irregularly polyhedral sphere, instead of being flattened, Uke the globules of pus or cancer. They are so numerous^ generally speaking, and present so many superimposed layers in the best microscopi- cal preparations, that it is necessary to have observed them repeatedly, and with a clearly defining magnifying power of from four to five hundred diameters, in order to acquire an accurate notion of their characters, and enable the observer to detec* them in all tubercles. Pus has often been set down as a sort of first stage of tubercle, and has even in the concrete state been confounded with tubercle. But the two products differ essentially. Pus is formed of serum and globules, which gra^'itate by rest, and average of a line [j'j of a millimeter] in diameter. Their outline is tolerably well defined with- out being regularly rounded, although much more nearly approaching the spherical form than the tuberculous corpuscle; it has a wrinkled look, and presents superficial indentations. They are of a clear yellow colour, somewhat flattened, and rather of disc-like than spherical form. Their surface, which is in some sort transparent, pre- sents some molecular granulations which extend into their interior. This interior is composed of a gelatinous homogeneous fluid, and of several nuclei, which, when viewed through the involucrum, look like nebulous spots; they are not always clearly seen without the assistance of acetic acid, which renders the involucrum verj'transpai'ent* They vary in number from two to five; their diameter ranges between 5J5 and ^g'g, of a line and ^ of a millimeter] ; they are oval or round, their outline distinctly de- fined, and they lie on the same plane. The globules are identical in recent pus, no matter where it has been formed. The chemical varieties of the fluid depend upon the serum which holds the globules in suspension; if these be of bad character, it may produce alteration of shape in, and partially dissolve them. When pus is concrete, the serum has partly disappeared; but sometimes a great number of unchanged glol)ules are still to be recognized, whereas generally they have undergone alteration, and then present numerous molecidar granules, quantities of nuclei, and a great abundance of