Descriptive catalogue of the pathological specimens contained in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

  • James Paget
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Descriptive catalogue of the pathological specimens contained in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    Parts of both the preceding cases are published by Mr, ThurnatQ in a paper, On Aneurisms of the Heart, in the Medico-Chirur- gical Transactions, vol. xxi. pp. 213-215 ; and a part of No. 333 is represented in the same volume, pi. iii. fig. 2. [In addition to the two preceding cases the follo-wing are in- serted, both because they perhaps belong to the preparations No. 552, 553, and because they explain Mr. Hunter's opinions, hitherto unpublished, on the nature and distinction of clots (or polj'pi, as they have been called) formed in the heart before and after death.] Palpitation of the Heart. Captain Harris has been troubled with a palpitation of the heart for some time, which came upon him, when shut up in a dungeon in a Prench prison. It often leaves him, and then he is very well; but when he is attacked (which is very often), the heart beats with extreme frequency, viz. 160 in a minute. The shock against the ribs is so strong as to be seen through his common clothes, and can easily be heard in a still room. This violent motion of the heart shakes the whole body, which is easily to be seen. While in one of these fits, which often lasts for weeks, he will be extremely cold, then hot, and then break out in a sweat. Sometimes the palpitation will leave him all at once, and then he is well, but will immediately return again. While in the fit a little thing fatigues him, and he breathes with great difficulty. Something seems to rise in his throat, and then his head is affected, and he feels as if going to expire. Surprise will sometimes bring it on, and another will often carry it off. Bleeding in the time of the fit is the only relief.—Hunterian MS. Gases in Medicine and Surgery, p. 455. May 1757.—With Doctor Pringle, I opened the body of Mr. Harris, a man about forty or upwards. His abdominal vis- cera were very sound, excepting the kidney on the left side, [which] was become white in some places. The right lobe of the lungs adhered everywhere to the ribs and sternum, excepting a little part on the posterior surface ; which space was filled with water, and was very likely the cause of the non-adherence of that part. The left lobe only adhered at the upper part; and there was near half-a-pint of water in that side. *' On opening the pericardium we found a little more water than usual in health. The heart was very large, and not very fat. On cutting into the right auricle, I found its coats very thick and muscular : and a large polypus, nearly filling the whole auricle, extended into the ventricle ; from thence into the pulmo- nary artrey, and was continued into the two venoe cav^. This polypus was white on the upper surface, and black on the under. In the veins it was not so firm, and blacker; the same in the pulmonary artery ; became more and more so towards the extre- mities of the smaller ramifications ; and where the pulmonary vidvcs were, there were plainly the marks of them on the polypus.