Foreign bodies in the air-passages : the substance of two clinical lectures delivered in the Western Infirmary, Glasgow / by Hector C. Cameron.

Cameron, Hector Clare, 1843-1928.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899]

Credit: Foreign bodies in the air-passages : the substance of two clinical lectures delivered in the Western Infirmary, Glasgow / by Hector C. Cameron. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$IXTEUX AT H )X'-A L CMX ICS. foriuod by brouchiectusis in tlic lower lobo, and tlie f'yroij^n body was probably originally in one of them, but earried out of it at the post- mortean examination in the way indicated above. In fact, the whole lower lobe was converted into a congeries of such cavities, wliich were sei)arated by fibrous tissue, there being no trace of proper pulmonary tissue remaining. This part of the lung is devoid of pigment. There was a large cavity in the upper lobe of this lung, which had probably originated by gangrene, as it had none of the characters of a brojichi- ectatic cavity. There was also a small cavity at the apex of the other lung. A very remarkable feature in the case is the absence of adhe- sion between the two layers of pleura over the affected lung. At the time of the jjost-mortem examination there Avas recent adhesion, from the inflammation following the operation, but, apart from this slight gluing, the two layers of pleura were non-adherent except near the apex.” In all these three cases no suspicion was entertained of the jiresence of any foreign body in the chest; but another class of cases present themselves, in Avhich the patients, being more advanced in age, give an account of some fit of choking and “ swallowing” of a solid body, and they invariably retain the conviction that their chest-disease is caused by the presence of that body,—a conviction Avhich, curiously enough, is rarely if ever shared by the medical men Avhom they consult. The history of the original fit of cholsiug and entrance of a foi’eign body is often remote. A more or less prolonged period of almost undisturbed health is enjoyed after the accident and before the chest illness begins to be complained of; and, lastly, the signs of the phthisis do not seem strikingly unusual or disorderly, and appear to require no special ex- ])lanation. These facts lead most practitioners to disregard the expla- nation of the patient, the more so, perhaps, as all have daily experi- ence of how unreliable patients’ ojAinious of cause and effect in relation to the origin of their diseases usually are. I shall illustrate this class of cases by citing two examples. In the summer of 1880 I Avas asked to sec a female child, aged nine years, Avho Avas suffering from scA’^ere ])ulmonary mischief, Avhich she and licr jnother belicAT'tl to be due to the })rescuce of a damson- stone in licr cliest. The medical men, in consultation AA'ith Avhom I siiA\’ the case, had recently been called in, and liad come to share their opinion. One day, thirteen AV^ecks prcAdopsly, this child, aa'Iio had just been eating bread and damson jam, and A\'as still sucking a damson-stone, began to play AA’ith a cat. The moA’cments of the cat made her buret into a sudden$