A Treatise on the diseases of the heart and great vessels : and on the affections which may be mistaken for them, comprising the author's view of the physiology of the heart's action / by J. Hope.

  • Hope, James, 1801-1841.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A Treatise on the diseases of the heart and great vessels : and on the affections which may be mistaken for them, comprising the author's view of the physiology of the heart's action / by J. Hope. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library at Emory University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, Emory University.

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    have minuted the dissections with the subject before me, and ac- cording to the prevailing opinions of the individuals present; and, generally before laying down my journal, I have annexed such remark as the case suggested, while the circumstances were fresh in my recollection. Finally, I have obtained signatures where a case was very remarkable, or where there appeared a possibility of its bein° subsequently called in question. The cases appended to this work are nearly verbatim transcripts from journals thus kept; * and in order that they might present a just idea of the possibility of detecting disease of the heart, I have not taken them by selection, but excepting a few, mostly without diagnoses, have introduced the whole of which ] took notes in St. George's Hospital within a definite period. They will be found, I believe, to substantiate the view which I have offered of the heart's action—according to which the physical signs are explained; and, to the practical student of auscultation, by standing in the relation of exercises to a grammar, I entertain hopes that they may prove one of the most acceptable portions of the volume. The hospital researches alluded to have been conducted at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, as above stated: at St. Bartholo- mew's, London: at La Charite, Paris, where the lessons and re- searches of MM. Chomel,} Andral, and Louis afforded the most favourable opportunities for ausculation: at the Santo Spirito, Rome: and, finally, at the Marylebone Infirmary and St. George's Hospital, London. From these and private sources I have'minuted a greater number of cases than has, I believe, been published by any previous author. In some parts, I have occasionally introduced repetitions. Thus, in describing the mode in which changes of structure produce their pathological effects, I have glanced at the symptoms; and in de- scribing the symptoms, I have explained them, where practicable, by the changes of structure. This I have done designedly; for I am satisfied that such is the process of thought which passes through the mind at the bedside and in the post mortem theatre; and a practical work ought to be the transcript of the mind in those two situations. I have, likewise, made occasional repetitions in the treatment with the wiew of saving the reader the inconvenience of frequent reference. Wherever the subject was one of original research, or otherwise * Except the cases added to the present edition and dated subsecment to 1831. L f I owe it to the politeness of the French nation in general, and of this gentleman in particular, to state, that he not only granted me the privilege of being one of his clinical assistants; but, as I was engaged in making drawings of morbid structure, he also allowed me the immediate use of the best specimens which his wards afforded, purposely postponing the demon- stration of them to his class till the following morning.