An inquiry into the nature and cause of that swelling in one or both of the lower extremities which sometimes happens to lying-in women.

  • White, Charles, 1728-1813.
Date:
1801
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the nature and cause of that swelling in one or both of the lower extremities which sometimes happens to lying-in women. 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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    [ 124- ] If it be granted me that this swelling was occasioned by the broken bone, in- juring the lymphatics, how can we ac- count for it upon any other principle, than that the lymphatic vessels which pass over, and wrap round the body of the os pubis, were ruptured by the sharp edges of that broken bone, the mouths of which were healed up, and rendered im- pervious ? At the expiration of a fortnight, those lymphatics below the cicatrix would be gorged with lymph, because they could not empty themselves into the thoracic duct, until the anastomosing vessels were sufficiently enlarged, to car- ry, with facility, all the lymph from the diseased and swelled parts. If this had proceeded from an in- flammation, brought on the lymphatics, by the accident, it certainly would have appeared in less than a fortnight, and would have shewn itself through the skin, by its colour, either red or purple. If