Lecture introductory to a course of clinical medicine, delivered in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, on the 13th November, 1849 / by J.A. Easton, M.D.

  • Easton, J. A. (John Alexander), 1807-1865.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture introductory to a course of clinical medicine, delivered in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, on the 13th November, 1849 / by J.A. Easton, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    be identity of disease ; and thus it is, that when one part of a tis- sue becomes the seat of diseased action, other parts of the tissue, however remote from the portion originally affected, may become similarly impressed. Now, without entering minutely into the pathology of what is called fibrous rheumatism, I may mention, that the disease has generally its primary local manifestation (not its origin, mark you, which is in the blood, but more of that again) in the fibro-serous structures which enter into, and sur- round the joints. Need I remind you that fibro-serous tissue is found in the heart, encompassing it, and entering its interior, or that, in obedience to the pathological law mentioned above, such tissues consequently may feel the power of the same mor- bific influence which has caused the larger joints to be red, swollen, and painful ? And here let me remark in passing, that it is a great mistake to suppose, that this manifestation of the rheumatic poison on, and in, the heart, is in consequence of what is absurdly called metastasis of the disease from the joints, and that being a consequence of this metastasis, the disease of the cardiac membranes must of necessity be a secondary lesion even in the order of time. Secondary in this sense, I admit it fre- quently, nay generally is, but again in many instances it may be, in all it can be, concomitant with the articular disturbance. And why ? Because the evil has a constitutional origin ; it is a blood disease ; it manifests itself at, and in, a particular tissue, and wherever that tissue is found, there may the morbid manifestation be found also. But of course in proportion to the importance of the part thus assailed will be the danger to the patient, and the probability of the occurrence of those fear- ful evils I endeavoured to pourtray. As another of the effects of the same materies morbi which has produced the articular le- sions, the membranes of the heart, either the endocardium, or the pericardium, or both, become the seat of inflammatory