An essay on the organic diseases and lesions of the heart and great vessels / from the clinical lectures of J. N. Corvisart ... ; published, under his inspection, by C. E. Horeau ... ; translated from the French, with notes, by Jacob Gates.

  • Corvisart des Marets, Jean Nicolas, Baron, 1755-1821.
Date:
1812
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the organic diseases and lesions of the heart and great vessels / from the clinical lectures of J. N. Corvisart ... ; published, under his inspection, by C. E. Horeau ... ; translated from the French, with notes, by Jacob Gates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ever be the cause which decides the formation of the ad- hesion of the pericardium to the heart, the collection of a multiplicity of facts informs us that this adhesion which is observed after death, obtains equally, during life, in three different ways : 1, it is formed by the interposition of the albumenous matter, exuding from the inflamed membrane ; 2, it is intimate and immediate ; then it seems that no medium of union is interposed : 3, in fine, it obtains by very numerous cellular filaments, whose length varies from seven or eight lines to the least length imaginable ; hence the date of the evolution of the adhesion is doubtless quite remote. The adhesion of the pericardium to the heart does not, in many in- stances, constitute actual disease; it barely puts the subjects afflicted with it into a state of supportable tor- ture ; in other circumstances, the symptoms which it occasions, are sufficiently serious to characterise a state really morbid. Let us exemplify : Case V. A man aged forty, felt a very sharp pain which he referred to the epigastric region. The pain was accompanied with weak, but frequent, palpitations, and great difficulty of respiration. The pulse was small, quick and irregular, and the hand, applied over the re- gion of the heart, felt that the beats of this organ were performed irregularly. From time to time, the painful point, difficulty of respiration, palpitations, in fine, all the symptoms were remarkably aggravated. In one of these paroxysms, which re-appeared at short intervals, there supervened round the lids of the right eye, an ecchymosis, and the globe of this eye was inflamed. Although the combination and weight of these symp- toms caused us to be apprehensive of the safety of the patient, we, fortunately, by the continued use of antiphlogistics, demulcents, and antispasmodics, put 1 him in a condition to pursue his accustomed occupations. His health continued for forty days; then he returned to the hospital. To the symptoms already described, were added an ascites and repeated paroxysms ©f fever. 8