Pathological and practical observations on diseases of the abdomen : comprising those of the stomach, and other parts of the alimentary canal, œsophagus, cæcum, intestines, and peritoneum / by S.O. Habershon.

  • Habershon, S. O. (Samuel Osborne), 1825-1889.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and practical observations on diseases of the abdomen : comprising those of the stomach, and other parts of the alimentary canal, œsophagus, cæcum, intestines, and peritoneum / by S.O. Habershon. 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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    find in the griping of colic, and in enteritis, &c. As long as the peristaltic action is uniform, regular, and healthy, we are unconscious of the movement; but as soon as it becomes irregular or tumultuous, retarded or spasmodic, we are sensible of uneasiness, or even of severe pain ; the muscular coat of the intestine is probably excited to contraction by the direct stimulus of its contents, but the harmony of its movements is due to the supply of nervous influence which it receives. 3rd. The peritoneal or serous investment also manifests its derangement by pain ; and here, again, is a wise provision, for as its disorders require rest, or rather an absence of movement of the coils of intestine one upon another, and the pain of peritoneal disease is increased by muscular exertion, so the patient becomes prompted to assume that position, and to retain that state, which is the best suited for the restora- tion from disease. The observant pathologist and physician know, practically, the importance of rest in the recumbent position, and they follow the teaching of nature in their stringent directions : by this means inflammation is localized, and when perforations of the intestine have taken place, the injury is limited and life may be prolonged. 4th. The state of the investing or binding tissues ; and, 5th, the supply of blood, are important considerations in the study of these diseases of the intestine. The connective tissue, for instance, is in some cases the seat of fatal malady, m constriction of the pylorus, and in cancer. Still more does the supply of blood call for attention : it may be m excess, as in active or passive hyper^emia; in pulmonary, cardiac, and hepatic diseases the engorgement of the mucous membrane leads to peculiar and characteristic symptoms ; the rupture of vessels, or ulceration into them, causes haemor- rhage into the canal; and again, a scanty supply or depraved condition of blood prevents the proper performance of diges- tion, as after great hemorrhage, in over-lactation, in purpura, scurvy, or in starvation. The appearance of the blood dis- charged into the several portions of the canal greatly differs; thus^in disease of the stomach, it is generally ejected as dark semi-coagulated blood; sometimes, as in the latter stages of cancer, as coffee ground substance ; or, in the acute disease of the stomach and duodenum, according to Dr. Eraser and