Observations on painful subcutaneous tubercle : with cases and histories of the disease / by William Wood.

  • Wood, William, 1783-1858.
Date:
[1828?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on painful subcutaneous tubercle : with cases and histories of the disease / by William Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    generally come on spontaneously ; but in one of the cases which I met with, they were sometimes in- duced by the friction of tlie clothes along the sur- face of the tubercle. 'Fhey frequently attack the patient when asleep, in which case he is suddenly awoke by the severity of the pain. “ The degree of pain produced by touching the tu- bercle is different in different cases ; all the patients whom I have examined allowed it to be freely handled, in its ordinaj'y state, without feeling much uneasiness, but complained of great aggravation of the pain, from either the tubercle or surrounding skin being even slightly touched during the pa- roxysm. Acute pain is produced at all times, by the tubercle being accidentally struck against any hard substance. One lady, of whose case I shall give a detailed account, conceives that the sensibility of the tubercle is materially affected by every change in the weather, whether from heat to cold, or from cold to heat. Several of the patients have stated, that they are sensible of an increase in the size of the tubercle during the attack of pain, and some of them have occasionally observed, at the same time, a degree of discoloration of the skin covering it, vvliich hecamc of a purplish or bluish cast; and al- though I have had no opportunity of ascertaining the truth of these statements from inyown observa- tion, I liave no reason to doubt tlieir accuracy. “ It is a singular circumstance, that in all the cases which have come to iny knowledge, with perhaps one exception, this species of tubercle occurred in