Lectures on diseases of the stomach and indigestion / by Cathcart Lees.

  • Lees, Cathcart.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on diseases of the stomach and indigestion / by Cathcart Lees. 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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    with a viscid thready mucus, and of a bright red or brown colour, at the same time thick, soft, and very friable, so that in no part could it be detached in strips; hut it gave way under the forceps, resembling a pulp without any con- sistence. On its free surface there were many small red or blackish points, which seemed to have their seat in the villi, but the body of the mucous membrane itself was red, as if penetrated with blood, and spots of ecchymosis were also present. Mere redness, however, is not a cer- tain sign of inflammation, as was long since established by Yelloly, Billard, and others; be- sides, we have constant proof that any mecha- nical obstacle to the circulation, as in cases of disease of the heart and liver, will cause deep redness of the gastric mucous membrane, de- pending on venous congestion, quite independent of inflammation, hut owing to that vital con- traction of the arteries which takes place at the close of life, and carries on the blood to the veins, after the further supply of fresh blood from the heart is stopped. This form of redness is gene- rally diffused, and occupies the most depending position of the part, being influenced by the force of gravity, is attended with an empty state of the arteries, and with a full state of the larger veins; but the redness that belongs to inflamma- tion is generally circumscribed, and not very extensive; it occupies the upper or lower side of the part indiscriminately, is attended with ful- ness of the corresponding arterial trunks, and frequently an empty state of the veins. As a general rule, therefore, do not let the mere cir- cumstance of there being redness in a part decide