Contributions to the anatomy and pathology of the thymus gland / by A. Jacobi.

  • Jacobi, A. (Abraham), 1830-1919.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to the anatomy and pathology of the thymus gland / by A. Jacobi. 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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    Bronchial glands enlarged; tubercular; some cheesy. Liver not large; miliary tubercles discrete. Spleen not large; miliary tubercles discrete Kidneys, miliary tubercles discrete. Mesenteric glands moderately enlarged; miliary tubercles. Heart, normal. Heart, 5j; liver ,5 vijss ; spleen, 5vss. The portion of the thymus which was hardened in alcohol and was taken from the anterior aspect of the organ, contained an area of grayish-white color more compact than the remainder of the thymus tissue. This area (measur- ing five mm. by two mm.) occupied that portion of the thymus anteriorly just beneath the capsule, but in the tissue substance proper of the thymus. Sections stained with hematoxylon and eosin and picro-carmine showed that it was wholly made up of a number of miliary tubercles (a recent erup- tion) taking up the whole space allotted to an acinus of the thymus. Each tubercle granulum consisted of a giant cell, around which were arranged spheroidal and polygonal cells. There was no area of cheesy degeneration seen. The spaces between these formations were filled with small round cells. The walls of the smaller and medium-sized arteries, both in the above area and in the neighboring acini of the thymus, were the seat of an endarteritis of a tubercular character. The adventitia and media were infiltrated with round cells; the lumina of the smaller vessels were obliterated. In some cases the lumen was replaced by a mass of small round cells. The septa of the thymus in different parts of the organ were infiltrated with tubercle tissue, and the vessels of small calibre were also the seat of tubercular changes. Tubercle bacilli were found in the giant cells of the miliary tubercles, in the centre and periphery of the tubercle granula, in the spaces between the cells of the tubercle. They were present also in the walls of the bloodvessels which were the seat of endarteritis. They were found in the lumina of some of these vessels. They existed in the connective-tissue septa separating the acini of the thymus, which septa may be the seat of an infiltration of tubercle tissue. In this thymus tubercle bacilli were found in those encapsulated nests of epithelioid cells which exist in the thymus and are characteristic of its struc- ture. Here the tubercle bacilli were seen in the connective-tissue capsule and between the cells in the interior of these bodies. This was the case in the acini, the seat of eruption of miliary tubercle, and also in places quite distant from the same. Tubercle bacilli were found between the lymphoid cells (in lymph spaces) of the thymus, quite distant from the miliary tubercle in acini apparently not yet the seat of infiltration with tubercle tissue. Case II. General tuberculosis.—Jennie A., aged eight months and nineteen days. Entered asylum June 10, 1887, three weeks old. Condition poor. Had snufiles. Wet-nursed up to January 24, 1888, when she was returned from boarding; then bottle-fed. Condition: Emaciated; enlarged cervical glands; did not improve. Died February 8, 1888, 10 A.M. Autopsy. Feb. 8, 2.30 P.M.—Body poorly nourished. Right lung: tuber- cles ; also over right pleura, along posterior margin. Bronchial glands lying against right lung are tuberculous. Left lung and pleura normal. Mesen-