Researches on the pathology of the brain. Part III. On the organic diseases of the brain / by John Abercrombie.

Date:
[1819]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Researches on the pathology of the brain. Part III. On the organic diseases of the brain / by John Abercrombie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Id able lymph on the surface of the bruin. These, I think, are generally formed under the dura mater, and they may be found in various steps of their progress, from recent depositions of a aelatinous appearance, to more firm and organized masses. In case 16th, of the first part of these essays,* I have described a remai'kable tumour, formed by deposition of this kind, between the lamiiise of the dura mater; and in different parts of that tumour, the different steps in its formation were distinctly traced, some parts of it being in the state of clear recent gelatinous matter, others firm, dense, and opaque. In a case quoted from Lancisius, in the second part, f a tumour, which was probably of this kind, occurred under the frontal bone; and there is ano- ther example of it in a case of epilepsy, from M. Poupart, re- ferred to under that head in this paper. It is described as a thick, white substance, harder than jelly, under the dura mater. This affection probably proceeds from a state of chronic inflam- mation of a part of the dura mater, and is commonly accompa-. nied by thickening of that membrane, at the part which covers the deposition. A vei’y dense tumour growing from the dura mater, ex- ternally and internally of a uniform white appearance, like coa- gulated albumen. This dees not appear in irregular masses like the former, but in distinct rounded tumours of various sizes, I have described one that grew from the falx, which was nearly five inches in circumference. They do not appear to be cover- ed by any sac, but to be a production from the surface of the membrane. The large one which I have now referred to had, when analyzed, the properties of coagulated albumen. It was uniformly White and firm, and did not appear to be organized. The tumour (^rowing from the tentorium in case 9th had nearly the same ext^nal appearance, but internally it was of a reddish colour, and appeared to be organized. The symptoms connect- ed with tumours of this kind will be seen from the cas^ to be very different in different cases. Sometimes they arise from the outer surface of the dura mater; in this case they have frequent- ly been known to produce absorption of the bone, and have been found rising externally under the integuments, so as to be mistaken for wens. I have given an example of this kind of tumour in case 25th. Many others are mentioned by the * On Chronic Inflammation of the Brain and its Membranes, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol; XIV. p. 291. + Ibid. p. 577.