Report on the progress of practical medicine, in the departments of midwifery and the diseases of women and children in the years 1845-6 / by Charles West.

  • West, Charles, 1816-1898.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the progress of practical medicine, in the departments of midwifery and the diseases of women and children in the years 1845-6 / by Charles West. 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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    ,ory symptoms of the disease as the index of the general tuberculization, rather than as the sign of the local deposit of tubercle in the membranes of ihe brain. The child shows signs of ill health when the lungs and bronchial ,lands are becoming the seat of the morbid deposit, and it does not always happen that these premonitory signs are followed by the outbreak of the acute iisease, for sometimes they pass into confirmed phthisis, while in other in- stances they altogether disappear under appropriate treatment. He states, moreover, that the general deposit of tubercle is more abundant, and it is found to have reached a more advanced stage directly in proportion to the longer duration of the premonitory symptoms, while, on the other hand, their duration and that of the meningitis are in an inverse ratio to each other. A series of articles have appeared from the pen of Ur. Bierhaum,* on the diagnostic value of the different symptoms of acute hydrocephalus. They ire by no means destitute of merit, though far inferior to the pamphlet on :he same subject, published some years ago by Dr. Wolff, of Bonn. Chronic hydrocephalus. Dr. Spenglerf has published an analysis of the Iduid from a chronic hydrocephalus, from which he concludes that at any rate, n this instance, it was not the product of inflammatory action, but was the esult of the morbid accumulation of the cerebro-spinal fluid. Dr. Edwards}; mentions the case of a child who recovered from chronic hydrocephalus after a single tapping. This proceeding was adopted when the child was 14 months old, after six months of unsuccessful treatment. Eight [ounces of a rose-coloured fluid were drawn off, and the child recovered, and continued well at the end of seven years. Dr. Gotz and Mr. Chater§ havepunc- ;ured the brain unsuccessfully. Both children were 5 months old, and in both ;he disease was congenital. In the former case three punctures were made nviihln eighteen days; temporary amendment succeeding to each, but the fluid collected again rapidly, and death in convulsions took place five days after the ; ast puncture. Mr. Chater modified the operation by introducing two or hree threads into the puncture in order to act as a syphon, and thus keep up i constant drain from the brain. By this plan the head was reduced 5| inches i n circumference in five weeks; the child then suddenly grew comatose and died. The brain was in this case so extensively disorganized, as to have rendered '■lire quite impossible, but the practice of Mr. (’hater deserves another trial. ’ •There are now (J3 authenticated cases on record in which puncture of the brain was performed ; and in IS, or 28*5 per cent, of these the child recovered.] DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF RESPIRATION. A paper has been published by Dr. G. A. Rees,|| ‘ On Carnification of the Lungs in Infants,’ which might be dismissed without further notice, if it were not that in it he asserts a claim to have been the first who described this condition, and insinuates a charge of plagiarism against MM. Rilliet and Barthez, who, he says, in their work on Children’s Diseases almost quote his iown words. [The title of the paper on which Dr. Rees founds his claim, is ‘ On deformity of the chest in young children from disease of the lungs ;’ and it u'as published in the ‘Medical Gazette’ for January 12, 1839. It is 'fortunately unnecessary to analyse this paper in order to vindicate MM. Rilliet I and Barthez from this singular accusation, since the article pneumonia in j their large work on Children’s Diseases,- is little else than a reprint of their ii monograph on that subject which appeared in 1838.11 In that monograph will he found the particulars of 11 observations of the condition which they de- signated as carnification of the lungs, as well as the very words between * J. f. Kinderkr., July, Aug., .Sept., 1046. t Oesterr. Med. Wochensclir., July 12, 1045. t Monthly Journal. June, 1046. 5 Oesterr. Med. Jahrb., June, 1046; Prov. Med. Journal, Oct. 1, 1045. || Lancet, July 11, l»4(>. i 1 The title of this work is. Maladies des Enfans. Affections de Poitrine. Premiere I artie— ’neumonie. Par MM. Rilliet ct Barthez. 8vo, Paris, 1030.