Partial enterocele / by Russell S. Fowler.

  • Fowler, Russell S. (Russell Story), 1874-1959.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Partial enterocele / by Russell S. Fowler. 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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    one of a diverticiiliini (first accurately described by Joannes Meckel in 1815-1820) of the ileum. Not by any possibility could it have been a partial enterocele. The second case was that of a man of thirty-four years, who died of a fever. There was found at the necropsy a hernia of an appendix of the ileum, which was engaged in the ring. It is specifically stated that this hernia was not strangulated. From the de- scription it is somewhat difficult to determine just what va- riety of diverticulum was present in this case. There is abun- ' dant evidence that there was a diverticulum present, but the question is, Wab it a congenital diverticulum; was it a diver- ticulum formed by continued traction on part of the wall of the small intestine in a hernial sac of long standing, or was it a diverticulum such as is sometimes formed by a rupture of a small portion of the muscular coat of the intestine, and a consequent pouching of the mucous and serous coats from causes working from within? It might have been any one of these chronic forms, but it could not possibly have been an acute partial enterocele. Whether it was a. partial entero- cele or a congenital diverticulum it is impossible to definitely say. The consensus of opinion seems to be that there was present a chronic hernia of a pouching of the ileum wall, congenital or acquired. Littre’s third case was that of a man who had a tumor in the groin, of which he died in five days. Decomposition had advanced too far to permit of any ana- tomical study of the parts; so this case is worthless. In 1701 Mery reported a case of hernia, which appears to have con- sisted of an abnormal diverticulum of the ileum, the same which we to-day designate as Meckel’s diverticulum. Pre- vious to both Mery and Littre, however, J. H. Lavater had written ambiguously of the possibility of partial enterocele. In 1714, Littre again wrote about a case of hernia of a rare type (“ Sur une Hernie rare”). This case was, beyond doubt, a hernia of part of the wall of the colon. Between that time and 1800 some eight writers referred in one way or another to this form of hernia. The most important of these was Augustus Gottlob Richter, who in 1778-1785 pub-