Observations on general paralysis of the insane and on the morbid changes found on post-mortem examination of the spinal cord / by Robt. Boyd.

  • Boyd, Robert, 1808-1883.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on general paralysis of the insane and on the morbid changes found on post-mortem examination of the spinal cord / by Robt. Boyd. 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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    firm in 2, above the usual size in 6 cases, the weight varied from 4\ to 6£, the average weight 5-1 ounces. The medulla oblongata and “ pons varolii ” varied in weight from f to 1|, the average weight T6 ounce. The encephalon varied in weight from 35| io 55^, the average weight 45 ounces. The spinal cord varied in weight from 1 to-If, the average weight T2 ; there was blood effused in spinal canal in 5, congestion of blood in vessels of cord in 2, fluid in canal 6, there was more or less softening in the cord in 14, the cord was unusu- ally firm and white in 4, corpuscles were found by micros- copical examination in 2, white specks on spinal arachnoid in 1. Chest: the right lung was healthy in 8, there was conges- tion of blood in 6, bronchitis in 4, pleuritis in 5, pneumonia in 8, pleuro-pneumonia in 6, tubercles in 3, it varied in weight from 11 to 52, average weight 26’5 ounces. The left lung was natural in 13, congested with blood in 4, there was em- physema and bronchitis in 2, pleuritis in 4, with effusion in 1, pneumonia in 9, pleuro-pneumonia in 5, and tubercles in the lung in 4, it varied in weight from 9f to 66, the average weight 23-3 ounces. The heart was enlarged in 5, below average size in 5, fatty in 1, flabby in 1, valves thickened in 1, it varied in weight from 7^ to 16^, the average weight 10 ounces. The intestines were for the most part in a healthy state; tubercles in the mesentery in 1, redness or inflammation of colon and ileum in 6, tapeworm in one, fatty omentum in 1. There was melanosis of stomach in 2 cases, it was enlarged in 7 cases, it varied in weight from 4 to ; average weight 5 ounces. The liver was congested and enlarged in 6 and atropied in 3, it varied in weight from 36 to 72, the average weight 53T ounces. The spleen was soft in 2, enlarged in 6, below the average in 10, it varied in weight from 2£ to 11, the average 4-8 ounces. Tlie pancreas varied in weight from 2 to 4 ounces, the average weight 3T ozs. The kidneys were united, forming “ horse-shoe kidney,” which weighed 6 ounces in one case ; each kidney had an abscess containing blood and pus and double the usual weight, being above 10 ounces in 1 case ; the right kidney was enlarged in 1, and the left in 8 cases, the right varied in weight from 3 to 10|, and the left from 3-g to 10^ ounces ; the average weight of the right was 5*2, and the left 5-3 ounces. The renal capsules varied from | to 1 ounce; in one instance there was softening, the aver- age weight '8 ounce.