The morbid anatomy of the stomach, bowels and liver / [John Armstrong].

  • Armstrong, John, 1784-1829.
Date:
[1826]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The morbid anatomy of the stomach, bowels and liver / [John Armstrong]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    or rectum, it not unfrequently leads to contraction of the part; while, on the other hand, if an inflammatory deposit should occur in the coats of an artery and become organized, it offers a mechanical resistance to the passage of blood, and thus leads to dilatation of that portion of the vessel. Though Inflammation might be said to be tangible and perceptible, since it is presented on the external portion of the body, yet we do not know what are the separate or combined influences of the blood, the vessels, the galvanic con- dition, or the animal heat of the affected texture, in the production of the various results ; and if the difficulties which beset this question could be removed, we, probably, might be enabled to solve many pathological problems, or, at all events, be enabled to separate more distinctly some apparently different but unascertained states. Unques- tionably, changes occur in the secretions of the blood not evidently traceable to Inflam- mation ; and these are of three kinds, namely, Gaseous, Liquid, and Concrete, which claim the next consideration. In some affections, the odour of the exhalation from the lungs and skin is offensively altered from the natural one, but not apparently capable of producing any specific dis- order either in the patient thus affected or in others exposed to its influence ; but there are Gaseous secretions of a peculiar kind in small pox, measles, and scarlet fever, which, being taken into the blood either through the lungs or stomach, produce like affections in other persons. These are indisputably humoral disorders, and the morbidity of the blood operates, as before stated, specifically on certain textures. Many facts might be adduced to show that most of the poisons operate on the solids through the blood,# and when animal chemistry shall be further advanced—when the progress of knowledge shall have given the medical philosopher the power to appreciate more cor- rectly the condition of the fluids, much information will be thrown on some specific affections which are now beyond our comprehension. The Liquid secretions are sometimes sensibly changed. In typhous fever, as the lips and cheeks become dusky during its perfect developement, a peculiar secretion is besmeared over the tongue and fauces, almost as if the fibrine and albumen had been dissolved, so as nearly to resemble in its adhesive property common melted glue ; while in the progress of that specific disorder, the tongue, from the evaporation of the thinner portions of this secretion, becomes dry, having a varnished appearance, like a walking stick ; and, at a still more advanced stage, it becomes brown, and, ultimately, * In this point of view, the experiments made by Dr. Barry, in his well known work on the Respiration, are extremely interesting to the pathologist.