Lecture introductory to a course of clinical medicine, delivered in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, on the 13th November, 1849 / by J.A. Easton, M.D.

  • Easton, J. A. (John Alexander), 1807-1865.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lecture introductory to a course of clinical medicine, delivered in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, on the 13th November, 1849 / by J.A. Easton, M.D. 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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    tunes for water to cool Iiis parched and fiery tongue ; he com- plains possibly of pain in his head, of stupor, and of confusion of ideas ; he refers very likely to the bowel complaint, as he calls it, with which he is troubled, but he never draws attention to that region, in which the initial disturbance exists, of which the symptoms just alluded to are but the sympathetic manifes- tations. It is only by a careful manual exploration of the abdo- men, by exercising pressure over the epigastrium and right iliac fossa, and seeing the effect of our manipulations as exhibi- ted in the patient's countenance and feelings, that we detect the existence of an extensive and formidable lesion of which the sufferer gives no information spontaneously. As a further illus- tration of these two modes of examination, let us suppose we are examining a case of Iritis. Subjectively we learn from the patient, that he has intense pain in the affected eye, that this pain is deep-seated, that it is immediately over the orbit, and most severe at night, constituting the nocturnal supraorbital pain mentioned by oculists. Oljectively, we see that the sclerotic is of a pinkish hue, that the vessels converge in straight lines from circumference to centre, and that round the cornea there is a vascular zone. We see, also, that the iris is changed in colour, that its substance is pervaded with specks of lymph, its pupil irregular in shape and insensible to its ordinary stimulus.' But, in addition to attending to all these points—so essential in clinical investigations-there is stiU another duty I am anxious to enjoin, which duty may be regarded as the principal point brought forward at present, and to the consideration of which I shall devote the remainder of this preliminary address. I mean the recognition of the pervading and comprehensive char- acter of many diseases, and of the fact, that under the influence of diseased action in one organ, several of the others may event ually become implicated, and may act, and react, on each other