Pathological and clinical observations respecting morbid conditions of the stomach / by C. Handfield Jones.

  • Jones, C. Handfield (Charles Handfield), 1819-1890.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pathological and clinical observations respecting morbid conditions of the stomach / by C. Handfield Jones. 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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    The blood is drawn to tlie liver, and its passage through the liver is promoted, by the forces which are there at work separating and elaborating the principles of the bile and effecting those reparative changes in the blood which the agency of the liver causes. When the action of these forces is suspended the blood does not pass through the liver with its usual freedom, and the stomach and intestines become congested, just as when a palpable mechanical bar is opposed to the free return of the venous blood. In those terrible cases in which jaundice, followed by fatal disorder of the brain, results from suppressed secre- tion of bile, haemorrhage from the stomach and bowels is a common event. Again, in cases of jaundice from permanent closure of the common gall-duct, which prove fatal by gradually exhausting the strength, it not unfrequently happens that after the jaundice has lasted many months, and when the secreting cells of the liver are destroyed, death is hastened by the occurrence of haemorrhage in the stomach and bowels. In either class of cases the haemorrhage occurs without ulceration of the mucous membrane of the stomach or intestines, and is best explained by supposing that it results from congestion. of the stomach and intestines, caused by the complete arrest of secretion in the liver. Hasmorrhage from the stomach now and then occurs also in persons in whom the spleen has for some time been greatly enlarged. Numerous instances of this have been recorded, from the time of Morgagni downwards; but the true relation of the facts has not been made out. A very important circumstance in the history of such cases is, that the vomiting of blood is preceded or