Researches on phthisis, anatomical, pathological and therapeutical.

  • Louis, P. C. A. (Pierre Charles Alexandre), 1787-1872.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Researches on phthisis, anatomical, pathological and therapeutical. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. This publication of the first edition of this work so shortly after the appearance of those of Bayle and Laenuec on the same subject; might have been viewed as a rash proceeding, so com- pletely did that subject seem exhausted. Nevertheless, my Researches were favorably received by the profession, and the study of phthisis has engaged the attention of most judicious persons, and made steady progress, since 1825. I have conse- quently been enabled, in the present edition, to profit by some remarkable inquiries on the same subject, without, nevertheless, altering the character of the work, in which my chief object has been to make known the results of my researches upon phthisis in persons who have passed the age of fifteen.1 1 Microscopical inquiries confirm the results of clinical observation as to the non- inflammatory character of tubercle, and I hasten to lay before my readers the following communication which I have just received from Dr. Lebert (of the Canton of Vaud). Tubercles, he says, present microscopical elements proper to themselves, and dis- tinguishing them from all other morbid products; in this respect they obey the general law, that all existences which are really different pathologically, differ also in respect of molecular composition. Tubercles contain a great quantity of molecular globules, varying in diameter fr°m i ,0 550 °f a ul,e li io itm °f a millimeter], a hyaline substance which unites their elements, and a species of corpuscle which gives them a peculiar character. These corpuscles are of irregular, angular form, vary in diameter from ^ to 3Ja of a 'ie [too l0 T33 f a millimeter] and, generally speakiug, present a well defined edge. Their interior is yellowish coloured, slightly opaline, and often contains molecular granules, distributed through its substance; they never contain true nuclei, which are so common in cancerous globules, and so constant in those of pus. Acetic acid, which