A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 2 : $b General diseases (continued) and diseases of the digestive system
Science
A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 2 : $b General diseases (continued) and diseases of the digestive system
Medicine -- Practice
The heart is smaller than normal, relaxed, and flabby, its fibres
easily broken, and a cut surface presents the yellowish aspect of fatty
degeneration in certain parts, with occasional extravasations located
in the cardiac walls. The valves of the heart are relaxed and illy
adapted to accurate closure. In certain recent cases soft coagula or
dark fluid blood, and in others firmly coagulated blood, are found in
the cavities; in those which have been prolonged the blood is more
likely to be found fluid and the coagula diffluent. The endocardium is
often blotched to a greater or less extent by sanguineous imbibition.
The pericardium often contains serum, and in the worst cases is
inflamed, lacerable, and contains bloody effusions. The inner surface
of the great vessels at the base of the heart is stained by imbibition.
The respiratory organs are variously affected. The mucous membrane
lining the nose, larynx, and trachea is generally pale and flecked with
extravasations of a dark-red color; more or less frothy fluid, tinged
with blood, is present in these passages, and occasionally oedema of
the glottis is encountered. The lungs are, as a rule, infiltrated with
a bloody serosity, particularly in those cases with renal complication,
or with a fibrinous or bloody exudation. The posterior portions of the
lobes often present evidences of hypostatic congestion, or even of
gangrene, and in the latter case the tissue is easily friable and emits
a disagreeable odor. Their surfaces are mottled with superficial
discolored patches of varying size and outline. The lungs may, on the
other hand, be found pale, {173} with empty collapsed vessels and with
little or no effusion. The pleural cavities commonly contain a serous
fluid, or, in rare cases, a copious effusion of blood. Traces of
inflammation and discoloration by sanguineous staining are traceable on
the pleural surfaces.
The digestive organs furnish strongly marked lesions. The mouth
presents the most constant scorbutic feature, a stomatitis in which the
gums are infiltrated, spongy, livid, and the seat of fatty
degeneration; the teeth are loosened or have already fallen out. The
stomach and small intestines are thin-walled, and the mucous membrane
is often softened, and in places ulcerated; similar changes have been
noted in the solitary glands. Follicular ulceration of the large
intestine occurs, with softening and infiltration of the mucous
membrane. Hemorrhagic effusions into the mucous membrane, forming
stippling, flecks, or patches, occur in various degrees along the whole
extent of the alimentary canal. The pancreas is occasionally found
softened and containing hemorrhagic effusions.
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