Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
There is a description of a girl of fourteen, otherwise well
constituted and healthy, who had neither external genital organs nor
anus. There was a plain dermal covering over the genital and anal
region. She ate regularly, but every three days she experienced pain in
the umbilicus and much intestinal irritation, followed by severe
vomiting of stercoraceous matter; the pains then ceased and she
cleansed her mouth with aromatic washes, remaining well until the
following third day. Some of the urine was evacuated by the mammae. The
examiners displayed much desire to see her after puberty to note the
disposition of the menstrual flow, but no further observation of her
case can be found.
Fournier narrates that he was called by three students, who had been
trying to deliver a woman for five days. He found a well-constituted
woman of twenty-two in horrible agony, who they said had not had a
passage of the bowels for eight days, so he prescribed an enema. The
student who was directed to give the enema found to his surprise that
there was no anus, but by putting his finger in the vagina he could
discern the floating end of the rectum, which was full of feces. There
was an opening in this suspended rectum about the size of an
undistended anus. Lavage was practiced by a cannula introduced through
the opening, and a great number of cherry stones agglutinated with
feces followed the water, and labor was soon terminated. The woman
afterward confessed that she was perfectly aware of her deformity, but
was ashamed to disclose it before. There was an analogue of this case
found by Mercurialis in a child of a Jew called Teutonicus.
Gerster reports a rare form of imperforate anus, with malposition of
the left ureter, obliteration of the ostia of both ureters, with
consequent hydronephrosis of a confluent kidney. There was a minute
opening into the bladder, which allowed the passage of meconium through
the urethra. Burge mentions the case of what he calls "sexless child,"
in which there was an imperforate anus and no pubic arch; the ureters
discharged upon a tumor the size of a teacup extending from the
umbilicus to the pubes. A postmortem examination confirmed the
diagnosis of sexless child.
The Liver.--The Ephemerides, Frankenau, von Home, Molinetti, Schenok,
and others speak of deficient or absent liver. Zacutus Lusitanus says
that he once found a mass of flesh in place of the liver. Lieutaud is
quoted as describing a postmortem examination of an adult who had died
of hydropsy, in whom the liver and spleen were entirely missing. The
portal vein discharged immediately into the vena cava; this case is
probably unique, as no authentic parallel could be found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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