Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
the skin; copper accumulates in the fetal liver, central nervous
system, and sometimes in the skin; lead which is found specially in the
maternal liver, but also in the skin, has been observed in the skin,
liver, nervous centers, and elsewhere in the fetus. The frequent
presence of poisons in the fetal skin demonstrates its physiologic
importance. It has probably not a very marked influence on its health.
On the contrary, accumulation in the placenta and nerve centers
explains the pathogenesis of abortion and the birth of dead fetuses
("mortinatatite") Copper and lead did not cause abortion, but mercury
did so in two out of six cases. Arsenic is a powerful abortive agent in
the guinea-pig, probably on account of placental hemorrhages. An
important deduction is that whilst the placenta is frequently and
seriously affected in syphilis, it is also the special seat for the
accumulation of mercury. May this not explain its therapeutic action in
this disease? The marked accumulation of lead in the central nervous
system of the fetus explains the frequency and serious character of
saturnine encephalopathic lesions. The presence of arsenic in the fetal
skin alone gives an explanation of the therapeutic results of the
administration of this substance in skin diseases.
Intrauterine amputations are of interest to the medical man,
particularly those cases in which the accident has happened in early
pregnancy and the child is born with a very satisfactory and clean
stump. Montgomery, in an excellent paper, advances the theory, which is
very plausible, that intrauterine amputations are caused by contraction
of bands or membranes of organized lymph encircling the limb and
producing amputation by the same process of disjunctive atrophy that
the surgeons induce by ligature. Weinlechner speaks of a case in which
a man devoid of all four extremities was exhibited before the Vienna
Medical Society. The amputations were congenital, and on the right side
there was a very small stump of the upper arm remaining, admitting the
attachment of an artificial apparatus. He was twenty-seven years old,
and able to write, to thread a needle, pour water out of a bottle, etc.
Cook speaks of a female child born of Indian parents, the fourth birth
of a mother twenty-six years old. The child weighed 5 1/2 pounds; the
circumference of the head was 14 inches and that of the trunk 13
inches. The upper extremities consisted of perfect shoulder joints, but
only 1/4 of each humerus was present. Both sides showed evidences of
amputation, the cicatrix on the right side being 1 inch long and on the
left 1/4 inch long. The right lower limb was merely a fleshy corpuscle
3/4 inch wide and 1/4 inch long; to the posterior edge was attached a
body resembling the little toe of a newly-born infant. On the left side
the limb was represented by a fleshy corpuscle 1 inch long and 1/4 inch
in circumference, resembling the great toe of an infant. There was no
history of shock or injury to the mother.
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