Transactions of the Pathological Society of London.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1877. Excerpt: ... that the presence of such grains in the lungs is no positive evidence of their tubercular (as we understand that term) nature. And even if they were tubercles they may quite possibly have arisen in the chronic inflammatory changes which resulted from the syphilis; and though tubercles were found in the lungs in six cases, yet none of these were prominently tubercular, but, on the other hand, fibrous. Moreover, only three are noted as having ulcers in the intestine. I exclude the larynx, as syphilis is the question under discussion, though only a few had laryngeal ulceration. It is possible that in one or two the intestine was not examined, but I do not suppose it was so in many cases, though their condition is not positively stated in several of the reports. With this large proportion of cases of fibroid disease of all the cases of chronic lung disease which occurred in syphilis, there can, I think, be very little doubt that syphilis and fibrous change go together in the lung as elsewhere. With reference to a criticism of Dr. Wilson Fox, that fibroid changes do not occur in the lungs of syphilitica in a larger proportion of cases than in those affected with ordinary tubercular phthisis, I have to say that it is quite true that fibrous changes are very common indeed in cases of old phthisis. It must be so: no one doubts, that if any inflammation be sufficiently prolonged an excess of fibrous tissue must be the result. But most of such cases are prominently tubercular and have the ordinary distribution of tubercle in the lungs. Had the cases which are now published in our ' Transactions' had none other than the features of ordinary tubercle I should have left them alone, but it seems, on the contrary, that several succeeding demonstrators of morbid anatomy ...