Prize essay on scrofula : submitted to the Medical Society of Tennessee, May 1846 / by W.L. Sutton.

  • Sutton, William Loftus, 1797-1862.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Prize essay on scrofula : submitted to the Medical Society of Tennessee, May 1846 / by W.L. Sutton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    opinion, between the product of scrofulous inflammation, and that of tubercular inflammation. Instead of the pus above described, tubercular inflammation produces a pus of unequal density, a part being made up of curdy, flaky, or granular por- tions, the remainder of a fluid more or less serous. One por- tion being decidedly more consistent than healthy pus, the other as decidedly less so. This difference, 1 hold, is caused by the presence of tuberculous matter along with the product of inflammation. It will be observed that I have used the terms scrofulous inflammation and tuberculous inflammation in contradistinction. I am not aware of any authority for so doing. So far indeed is this from being the case, that wri- ters upon scrofula define by scrofulous inflammation just what I propose to define as tubercular; leaving what I call scrofu- lous inflammation undesignated, or rather confounding it with the other. Thus, '•in the commencement of scrofulous dis- orders, it deserves also to be remarked, that the inflammation which occurs has often so great a resemblance in its symp- toms to simple inflammation, as to render it difficult, if not im- possible, to distinguish between these two states.' [Thompson on Inflam. p. 106.] Again: 'The pus in these (scrofulous) ab- scesses is often serous and curdy, though in many instances I have found it quite healthy in its consistence and color.' [lb, p. 128.] In the first quotation there is an implied acknow- ledgment of a difference between simple inflammation, and that occurring in 'scrofulous disorders,' with a directly ac- knowledged difficulty in marking that difference; in the other, there is, I think, a confounding of two states materially differ- ent. At least there is no attempt to show any cause for the different effects resulting from the same cause. I shall, there- fore, give my reasons for it. I think it necessary that there should be a term distinguishing inflammation as occurring in scrofulous habits, from that occurring in those usually denomi- nated healthy. It is true, we might use the phrase 'inflamma- tion occurring in the scrofulous diathesis.' But this would be more circumlocution than we would like to repeat often. I have, therefore, proposed to appropriate to this state the term