A treatise on pathological anatomy / by Carl Rokitansky ; translated from the German, with additions of diagnosis from Schoenlein, Skoda, and others by John C. Peters.

  • Rokitansky, Carl von, 1804-1878.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on pathological anatomy / by Carl Rokitansky ; translated from the German, with additions of diagnosis from Schoenlein, Skoda, and others by John C. Peters. 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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    inflrmmation, by which this organ is transformed into a dense, rigid, fibro-cartilaginous tissue, a change always attended by con- traction and deformity. In contrast with this, softening may occur, similar to that which affects the yellow coat of the arteries, and which possibly may be also the result of inflammation. In this condition, the epiglottis loses its elasticity, becomes soft and brittle, assumes a dirty yellow color, and wastes away. C. OSSIFICATIONS OF THE CARTILAGES. In the later years of manhood, the cartilages of the larynx, in the male, almost always become ossified ; hence this change only deserves particular attention when it commences at an unusually early period, is finished in a short space of time, or extends itself to parts not usually its seat. They ossify in the following order: 1st, the thyroid; 2d, the cricoid ; more rarely and at a later period the tracheal, and finally the bronchial rings. This ossifi- cation is a true transformation of the cartilages into bone, not a mere deposition of osseous particles into their tissue. It occurs either spontaneously, or may be induced by an inflammatory vascular activity of the perichondrium, and is frequently noticed in and about the seats of ulcers, especially those of a tuberculous character. Fracture and injuries of the cartilages often prove exciting causes of the deposition of osseous callus. The new bone, when developed in the course of laryngeal phthisis, may become the seat of caries and necrosis ; it then frequently hap- pens that fragments of bone may be coughed up,'which however can be readily distinguished by their peculiar structure from cal- careous concretions. In rare instances not only do the most minute bronchial car- tilages become ossified, but even the walls of the smallest terminal twigs. We then find rigid tubes passing through the lungs, which do not collapse when cut across; and if the finder be passed over the incised surface, it detects prominent, sharp, sand- like granules. This condition only occurs in very aged persons. The epiglottis is never truly ossified, but is sometimes, though rarely, the seat of bone-earthy concretions, especially when in consequence of inflammation it loses its normal structure and becomes changed into a fibrous tissue. These concretions necessarily cause various kinds of deformity.