Septic arthritis : the Bradshaw Lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England on December 10, 1903 / by Howard Marsh.

  • Marsh, Howard, 1839-1915.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Septic arthritis : the Bradshaw Lecture delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England on December 10, 1903 / by Howard Marsh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    tion; and that this should be the case appears, even at first sight, probable when the similarity of structure between the peritoneum and the synovial membranes is borne in mind. Both consist of an epithehal layer and a substratum rich in blood- vessels, along which infective agents easily pass, and through the walls of which their migration can readily take place. A notable illustration of joint- infection is met with in the case of the pneumo- coccus, or the Bacillus lanceolatus. This micro- organism, originally discovered in the saliva, and shown to be a pathogenic agent by Sternberg, was subsequently proved by Frankel to be the active agent in the production of acute lobar pneumonia, and, in the absence of any suspicion that it invaded other organs, it was termed the pneumococcus, or lung coccus. Later investigations have shown, however, that it has a far wider range, and that it not only produces pleurisy, pericarditis, peritonitis, and meningitis, but also acute primary arthritis. In fact, the general statement may now be made that, in at all events the great majority of specific diseases, the joints are liable to infection. In com- pihng the Hst of these diseases, tuberculosis and syphilis need not now be considered, and the common forms of septicaemia and gonococcal infec- tion are so well known that they need not be further alluded to. There will then remain the following :