Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/P 152
Scientific nameHomo sapiens
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
Object nameFemoral artery, thrombosis, arteriosclerosis, Coagulation of the Blood during Life, Mounted wet tissue
DescriptionPart of a femoral artery from a woman who died with gangrene of the leg.
The artery shows a loss of structure with fatty deposits on its inner surfaces. This is likely to have produced the thrombosis that could have caused death.
Production date Estimated 1760 - Estimated 1793
Preparator
Owner/user
presented
Physical Location
LocationOn display in the Hunterian Museum, Room 4: The Long Gallery
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of tissue mounted in a circular glass jar with glass lid.
Materialglass (material)
Dimensions
whole height: 170 mm
whole diameter: 53 mm
whole weight: 490 g
whole diameter: 53 mm
whole weight: 490 g
Bibliography
SourceProger 1966-1972
Vol. 1, page 90.
NotesText taken from Stanley & Paget (1846-9).
TranscriptPart of a femoral artery, from a woman who died with mortification of the lower extremity. The last inch of the artery, which was enclosed in the mortified part, contains only a thin film of fibrine, forming part of a tube; its walls are thin, and earthy matter is deposited in them. The rest of the artery is nearly full of firm, cylindriform, and irregularly laminated coagulum. Its internal coat is remarkably corrugated, all the larger and deeper wrinkles having a transverse direction: it is also yellowish, and has a dry, horny aspect.
SourceHunter 'Works'
Vol. 3, page 30.
NotesAlso in Proger 1966-72.
TranscriptMotion seems to retard coagulation*; yet we know for certain that blood will in time coagulate even in the vessels themselves, and under certain circumstances sooner, perhaps than anywhere else: as, for instance, when there is a disposition to mortification. In this case we find the blood coagulated even in the larger vessels. I have seen a mortification come on the foot and leg, and when it had advanced only to a certain degree, the patient died. On examining the parts above the mortified part, I found the crural and iliac arteries filled completely with strong coagulated blood: we may thence infer that the tendency to mortification in the vessels produced this disposition in the blood. If the coagulation should be supposed to have arisen from the blood being stopped in the large vessels at the mortified part, let us reflect that this cannot account for it: the same thing ought then to happen in an amputation, or in any case where the larger vessels are tied up.
* This is motion given to it in a vessel, without any empty space, and having beads put into it, which are shaken.
SourceHunter Casebooks
Dissections of Morbid Bodies III, No. 70, page 323
TranscriptNo 70. In the Dissecting Room 1763/4. A very fat Woman was dissected. When she came in, her two feet were mortified as high as the middle of the small of the Leg, but no separation had begun. From the quantity of fat, and the redness of her muscles, it appeared to me that she had died suddenly, and therefore her Constitution had not been so impoverished as to be the cause of the Mortification; and as the Heart &c were very sound, I could not impute it to any fault in the Organ.
I opened the Skull with a view to demonstrate the Brain, and there I found the cause of the Mortification and Death. The Dura-mater was thickened; all along its inner surface was the coagulated part of the blood spread and attached in some parts, thicker than the Dura Mater itself. In many places it was mixed with red blood. The pia-mater was very much thickened, and seemed every where filled with the Coagulable lymph. The Brain could not be seen through the pia-mater; and the small depressions between the convolutions were filled up; so that it was an uniform smooth mass. The pia mater separated easily from the Brain, and between the convolutions. The substance of the brain was a good deal redder than common, as if tinged with blood; especially the medullary part. Before I opened the dura mater, I opened the longitudinal sinus, and observed that I had never seen it so small: I could hardly demonstrate it; and what was of it, was chiefly filled with the coagulable lymph. Whether this vein was contracted by disease, or muscular contraction; or the natural size, is hard to say; but it is most likely either Disease, or muscular contraction, or both; and that this contraction was the cause of the other appearances in the Brain.
This Mortification (I think) most certainly arose from the diseased Brain; and we may suppose that Delirium was the first Symptom, and then the Mortification; from the heart not being able to force the blood to the lower extremities. In such cases I think that Mortification is not to be minded; the great attention is to be paid to the Original Symptoms, or Cause. I examined the state of the Arteries and found that the sound artery was much more contractd than what I expected; and was corrugated on its internal surface, and hard to the feel: but the unsound, was just the reverse: It was dilated, smooth on its internal surface, and was flabby to the feel.
SourceMS0189/2/10
3
TranscriptG. No.5. The artery of the Leg of a woman who died with a mortification in the Leg. The upper end is corrugated and sound but the lower is smooth and soft and was in the mortify'd part. Vide Dissection of Morbid bodys Diss: 70.
SourceClift 1830 Part 1
NotesCatalogue number 357
TranscriptA coagulum in the crural artery; from a woman, who died with a mortification in the lower extremity. The upper part of the vessel is corrugated and sound, but the lower end, which is smooth and soft, was in the mortified part.
