Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/HDB/4/2/405/1
Scientific nameHomo sapiens
CollectionSpecial collections
CategoryVisual works
Object nameHydrocephalus, Drawings, Clinical subjects (visual works)
DescriptionDrawing of a child with hydrocephalus, attributed to Jan van Rymsdyk, 1755.
A history of this case is preserved in Hunter's casebooks (see Documentation).
Production date 1755
Artist
Sitter/subject
Owner/user
presented
Related objectsRCSSC/HDB/4/2/407/1RCSSC/HDB/4/2/406/1
Physical Location
LocationNot on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Bibliography
SourceHunter Casebooks
TranscriptDissections of Morbid Bodies, No. 20.
J. Burn, aged Eight Months. Died of a Watery Head [Hydrocephalus]
20th November 1755. When he was born, his head was of the common size. About a month after, his Mother observed his head grow faster than his body, in proportion; which increased very fast 'till his Death.
He lived on nothing but the breast; was sometimes costive; seemed to be very uneasy; which increased with his head: was senseless; never fixed his eyes on any thing; but seemed to hear, for he would start on any sudden noise. The Mother brought him to St George's: they gave him some Physic, and put a blister on his head; but neither was of any service. As his head increased, his eyes were pushed more and more out of the Orbits; and as the pressure was at the upper part, the eyes were pushed down behind the under Eye-Lids.
Long before he died he became very thin: and a little before he died, he lost his appetite; cut two under Teeth, and had convulsion fits. The scalp was very thin; we could very easily feel the bony parts, and also where the bone was deficient: and at those parts there were small swellings.
The length of the Child was two feet five inches.
The length of the head was nine inches.
Round the head horizontally, two feet three inches.
Round the head perpendicularly, two feet two inches.
After making two Drawings of the head and face, I made an incision over the head from ear to ear, and dissected the skin over the face, and over the neck: I then could see the Brain shining through the Dura Mater at those places where the Skull was wanting. The trochlea for the superior oblique appeared to be on the middle of the forehead; that was owing to the orbitar process of the Os Frontis being pushed downwards and forward, so as to make part of the forehead; and the superciliary brims were quite flat.
I made two punctures through the Dura Mater; the one anterior, the other posterior, that the Air might get in as fast as the water got out: but there was so little bony substance, that the Cranium collapsed; so that I was obliged to cut off the whole upper part of the Skull; and by this means took off the upper part of the Cerebrum.
The water was contained within the substance of the brain and this cavity was no more than a dilatation of the two lateral ventricles, which had communicated with one another. To prove this, the Corpora Striata were on the Bases of the Brain, but were very imperfect: the fornices were squeezed almost to nothing. The Thalami nervorum opticorum separated, and the third ventricle exposed. From the third ventricle passed forward the infundibulum, which was larger than ones thumb; and below it, stood up the posterior clinoid processes: and above it the commissura anterior: and at the posterior part of the Ventricle were the posterior Commissura, but a good deal depressed. The pineal gland was flattened; likewise the nates and testes, and had more of the Cineritious appearance than the medullary. The Iter a tertio ad quartum ventriculum obliterated, so that there was no water in the fourth ventricle. The water had passed the Crura fornices backwards, on the upper part of the Cerebellum and depressed it, and had made a cavity in it, so I took it at first for the fourth ventricle. The turns of the lateral into the middle lobes were very large, so as to admit two or three fingers, and the Additamentum the same. The brain at some places was as thin as a Shilling: at others an inch thick.
The ventricles contained eight Ale-house pints.
[WC Note: 'Vide Cube IV. Drawings No. 130, 131, 132]
