Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [493]
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and deposited in the museum of that institution. The patient was a man of thirty-eight. In the right kidney were found a calculus weighing 36 1/2 ounces, about 1000 small calculi, and a quantity of calcareous dust. In the left kidney there was a calculus weighing 9 3/4 ounces, besides a quantity of calcareous dust. The calculi in this case consisted chiefly of phosphate of magnesium and ammonium. Cordier of Kansas City, Mo., successfully removed a renal calculus weighing over three ounces from a woman of forty-two. The accompanying illustration shows the actual size of the calculus.
At the University College Hospital, London, there are exhibited 485 gall-stones that were found postmortem in a gall-bladder. Vanzetti reports the removal of a preputial calculus weighing 224 grams. Phillipe mentions the removal of a calculus weighing 50 grams from the prepuce of an Arab boy of seven. Croft gives an account of some preputial calculi removed from two natives of the Solomon Islands by an emigrant medical officer in Fiji. In one case 22 small stones were removed, and in the other a single calculus weighing one ounce 110 grains. Congenital phimosis is said to be very common among the natives of Solomon Islands.
In September, 1695, Bernard removed two stones from the meatus urinarius of a man, after a lodgment of twenty years. Block mentions a similar case, in which the lodgment had lasted twenty-eight years. Walton speaks of a urethral calculus gradually increasing in size for fifty years. Ashburn shows what he considers the largest calculus ever removed from the urethra. It was 2 1/8 inches long, and 1 1/4 inches in diameter; it was white on the outside, very hard, and was shaped and looked much like a potato. Its dry weight was 660 grains. At one end was a polished surface that corresponded with a similar surface on a smaller stone that lay against it; the latter calculus was shaped like a lima bean, and weighed 60 grains. Hunt speaks of eight calculi removed from the urethra of a boy of five. Herman and the Ephemerides mention cases of calculi in the seminal vesicles.
Calcareous degeneration is seen in the ovary, and Peterman speaks of a stone in the ovary. Uterine calculi are described by Cuevas and Harlow; the latter mentions that the calculus he saw was egg-shaped. There is an old chronicle of a stone taken from the womb of a woman near Trent, Somersetshire, at Easter, 1666, that weighed four ounces. The Ephemerides speaks of a calculus coming away with the menstrual fluid.
Stones in the heart are mentioned by medical writers, and it is said that two stones as large as almonds were found in the heart of the Earl of Balcarres.
Morand speaks of a calculus ejected from the mouth by a woman.
An old record says that stones in the brain sometimes are the cause of convulsions. D'Hericourt reports the case of a girl who died after six months' suffering, whose pineal gland was found petrified, and the incredible size of a chicken's egg. Blasius, Diemerbroeck, and the Ephemerides, speak of stones in the location of the pineal gland.
Salivary calculi are well known; they may lodge in any of the buccal ducts. There is a record of the case of a man of thirty-seven who suffered great pain and profuse salivation. It was found that he had a stone as large as a pigeon's egg under his tongue.
Umbilical calculi are sometimes seen, and Deani reports such a case. There is a French record) of a case of exstrophy of the umbilicus, attended with abnormal concretions.
Aetius, Marcellus Donatus, Scaliger, and Schenck mention calculi of the eyelids.
There are some extraordinary cases of retention and suppression of urine on record. Actual retention of urine, that is, urinary secretion passed into the bladder, but retention in the latter viscus by inanition, stricture, or other obstruction, naturally cannot continue any great length of time without mechanically rupturing the vesical walls; but suppression of urine or absolute anuria may last an astonishingly extended period. Of the cases of retention
At the University College Hospital, London, there are exhibited 485 gall-stones that were found postmortem in a gall-bladder. Vanzetti reports the removal of a preputial calculus weighing 224 grams. Phillipe mentions the removal of a calculus weighing 50 grams from the prepuce of an Arab boy of seven. Croft gives an account of some preputial calculi removed from two natives of the Solomon Islands by an emigrant medical officer in Fiji. In one case 22 small stones were removed, and in the other a single calculus weighing one ounce 110 grains. Congenital phimosis is said to be very common among the natives of Solomon Islands.
In September, 1695, Bernard removed two stones from the meatus urinarius of a man, after a lodgment of twenty years. Block mentions a similar case, in which the lodgment had lasted twenty-eight years. Walton speaks of a urethral calculus gradually increasing in size for fifty years. Ashburn shows what he considers the largest calculus ever removed from the urethra. It was 2 1/8 inches long, and 1 1/4 inches in diameter; it was white on the outside, very hard, and was shaped and looked much like a potato. Its dry weight was 660 grains. At one end was a polished surface that corresponded with a similar surface on a smaller stone that lay against it; the latter calculus was shaped like a lima bean, and weighed 60 grains. Hunt speaks of eight calculi removed from the urethra of a boy of five. Herman and the Ephemerides mention cases of calculi in the seminal vesicles.
Calcareous degeneration is seen in the ovary, and Peterman speaks of a stone in the ovary. Uterine calculi are described by Cuevas and Harlow; the latter mentions that the calculus he saw was egg-shaped. There is an old chronicle of a stone taken from the womb of a woman near Trent, Somersetshire, at Easter, 1666, that weighed four ounces. The Ephemerides speaks of a calculus coming away with the menstrual fluid.
Stones in the heart are mentioned by medical writers, and it is said that two stones as large as almonds were found in the heart of the Earl of Balcarres.
Morand speaks of a calculus ejected from the mouth by a woman.
An old record says that stones in the brain sometimes are the cause of convulsions. D'Hericourt reports the case of a girl who died after six months' suffering, whose pineal gland was found petrified, and the incredible size of a chicken's egg. Blasius, Diemerbroeck, and the Ephemerides, speak of stones in the location of the pineal gland.
Salivary calculi are well known; they may lodge in any of the buccal ducts. There is a record of the case of a man of thirty-seven who suffered great pain and profuse salivation. It was found that he had a stone as large as a pigeon's egg under his tongue.
Umbilical calculi are sometimes seen, and Deani reports such a case. There is a French record) of a case of exstrophy of the umbilicus, attended with abnormal concretions.
Aetius, Marcellus Donatus, Scaliger, and Schenck mention calculi of the eyelids.
There are some extraordinary cases of retention and suppression of urine on record. Actual retention of urine, that is, urinary secretion passed into the bladder, but retention in the latter viscus by inanition, stricture, or other obstruction, naturally cannot continue any great length of time without mechanically rupturing the vesical walls; but suppression of urine or absolute anuria may last an astonishingly extended period. Of the cases of retention