In these circumstances, but with
cheerfulness of mind, she undertook a journey from Venice, purposing
to travel along the continent, when she was seized with a paroxysm, and
died on the spot. I examined the body on the following day.... The aorta
was considerably dilated at its curvature; and, in places, through
its whole tract, the inner surface was unequal and ossified. These
appearances were propagated into the arteria innominata. The aortic
valves were indurated...." He remarks, "The delay of blood in the aorta,
in the heart, in the pulmonary vessels, and in the vena cave, would
occasion the symptoms of which the woman complained during life; namely,
the violent uneasiness, the difficulty of breathing, and the numbness of
the arm."(6)
(6) Cooke's Morgagni, Vol. 1, pp. 417-418. I cannot too warmly
commend to young clinicians the reading of Morgagni. English
editions are available--Alexander's three-volume translation of
1769 and Cooke's Abridgement (London, 1822), of which there was
an American edition published in Boston in 1824.
Morgagni's life had as much influence as his work. In close
correspondence with the leading men of the day, with the young and
rising teachers and workers, his methods must have been a great
inspiration; and he came just at the right time.
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