An inaugural dissertation on the congenital malformations of the heart ... / [John Paget].

  • Paget, John, 1808-1892.
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural dissertation on the congenital malformations of the heart ... / [John Paget]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS OF THE HE A R T. Part I. Developement and Classification of Malformations.* It is no long time since the opinion that 44 monsters prove nothing,-11 was advanced by the physiologist as an incontrover¬ tible axiom. A lusus natures, as such phenomenon was desig¬ nated, was supposed so completely to set at defiance all the or¬ dinary laws of nature, that not only could no elucidation of these laws be derived from such anomalies, but the very causes on which their formation depended, were thought to be entirely distinct. The falsity of such a doctrine is now sufficiently es¬ tablished. 44 L’ordre est dans le desordre,11 are the words of M. Serres, concisely expressing the important truth, that the same laws preside alike over formation and malformation, and that it is only in the more perfect knowledge of these laws, that we can look for a full explanation of such appearances. The German anatomists seem to have been the first, to attempt the study of monsters on anything like philosophical principles. * This dissertation will appear in its present form, in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal. A