schirrus

noun

1. (obsolete)A hard swelling of a gland or other organ.

   “[…] 'Tis true, when once a Schirrus is formed in a glandular Part, no one can tell how it may terminate; becauſe various changes may ariſe from various Cauſes in the Conſtitution of the Perſon; and if the Juices ſhould degenerate into a highly acrid, or what the Ancients termed an atrabiliary State, the Schirrus will be (cæteris paribus) more liable to become a Cancer.”

   “We have seen it occur without preceding schirrus, present an equal smooth surface with little secretion; and many other appearances of this ulcer have been observed, as it has been modified by accidental circumstances.”

2. (obsolete)A condition characterized by the formation of tumors.

   “An exquisite Schirrus is uncurable; for seeing it is senselesse, it is manifest that the part is deprived of the influence of the animal spirit: and seeing this humor doth distend the sinewes, veins and arteries, the faculty itself is strangled and choaked, so that it neither can direct, nor help the naturall heat to concurre with the meanes, to be applyed for the dispatching of this griefe.”

   “Chirurgical writers have generally enumerated tumor as an essential symptom of the schirrus ; and it is very true, that this disease is often accompanied with an increase of bulk in the part affected.”

   “In acute cases they are rapidly produced, make scarcely an attempt at development, and die off with rapidity; in schirrus they are formed more slowly, and in much smaller numbers, live longer, and make some attempt at caudation, but they are still farther removed in form from the typical cell of healthy tissues.”