Cornet's Law
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Cornet's Law states that when tubercle bacilli enter the body, the regional lymph nodes corresponding to the portal of entry are necessarily affected by a specific process, more severely than other lymph nodes. However, this law has limited applicability, being more of a rule with exceptions than a true law, and is primarily relevant only for experimental animal infections with large bacillary quantities.
Encyclopedia article (1928–1936)
Cornet's Law consists in that when tubercle bacilli penetrate the body, the regional lymph nodes corresponding to the portal of entry are necessarily affected by a specific process, and in them it is expressed more sharply than in other nodes. Cornet believed that his law allows in each individual case to determine the place of entry of tubercle bacilli into the body: the portal of infection corresponds to the most severely altered lymph nodes. - C.z. has very relative significance and rather represents a rule (with exceptions) than a true law. It is valid only in relation to cases of infection with very large quantities of bacilli; when medium and small quantities penetrate the body, regional nodes may be affected significantly less than other groups of nodes. In view of this, C.z. remains valid only for animals (resp. guinea pigs), infected in experiment with very large quantities of bacilli. For humans, who as a rule become infected in natural conditions with small quantities of bacilli, the significance of C.z. is small. In general, from the location and degree of lymph node involvement, conclusions cannot be drawn about the portals of infection.
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Cite this page
“Cornet's Law.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/cornets-law/