A dissertation, read before the Massachusetts Medical Society, on the importance and manner of detecting deep seated matter / by Nathaniel Miller.

  • Miller, Nathaniel, 1771-1850.
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dissertation, read before the Massachusetts Medical Society, on the importance and manner of detecting deep seated matter / by Nathaniel Miller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    of matter—I then proceed with coolness and deter- mination, and as I before remarked, I have never been disappointed. There is one circumstance which might prove a source of deception. On applying the thumbs over the belly of a single muscle, thinly covered with cellular substance, without considering its anatomi- cal structure, you might mistake the sensation ari- sing from a pressure of it, for the rising of a fluid. If you fix them transversely to the fibres, the feel- ing so much resembles that of a fluid, that in some instances, there would be danger of deception. But if you place them longitudinally with the fibres of the muscles, and press perpendicularly, the sensa- tion will not be experienced. Attention to this hint, will cause a distinction to be noticed. This subject of deep seated matter applies with almost equal importance to the whole class and va- riety of tumours. What tumour is there, presented to us for examination, which does not involve the question of its contents ; and particularly, whether it contains a fluid or not ? A correct decision of this question, in most cases, determines the character of the complaint. It constitutes the business of our profession to make that distinction, which is the only basis on which we can with confidence prescribe. In a case of swollen scrotum, there may arise three questions—whether it be Hernia, Schirrus, or Hydrocele ; for the external appearances may