A probationary essay on hydrocele : submitted, by authority of the President and his Council to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, when candidate for admission into their body, in conformity to their regulations respecting the admission of ordinary fellows / by Archibald William Cockburn.

  • Cockburn, Archibald William, 1814-1862.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A probationary essay on hydrocele : submitted, by authority of the President and his Council to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, when candidate for admission into their body, in conformity to their regulations respecting the admission of ordinary fellows / by Archibald William Cockburn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    piece of iron, hollow in the centre, is brought to a white heat, and into this hollow part the cam- phor is put; its fumes are made to pass through a tin tube, placed over the iron, to the upper end of which an oil-skin bag is attached : the scrotum is inserted into this bag, and allowed to remain there exposed to the fumes of the camphor until they are all dissipated. The fumigation with mer- cury is conducted in the same manner. The quan- tity of camphor used for one fumigation should be two drachms, while one drachm of mercury will be sufficient. Four or five fumigations will in general restore the gland to its natural condition ; but the use of them must in some cases be perse- vered in for a longer period. Should any circum- stances exist to contra-indicate the use of mercury, the camphor may be employed alone. The inti- mate connection between the urethra and the testicle readily accounts for the irritation of the one affecting the condition of the other. One of the most remarkable features of stricture is the total ignorance under which the patient sometimes labours with regard to the presence of the disease, until the bougie reveals its actual existence. So, in many cases of Hydrocele, we find irritation of the gland kept up by some unsuspected derange- ment of the urinary organs, and most frequently by stricture ; and in all cases of Hydrocele, the urethra should be examined with a bougie ; and the insertion of one every third or fourth day, allowing it to remain a few minutes, will prove of