Observations on the statistics of hernia, and on the anatomical causes which determine its production / by Robert Knox.

  • Knox, Robert, 1791-1862.
Date:
[1837]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the statistics of hernia, and on the anatomical causes which determine its production / by Robert Knox. 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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    The Memoirs of the French Academy of Surgery, furnish perhaps better data, as drawn from more varied sources Received into the Salpetriere - - 7027 women, Of these were ruptured, . . - 220 do, Received into the Bicetre, - - 3800 men, Ruptured, - - - - 212 do, Received into the Hotel des Invalids, - 2600 men, Ruptured, - - - 155 do, Received into the Hopital da la Pitie, - 103? young men. Ruptured, • - - - _ 21 do. These are the best data on record, and they give averages ex- ceedingly low, compared to the general statements of surgical writers. Tt is not even known if particular races are more liable to hernia than others, and in respect to nations the question is equally obscure. At this point, in order to be of any value sta- tistically, the inquiry should commence, \st. Are the dark races of men equally subject to hernia with the fairI myself have never observed a case of hernia occurring in any unmixed dark- coloured savage race, although I have seen many thousand in- dividuals ; yet they lead an indolent life so long as they can ; necessity then drives them to extraordinary efforts, as in the chase, which efforts they seem to meet with perfect impunity. On the other hand, I am well aware that hernia frequently at- tacks raulattoes. In respect to nations, many are composed of the same race, although in very different states of civiliza- tion ; some being mostly agricultural, others manufacturing, and others still nomade or pastoral: to ascertain in what respect these various conditions of life affect the great national masses would be exceedingly interesting. Medical men generally have attempted the determination of these questions, not by statistics, I fear, but by conjecture. The frequency of hernia in Switzer- land was noticed by Freytag, (1721,) and by Blumenbach, who particularly singles out the district of Apenzell, as presenting nu- merous instances of this surgical accident. He gives many in- genious reasons why it should be frequent in Apenzell, but the first point to be determined is the fact itself: Is hernia more frequent in Apenzell than elsewhere ? Is hernia more common in mountain districts (as some have asserted), for example in the north of Scotland and in Wales, and in some parts of Ireland, than in the extensive plains of England or of France I am sure that myself and many others would be gratified to have pointed out to us the calculations upon which such statements have been made. Mr Lawrence, a classical medical authority on hernia, says, that the accident is more common in the labouring classes of the community than in others ; and for the same reason more fre- quent in the male than in the female sex; and on the right than