Reports on civil dispensaries at the Presidency and in the provinces of Madras, during the year 1852.

  • Madras (India : Presidency). Medical Board.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports on civil dispensaries at the Presidency and in the provinces of Madras, during the year 1852. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    NJ O H ' o Q- cn cr ='-§ rT QTQ a O O 3 _ O O GO 3 < o C ra o\ era VJ ( t Q- 2 o> o o * 3 3 O r\ </) 2 tn ome iu No. D c OJ E Q- • m l/l e? z LU m U 15 sot in with groat severity, and I feared the case would terminate fatally, the patient’s bodily powers being much exhausted. A crucial incision six inches in length and five broad was made and fully two inches deep, as the part was in a high state of gangrene ; a portion the size of the palm of the hand was removed, and subsequently other portions—warm dressings were applied, nutritious diet administered, opium, ammonia and haustus cinchona with acid: sulph : dil: carefully given ; under this plan of treatment, the patient’s sinking powers rallied in a truly extraordinary manner, the sloughs became detached,—healthy gra- nulations arose, and the patient left the hospital perfectly well, to the surprise of his friends, who, as he was an old man and in such a feeble condition, con- sidered when he was first brought, that his case was a hopeless one.” Civil Dispensary, Cuddalore.— Surgeon IF. Burrell. “ The new Dispensary built by Government having been reported as fit for occupation, the patients were removed into it on the 25th November 1852 ; the building is upon an excellent plan, and every way suited to the purpose.” “The number of out-patients during the year has been 4,101, being an excess of 422 over last year, so that in this department of the institution, ground is being gained ; by far the most numerous class of diseases in out-patients has proved, as formerly, to be skin affections consisting principally of lepra and psoriasis; the next class in importance, though not in number, has been diseases of the urino-genital organs, 195 of which were gonorrhoea. With regard to these diseases, I feel sure that the superiority of European treatment over that of the Native doctors, is becoming more and more appreciated in this district; dyspepsia is an affection of great prevalence in this neighbourhood, and I generally find that it is traceable to the excessive use of tobacco in one form or other.” Civil Dispensary, Trichinopoly.—Garrison Surgeon II. Graham. “ The table for the past year exhibits a somewhat less number of patients than attended in 1851; but as the diminution is chiefly shewn in fevers and bowel complaints, it seems not unreasonable to attribute the falling off entirely to a diminished degree of sickness in the population generally.’’ “ My experience confirms in every respect what my predecessors have recorded of the satisfactory conduct of the Second Dressers Francis and Shunmoogum ; but the latter has been almost exclusively employed with the Collector or elsewhere since I have held charge of the Dispensary; and there- fore the duties have mainly fallen on the 2d Dresser Francis, leaving him less leisure for study than is to be desired.”