Practical remarks on the treatment of spermatorrhoea and some forms of impotence : reprinted and enlarged from the original papers in the Lancet / by John L. Milton.

  • Milton, J. L. (John Laws), 1820-1898.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical remarks on the treatment of spermatorrhoea and some forms of impotence : reprinted and enlarged from the original papers in the Lancet / by John L. Milton. 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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    nineteen, who had evidently outgrown his strength, aj)plied .Tune 25, 1853, with gleet and seminal emissions, occasionally in the d.iy, but mostly at night. He complained of great weakness, pain in the back, and cough. An opium plaster to the loins, quinine twice a day, meat diet, and volatile liniment to rub on the chest; morning exer- cise. During the latter part of July he had a few days’ sea-bathing, which did him a great deal of good; the opium plaster re- lieved the pain in the back, and was accord- ingly repeated as often as it fell off. By the 12th of September he was so far improved that he had no seminal discharges for three weeks; but the gleet grew so much worse that I was obliged to order him injections. Having left offhis medicines, he had a slight relapse, hut, on resuming them, was rapidly cured of all but an occasional discharge at night. ' Quinine, though it 'seemed to agree with the seminal emissions, certainly, when taken alone, made the gleet worse. It was con- tumed, in all, up to the 3rd of October; till then he attended very regularly. After this he only attended once or took any medicine for a month; the consequence was, the emissions began to return. From Novem- ber 7 to December 1^, he paid great attention to his complaint, and left cured, both in his opinion and mine. Seven months afterwards he came under my eare in a very bad state of health. He had become much thinner, and latterly had suffered from cough; he had also noticed a number of ascarides in his stools ; on the dorsum of the left foot a considerable swell- ing had formed, which fluctuated indistinctly! it had arisen almost without pain. I confess I was not very sanguine as to the results of any treatment. Qumine, steel, and cod-liver oil were tried, free counter-irritation to the chest, the swelling on the foot was brushed over daily with tincture of iodine, a combi- nation of a sedative with the hydr. c. cret. was tried, but did not seem to agree. In the beginning of October the emissions began to reappear, and soon resumed their old vio- lence. At the end of four months he was rather worse than better, and he left me ; abruptly, as I supposed, dissatisfied. To my great surprise he, a short time ago, paid me a visit, looking very much better. He told me the emissions had almost entirely disap- peared, and that his cough was well, the swelling on the foot seemed consolidating. He triumphantly attributed these results to his having given up medicine, and trusted to time, plenty of exercise, and plain living. But if so, why did they not prevent the relapse? Was this a natural crisis, and had the time of life, now nearly twenty-one, any- thing to do with it ? Dec. 13, 1855.—He is again a patient. As the foot got well the emissions relapsed (perhaps from his having grown careless); and now occur about once a week to once in ten days; this has been the case for about six months. e. Case 9.—Day Discharges.—Mr. I applied November, 1852. He had two to six times a day, faint erections, 'and imme- diately after a thin discharge. The attack dated, he said, from only nine months ago, and ensued after great venereal excesses. The urethra was red, and there was a strong smell from the glans. He was pale, nervous, and so weak, that he thought he could not live, and he was tormented by a constant cough, with indigestion and costiveness. Part of this, however, arose from his habits; he was a large eater, a great smoker, and sometimes, having a sedentary occupation, scarcely crossed the doors for a week toge- ther. Salines, containing a little syrup of red poppies, and five grains of nitrate of potass, three times a day; rriustard poultices to the periucEum ; veratria ointment to the testicles. Soon after quinine was commenced. By the end of the eighth w'eek the emissions were reduced to one a week, but they oc- curred without any sign of erection. He was highly nervous, and complained of involun- tary movements in his fingers, which were extremely perplexing, as he had a great deal of writing to do. He also spoke of a con- stant “ aching in the kidneys,” “ the cam- phor made him excited In the head.” His bowels were regular. In five weeks more I again saw him, the emissions occurred once a week, but he complained of pains in the back, turbid urine, and excessive irritability, which he thought the quinine had occa- sioned. In three weeks from tliis time the discharges had diminished under the quinine, aided by a little dec. pareir. br., and more regular habits and exercise, to one in nine or ten days. He gradually recovered, and at the end of twenty* weeks was so far advanced towards a cure that he gave himself no fur- ther trouble about the matter. It might have been better for him if he had not done so. Some fifteen months after he was agaiq a patient. It appeared that he had applied a blister, and finding the emissions return- ing, he gave up treatment in despair. Gra- dually, however, they subsided again, and he might, probably, have improved consider- ably, but his old habits regained their as- cendancy: night after night the pipe and * In the first edition of this paper ten was mis' written or misjirinted for twenty weeks, or, to bo quite accurate, H3 days. E