The pathology and treatment of leucorrhoea / by W. Tyler Smith.

  • Smith, W. Tyler (William Tyler), 1815-1873.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The pathology and treatment of leucorrhoea / by W. Tyler Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    Hassall made with me, at my request, an examination of the entire mucous membrane of the os and cervix uteri. To Dr. Handheld Jones I owe a large number of examinations of the leucorrhoeal secretions made at the commencement of the pre- sent inquiry. I have also received much assistance, in the way of procuring healthy and morbid uteri, from Dr. J. W. Ogle, curator of the museum of St. George's Hospital, and from two of the resident medical officers of St. Mary's Hospital, Messrs. Trotter and Bullock. The woodcuts which illustrate the present volume are from drawings made by Mr. Miller, a very talented microscopic artist. The drawings themselves were executed under the careful superintendence of Dr. Hassall, and in all which are above the size of nature, the camera lucida was employed to ensure fidelity. It may be objected, that in the present inquiry I have adhered too strictly to the term Leucorrhcea, and I venture at the outset to say a few words respecting this objection. It is very true that leucorrhoeal discharge is a symptom of different and sometimes opposite conditions of the uterus and vagina. But it is the most common and prominent symp- tom in the majority of uterine cases, and in its principal form, that of discharge from the glands of the canal of the cervix uteri, it is not merely the expression of a symptom, but of the disease itself. If we consider leucorrhcea generally, as a distinct disorder, and treat it as such, the result is certainly mischievous. But if we partially or entirely ignore the dis- charges, and, referring to them as little as possible, use the words inflammation, ulceration, induration, hypertrophy, and other allied terms, we make no real advance, but merely shift from one set of prominent symptoms to another. Moreover, in a considerable number of cases of leucorrhcea, a state the very opposite to that of inflammation exists. If we attempted to define the most prominent disorders of the utero-vaginal canal, in which leucorrhcea is a symptom, we should have to deal with a very profuse nomenclature. We might treat of B 2