Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Case of fibrous polypus / [James Syme]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![CASE OF FIBROUS POLYPUS. BY JAMES SYME, Esq., PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. [FROM THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, FOR NOVEMBER 1850.] Lord ——-applied to me on the 29th of June last, under the following circumstances About three years ago, while employed in the public service abroad, he had fallen from horseback, and sus¬ tained an injury of the nose, followed at different times by profuse bleeding,—on one occasion to the amount, it was said, of several pints, —and complete obstruction of the nasal passages, with the loss of smell and taste. Some ineffectual attempts to afford relief had been made by a military surgeon, who detected a polypous growth in the right nostril, and extracted small portions of it. The patient, in quest of more efficient assistance, had come home, and placed himself under the care of an eminent surgeon in London, who made repeated at¬ tempts at extraction, without success, and then proposed a consulta¬ tion, which led merely to the prescription of alterative medicines. Two other very distinguished surgeons of the metropolis were then taken into the case, with the result of discovering a tumour in the throat. It was proposed to remove this growth by cutting through the soft palate ; and deliberations were held as to the practicability and expediency of such a procedure. But, finally, at the end of two months, the original resolution against any operative interference was unanimously adopted. The patient then came to Edinburgh, bringing with him a letter to me from the gentleman first consulted, who stated in it, that he and the three other surgeons had, after careful examination, and repeated deliberations, resolved that the case did not admit of any beneficial interference. The patient was about 34 years of age, tall, thin, and well made, without any expansion of the nasal feature, which, on the contrary, was rather narrower than usual. Upon putting my finger into the pharynx, behind the soft palate, I was surprised to recognise in the SUTHERLAND AND KNOX, GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30379982_0003.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
