The endoscope as an aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease / by Francis Richard Cruise.

  • Cruise, Francis Richard, 1834-1912.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The endoscope as an aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease / by Francis Richard Cruise. 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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    efface these parts in its transit; but we can observe the colour and state of the lining mucous membrane, and notice how, disposed in longitudinal folds, it closes centripetally upon the opening of the tube, giving to the portion in view the outline of the cloaca of a bird, or, in miniature, the appearance of the vagina during with- drawal of the speculum (vide Fig. V., chromo-lithograph). Tliis fashion in which the urethra closes upon the tube is important to notice, because it is peculiar to the elastic and supple condition of health. No more fascinating temptation could present itself to my mind, at the present time, than the Avish to enter into a full analysis of M. Desormeaux's beautiful and philosophical discussion of the subject of urethritis, occupying from page 26 to page 83 of his memoir; but I feel that the suitable limits of an article such as the present would render the attempt impossible. I shall, therefore, make but a few remarks on the subject, and hope I may thereby enlist the interest of others in this most important investigation. Physicians arc well aware that inflammation of the urethra, accom- panied by discharge, may arise from many diflfercnt causes; and, inasmuch as the course and consequences of such affections vary with their origin, a positive diagnosis, especially in the chronic stages, is needful both fur the satisfaction of the practitioner and the advantage of the patient. Urethritis, for the most part arising fx-om sJ9ec^/?c contagion, may nevertheless, be produced by the passage of a catheter, by contact with nonspecific vaginal discharges or with chancrous pus, by venereal excesses, errors of diet, ingestion of irritant articles of food and di'ink, the use of cantharides, the influence of teething, intestinal worms, herpetic, rheumatic, and gouty affections, and other causes needless to enumerate. Under all these various circumstances its course and consequences vary materially. The leading distinction consists in the fact, that whUe all other varieties incline more or less certainly and rapidly to a natural cure, that which arises from speoific contagion, or blennorrliagia, tends to run a regular and lengthened course, and to merge into a chronic form, characterized by slight colourless discharge, or blennorrhea as it is termed, uneasiness in the perineal region, and an insidiously increasing difficulty in micturition, Avhich finally, if neglected, terminates in organic urethral stricture. Such being the case, it is a matter of vital importance to study with the endoscope the clinical