The first lines of the practice of surgery: designed as an introduction for students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners (Volume 1).

  • Cooper, Samuel, 1780-1848.
Date:
1822
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first lines of the practice of surgery: designed as an introduction for students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners (Volume 1). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    then a fungous excrescence has arisen and proved * fatal. Sometimes, a few days or weeks after the operation, headad vomiting, convulsions, &c. have been known to come on, and end fatally.t It is said, that in such cases the cancerous dis- temper has been discovered to have spread to the brain, along the optic nerve, and to have excited induration and ulceration of that viscus. That the fungus hasmatodes also does so is no longer doubtful. Convulsions, after the operation, were sus- pected in one case to be owing to the pressure of the lint in the orbit on the optic nerve ; and hence, the late Mr. Ware renounced the plan of introducing dressings within the eye- lids.! That carcinoma will sometimes recur, even though even discernible portion of the distemper has been most carefully removed,§ is an unfortunate truth, for which every practi- tioner should be prepared, in order that he may never presume to give a prognosis, which may injure his reputation. How- ever, now that surgeons duly discriminate cancer frum fungus haematodes, in which the operation mostly fails, the knife is less likely, than formerly, to be employed in hopeless ex- amples, and fewer relapses will ensue. When the operation answers, and the cure is complete, the patient can seldom wear an artificial eye, on account of the manner, in which both the eyelids shrink to the upper and lower margin of the orbit, and he is generally obliged to be content with wearing a compress, or a pair of spectacles, in which there is a piece of glass somewhat opaque, in order to conceal the disfigurement. When a fungous malignant excrescence grows from the- cornea, there is no occasion to extirpate the whole eye. Ac- cording to Richter, it will be quite enough to cut away the anterior portion of the organ, as the base of the fungus seldom extends beyond the edge of the cornea. The operation may be effected by making a puncture in the eye with a lancet, a Richter's Anfansgr. der Wundarzn. band. iii. p. 422. | Mohrenheim, Beobachtungen, band. ii. J Ware, in Trans of Med. Society of London, vol. i. p. 152. § Sabatier in speaking of M. Louis's mode of extirpating the eye remarks : 41 J'ai assiste a quelques unes de ses operations, qui ont 6le faites avec beaucoup d'adresse et de facilite II pourroit cependant se faire que l'extir- pation de l'oeil ne reussit pas. On sait, en effet, avec quelle fureur le can- cer, se reproduit quelquefois. Louis l'a eprouve dans un cas, ou il avoit fait son possible pour extirper, celui dont l'ceil etoit affecte, en emportant, cau- terisant* et brulant les callosites a mesure qu'elles se prcsentoient. Le mal est revenu,comme il arrive en d'autres parties du corp=. De la Mededine *>neratoire. torn. iii. p. 58