Four and a half years' experience in the lock wards of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary / by A.G. Miller.

  • Miller, Alexander Gordon.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Four and a half years' experience in the lock wards of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary / by A.G. Miller. 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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    FOUR AND A HALF YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN THE LOCK WARDS OF THE EDINBURGH ROYAL INFIRMARY.1 Gentlemen,—It is my intention to give you to-day, as an intro- duction to the course of lectures on systematic surgery, an account of my experience while in charge of the Lock wards of the Royal Infirmary during the last four and a half years. I have selected this as my subject for two reasons principally. First, because, having determined to record the results of my treatment, I have thought it right to give my class the benefit of what experience I have gathered and, secondly, because, the number of lecture days being few enough in the session, I would like that not one of them should be given up to what is not legitimately within our special work. Of course, this lecture will be of a clinical character, but will not on that account be less useful to you. I regret very much that, owing to an unfortunate circumstance, my statements must necessarily be founded on general impres- sions rather than on statistics. When the removal to the New Infirmary took place, my case-books were removed for me, and I have never seen them since. I understand that a number of the case-books were sold for waste paper, and fear that mine have suffered this horrible fate. In this way I am deprived of the histories of about the half of my patients. It is also unfortunate that, owing to a regulation of the Royal Infirmary, none but females are admitted to the Lock wards. On account of this my experience has been, as it were, rather one-sided. Without further preliminary, I shall now draw your attention first to Gonorrhoea.—This disease, in an acute or chronic form, was present in almost every patient who applied for admission, and 1 Introductory lecture to the course of systematic surgery at Surgeons’ Hall, Edinburgh, delivered 24th October 1882.