Intestinal surgery / by N. Senn.

  • Senn, Nicholas, 1844-1908.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Intestinal surgery / by N. Senn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    days after the experiment was made the dog was killed and the peritoneal cavity carefully examined. Not a trace of the gas remained and the peritoneum throughout presented a normal appearance. 2. Pleural Cavity. Experiment 54. Dog, weight twenty-five pounds. After thorough dis- infection, an aseptic hollow needle was inserted between the seventh and eighth ribs in the axillary line into the left pleural cavity, and hydrogen gas from rubber balloon forced through it until the pleural cavity was thoroughly distended. On making a physical examination of the chest at this time the apex of the heart was found to the right of the sternum; vesicular breathing on left side absent; abnormal resonance on percussion of this side. The res- pirations became superficial and greatly increased in frequency. On with- drawing the needle no gas escaped externally, but a circumscribed subcutaneous emphysema which appeared, showed that some of the gas had escaped through the puncture in the pleura into the subcutaneous connective tissue. Twenty- four hours after the inflation the dog appeared to be in perfect health. The normal relations in the chest had become restored and the subcutaneous emphysema was less extensive. The animal was kept under observation for a considerable length of time, but at no time could symptoms of pleuritis be detected. 3. Subcutaneous Cellular Tissue. Experiment 55. Old dog, weight forty-three pounds. A small, perfectly aseptic trocar was inserted through the skin into the loose cellular tissue in the right inguinal region, and through the cannula two litres of gas were injected, the gas distributing itself through the loose connective tissue over a large surface of the body. Upon the withdrawal of the cannula the puncture was hermetically sealed with iodoform collodium and cotton. The subcuta- neous emphysema disappeared completely in forty-eight hours, and no traces of inflammation could be found at the point of puncture, or at any place where the gas had come in contact with the tissues. Experiment 56. Dog, weight twenty-five pounds. Subcutaneous inflation of two litres of hydrogen gas through the cannula of a small trocar into the left side of the chest. The subcutaneous emphysema reached from the clavicle and axilla on that side to the crest of the ilium, the gas at some points elevat- ing the skin at least four inches from the subjacent tissues. The gas was absorbed somewhat more slowly than in the preceding experiment, but three days after the inflation no trace of emphysema could be detected, and the subcutaneous connective tissue was as pliable and movable as before the inflation. T. Rectal Insufflation of Hydrogen Gas in the Diagnosis of Penetrating Gunshot Wounds of the Abdomen. In these experiments the animals were strapped on one of Pasteur's operating tables. Abdomen shaved, and after complete