Copy 1

A critical enquiry into the present state of surgery.

  • Samuel Sharp
Date:
1761
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A critical enquiry into the present state of surgery. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    245/336 (page 233)
    geons to condemn the Operation for the Em¬ pyema as altogether infignificant; and I con-? fefs, that though I have always had a doubt as to my own Judgment in this Affair, yet having formerly with great Induftry fought in vain for Cafes where the Operation might have anfwered, I h^ve $lfo been led to fup- pofe it needlefs. However, I am now perfbaded there ^re fome Abfceffes, not only of the Pleura and Mediafiinum, but of the Lungs themfelves, which empty their Matter into the Thorax on the Diaphragm, where accumulating, it at length proves fatal for want of a Difcharge ; or if fome of it is carried off by the Trachea, the Lodgment of the Remainder produces the fame Event, though more flowly. It is in ftich Circumftances as thefe that the Operation is advifeable, and where, in all probability, the Evacuation would prove equally fuccefsful with thofe Difcharges that are wrought by Nature, either through the Trachea, or between the Ribs externally, as in adherent Empyemas: And in thefe Cafes we fee great Numbers, who live a long while under the Difcharge, and fome who per¬ fectly recover. I have aifo lately met with an Inftance in a Body I diiTedted, where the Ope-