The science and art of obstetrics / by Theophilus Parvin.

  • Theophilus Parvin
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The science and art of obstetrics / by Theophilus Parvin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    680/693 page 675
    The presence of air in the veins in an autopsy does not prove death from air-embolism, for Welch and Nuttall have shown1 that this may- originate from a gas-producing bacillus, bacillus aerogenes capsulatus, as named by them. Graham2 also described a case in which this bacillus was proved to be present; and Ernst3 has made a thorough study of the subject. Nevertheless, the suddenness of the death from air-embolism would be sufficiently characteristic. 3. Death may Result from Some One of the Accidents of Labor. These accidents have already been considered, and it is hardly necessary to re- mind the reader that hemorrhage, rupture or iuversiou of the uterus, or eclampsia, may cause sudden death. 4. Different Diseases may Cause Sudden Death. Among these may be mentioned rupture of an aneurism or of the heart, having under- gone fatty degeneration, cerebral or pulmonary apoplexy, pulmonary emphysema, haemoptysis, rupture of the spleen, rupture of an hepatic abscess, and hsematemesis. Diseases of the Newborn. Sclerema Neonatorum. The follow- ing is the definition given by Ballantyne4 of this affection : A grave disease, occurring almost always in the newborn infant, characterized by induration and sometimes, by oedema of the subcutaneous cellular tissue, and by lowering of the body-temperature, and due possibly to some trophic lesion of the nervous system. Ahlfeld regards the cause as probably being in an interference with the circulation from deficient activity of the muscular respiratory apparatus and pulmonary atelec- tasis. The disease is usually fatal, death generally preceded by a dis- charge of bloody serum from the mouth and nose. Hot baths, hot wraps, massage from the periphery to the centre, ex- citing strong crying, in order to promote the circulation, and Auvard's couveuse, have been recommended in the treatment of sclerema. Diseases of the Umbilicus. Suppuration may occur after the umbil- ical cord has fallen off. Kaltenbach recommended washing with' 3 per cent, solution of boric acid, or dusting with salicylic acid and starch, 1:3. I have in some cases employed washing with alum-water and then pencilling with the compound tincture of benzoin. Abundant granulations may spring from the surface to which the cord was attached—the so-called umbilical fungus—and give rise to abundant secretion, and sometimes bleeding occurs. Burnt alum I have generally found sufficient to destroy the growth; some advise nitrate of silver, or even nitric acid. Erysipelas, beginning at the navel, and thence extending over part of the body, is sometimes seen in the newborn. The only instances in which I have observed this were in children whose mothers were suffering from septic infection, and the disease was, without exception, fatal, convulsions generally occurring. Facial erysipelas may occur in the newborn, but it is less grave than the variety mentioned. Instead of this manifestation of disease derived from the sick mother, there may occur, from the entrance of streptococci through the navel 1 Bulletin Johns Hopkins Hospital, Julv-August. 1892. 2 Columbus Medical Journal, August, 1893. s Virchow's Archiv, 1893. * Diseases of the Fcetus, vol. ii.
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