Clinical lectures on the diseases of women and children / by Gunning S. Bedford.

  • Bedford Gunning S., 1806-1870.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical lectures on the diseases of women and children / by Gunning S. Bedford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    by that, my good woman?” “That I always require medicine, sir they are so confined.” “ Do you notice that the swelling becomes larger, when you attempt to have an evacuation fror i your bowels ?” “ Yes sir; that’s the time it gives me so much uneasiness.” “What kind of uneasiness, madam ?” “ A forcing, sir, as if something wanted to pass from my person.” “From your front passage?” “Yes, sir.” “ Do you have the same forcing sensation, when you cough ?” “ Yes, sir, exactly.” “ Have you ever had any thing done for this swelling, my good w'oman ?” “ Yes, sir, I wore an instrument.” “ What kind of instrument ?” “ There it is sir.” [Tlie patient shows a hard globular pessary.] “Howlong did you wear that instrument, madam?” “Only one day, sir.” “ Why not longer ?” “ Because it made the swelling worse; and it gave me a great deal of pain.” “ You were a sensible woman, madam, not to use it more than one day ; and you would have been still more sensible if you had not used it at all.” “ Oh ! sir, the doctor told me it was tlie only thing to cure me.” “ What did he say was the matter witli you?” “ Why, sir, he told me my womb was down.” “ Did he examine you, madam ?” “ Yes, sir, twice.” “Then he made a mistake, madam ; your womb is not down.” “Thank you, sir.” “ Quire welcome, madam.” This, gentlemen, is an instructive case on two accounts. In the first place, tlie patient before us has been treated for a disease which does not exist; and secondly she presents an example of what may be con- sidered, comparatively at least, a rare aftbetion. When you shall have left these halls, and entered the field of [irofessional duty, you will occa- sionally have presented to your observation examples, like the present, of erroneous judgment on the part of the practitioner. It is, indeed, a very common error to suppose that prolapsus uteri exists. This dis- placement of the organ is not unlike dyspepsia, liver complaint, con- sumption, etc. When a patient has some obscure afiection, and it ta.xes the brain of the practitioner too severely to give it a just and proper name, one of the above afi’ections is commonly selected as a mantle for his embarrassment; or in more expressive. language, his ignorance. So, too, with regard to ailments about the female organs. Prolapsus here serves the purpose of a mantle. Have you not seen to-day in the Clinique two Ciises in which the patients were told that this was their disease, when in fact the uterus was, in both instances, perfectly in situ ! Let these cases teach you a lesson ! I have labored earnestly to bring your minds to the full appreciation of accuracy in diagnosis—in the treatment of disease it is, I may say, the sine qud non. What is it that constitutes the basis of practical medicine? Is it not anatomy, that beautiful science which discloses the wonderful structure of the hu man fabric—a fabric perfect in itself, and in every part revealing the evidences of unearthly wisdom ! Physiology, too, teaches us the mechan
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