Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : January to December 1849 / edited by George E. Day, Alexander Fleming, W.T. Gairdner.

Date:
MDCCCXLIX [1849]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : January to December 1849 / edited by George E. Day, Alexander Fleming, W.T. Gairdner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    MIDWIFEPwY, ETC. of the intestine, which was neither so dark coloured, nor so softened as to have given way spontaneously. Some small foreign bodies of a cartilaginous nature were found floating in the serum of the sac. M. Maisonneuve, availing himself of the healthy state of the intestine, employed the suture of Dr Gely of Nantes, which has for its object the bringing and retain¬ ing in contact the serous surfaces of the two extremities of the intestinal tube (I’adossement des sereuses du tube), by a sort of overcast seam, in which, in a space of six inches, he applied sixty stitches. [This suture is a modification of a plan, the pro¬ posal of which, is claimed in France, by MM. Faure, Johert, Denous, and Lem- hert.] The wound healed well, being cicatrized at the eighth day, and the patient is going on favourably.—L’Union Med., Oct. 7, 1848. 19.— Woundof the Right Kidney success¬ fully treated. By M. Blandin.—A young man, aged twenty, received a poignard wound in the back, in the right subcostal or renal region. He was carried to the Hotel Dieu, complaining of intense pain in the right side, extending forwards towards the iliac fossa, and back to¬ wards the wound ; he passed blood in micturating, and there was great general anxiety. The wound, which was hori¬ zontal, was scarcely two centimetres in length, and appeared to correspond to the anatomical region of the kidney. The position of the wound, together with the bloody urine, led M. Blandin to diagnose a wound of the kidney. The patient was bled largely, and kept perfectly quiet in tbe horizontal position in bed, and put on low diet. For two days after his en¬ trance into the hospital, the urine conti¬ nued bloody, but less so than at the first; the venesection was nevertheless repeated three times. On the third day, the bloody urine had disappeared, the patient was free from fever, and desired food. The small wound, however, still continues open externally, and the low diet and perfect rest are continued; but the ab¬ sence of fever or other accident, and the cessation of the hsematuria and pain, give reason to hope that the patient will soon be completely cured. Meanwhile M. Blandin keeps him in the hospital under surveillance, in case of secondary accidents resulting from the injury_An- nales de Therapeutique, September and October 1848, p. 246. At the time the above observation was reported, the patient was considered by M. Blandin to be almost cured; but, since this, unexpected accidents have super¬ vened, and it is our duty to follow up this rare and interesting case. The patient continued much in the same state as re¬ ported in our last, and his convalescence was almost completed, when, owing to ex¬ cess in eating and walking, he was seized with a sudden return of his former symp¬ toms, namely, abundant hsematuria, vio¬ lent bilious vomiting, pains in the wounded renal region, with swelling in that part and in the shoulder, and general anxiety and fever. There seemed to be no affec¬ tion of the peritoneum, nor of the intes¬ tines. These symptoms lasted for some days, in spite of the repeated application of large numbers of leeches and of baths. The' violence of the symptoms was as¬ suaged by these means ; but a few days later the same causes reproduced the same effects, which were combated by similar measures. At present—about a month from the time of the infliction of the injury, and a few days after the third return of the morbid phenomena—the patient, having lost an enormous quan¬ tity of blood by the urinary passages, and also by the general and local bleedings, is feeble, pale, and exsanguinated, like persons who have suffered from severe hemorrhages. M. Blandin keeps him in bed, restricts him to a moderate diet, and causes him to continue the baths. He thinks justly that the same symptoms may return, and perhaps compromise the life of the patient. We will notice the final termination of this case; for it is one of a class of cases which are of rare occur¬ rence and of great interest.—Annales de Therapeutique, Nov. 1848. IV.—MIDWIFERY AND DISEASES PECULIAR TO WOMEN. 20.—In what Cases (other than of Con¬ tracted Pelvis) is it proper to induce Abortion or Premature Labour ? Profes¬ sor Paul Dubois_In the lectures, of which wc propose to give an abstract, M. Dubois' confines himself to those cases where the safety of the mother is in ques¬ tion, not regarding in any respect whether the child is viable or not. Tins absolute abandonment of the interests of the infant, when the life of the mother is seriously endangered, although a principle not ad¬ mitted by many accoucheurs, now finds less and less opposition every day. M.