Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : February to December 1848 / edited by Alexander Fleming and W.T. Gairdner.

Date:
MDCCCXLVIII [1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Monthly retrospect of the medical sciences : February to December 1848 / edited by Alexander Fleming and W.T. Gairdner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    neuin, Dr Buckingham incised the poste¬ rior lip of the uterus by means of a lancet, to the depth of one-eighth of an inch. The wound enlarged of itself, and the child was speedily delivered. The mother made a slow recovery.—American Journal of Medical Sciences, October 1847, p. 400. Mr Barrett records a similar case. In this patient, when first examined, the os uteri was rigid and thick. On the se¬ cond day the waters were discharged. In consequence of the persistence of this state of matters, the woman was several times bled and purged, and had tartar emetic in nauseating doses, as well as dif¬ ferent enemata, and also the local applica¬ tion of belladonna to the os uteri. She was unaccountably left in this condition for five days, the pains being generally very severe, and ceasing only rarely while she enjoyed a few hours sleep. After being five days in this state, serious constitutional symptoms supervened, and it was judged necessary to resort to the knife. Two in¬ cisions were made in each side of the os uteri. The constitutional symptoms very quickly abated. Subsequently the child’s head was perforated, and the woman safely delivered after seven da,ys’ labour. She recovered.—Provincial Med. and Surg. Journal, Dec. 15, 1847. 36.—Hydatids from the Uterus. By Dr Bkown.—Dr Brown relates a case of this description occurring in a woman who had borne four children, the youngest of w’hich was two years old. When Dr Brown first saw her, she believed herself to be in the fourth month of pregnancy, and complain¬ ed of a great discharge per vaginam of a dark-brownish colour, and most offensive odour. The uterus was enlarged to the size of that of the fourth month of preg¬ nancy. These symptoms continued for a month, when profuse flooding came on. Dr Brown, on arriving, introduced his hand into the uterus, and took away a large quantity of coagula with hydatids. Of these last there were, at least, tw'o quarts. The hemorrhage immediately ceased.— Record of Obstetric Medicine, January 1, p. 21. [For some interesting pathological ob¬ servations on hydatiginous degeneration of the ovum, we would refer to the re¬ ports of the Obstetric Society of Edin¬ burgh, published in the number of this Journal for May 1847, p. 868.] vn.—MATERIA MEDICA AND THERAPEUTICS. 37.—■Chloroform—Preparation.—M. Soubeiran recommends the preparation of chloroform from a mixture of ten parts of cliloride of lime, sixty parts of water, and two parts of alcohol. The mixture is in¬ troduced into a large copper still, of which it must not occupy at most above two- thirds, and .a brisk fire is applied to the apparatus. At about 176® Fahrenheit, a violent reaction ensues, and just at this moment the difficulty of the process con¬ sists, as the materials are apt to swell up and pass over into the recipient. It is necessary to watch it carefully at this point; and when the head of the still at its upper part becomes warm, although no fluid has begun to pass over, the fire must be withdrawn. Shortly after this the dis¬ tillation commences and proceeds almost entirely of itselfbut as soon as it begins to go slowly, the fire is re-applied. The distilled fluid does not amount to more than two or three litres, and consists of two layers, the lower of which is chloro¬ form. It is purified by washing first with water, and tlien with solution of carbonate of soda, and finally by distillation over chloride of calcium. The proportions above described M. Soubeir.an assures us are the most favourable for the preparation of chloroform ; and in order to facilitate the process, and to save time, he recommends the chloride of lime to be mixed at once with hot water, by which means a consi¬ derable number of distillations may be performed in one day.—Journal de Phar- macie et d.e Chimie, December 1847. M. Dervault recommends that the pro¬ portion of water proposed by Soubeiran should be diminished one-third. By this modification he asserts that four times the quantity of chloroform are obtained than by the process of Soubeiran.—Wnion Medicale, December 18, 1847. The above process is understood to be the one generally adopted. It is, however, not free from danger; and serious acci¬ dents have occurred. (We find the fol¬ lowing remarks iu the Pharmaceutical Journal for January 1, 1848). “The materials introduced should not occupy more than one-eighth of the still, and not two-thirds, as Soubeiran directs; otherwise the still-head may be blown off with vio¬ lence, and the apartment filled with chlo¬ rine vapours. Perfectly good chloride of lime should be used, otherwise the product will be very small.
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