Report on the progress of practical medicine, in ... midwifery and the diseases of women and children : during the years 1844-5 / by C. West.

  • West, Charles, 1816-1898.
Date:
1845
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the progress of practical medicine, in ... midwifery and the diseases of women and children : during the years 1844-5 / by C. West. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    compilation, made by a man whose own opportunities for observation have been very considerable. Professor Kiwisch* whose work on Puerperal Fever was noticed in this Journal some years ago, has announced a work on the diseases of the unimpregnated state. The first volume on diseases of the uterus has appeared in Germany, but has not yet reached this country. Dr. Meigs has published a translation with notes, of the laborious compilation of M. Colombat de Plskre.f A series of reports on the diseases of women have appeared from the pen of Dr. Rigby and Dr. Heming§lias contributed seve¬ ral essays on the same subjects. DISORDERS OF MENSTRUATION. Amenorrhea. Dr. Toogood|| has published some extremely interesting cases in which fatal affection of the brain occurred in chlorotic patients, associated with suspension or irregular performance of the menstrual function. [Not¬ withstanding its popular title, the pamphlet will well repay an attentive peru¬ sal. It may be doubted indeed whether medical practitioners will not benefit by reading it more than the public to whom it is addressed,] Dysmenorrhea. Dr, Rigby4!! has written a work in which he endeavours to apply the theories of Dr. Prout in explanation of some forms of painful men¬ struation. His treatise consists of two parts: in the former of which he no¬ tices the general results of derangement of the process of assimilation. He insists on the fact that the mucous membranes form one of the grand emunc- tories for the albuminous principle, when redundant or imperfectly assimilated. Hence it follows that disorders of the assimilative process determine corre¬ sponding disorder of the functions of the mucous membranes. Among these the uterine mucous membrane bears its part, and it is especially in connex¬ ion with the gouty or rheumatic diathesis that disturbance of its function is most frequent. These disorders are either active when like rheumatic affec¬ tions of other parts, they are associated with congestion, and are attended by inflammatory symptoms, giving rise to dysmenorrhea ; or chronic, attended with leucorrhea and chronic affection of the cervix uteri. Symptoms of gene¬ ral impairment of the digestive powers attend the affection, with excess of lithates in the urine, and the formation of fibrinous membranes by the uterus and painful menstruation, or with leucorrhea and chronic inflammation of the cervix uteri; inducing a gradual suppression of the menstrual flux. Five cases are related in illustration of the author’s views respecting the disease, which he conceives is to be treated by remedies applied to the constitutional disorder rather than to the local ailment. Dr. Simpson** has invented small bougies of German silver about 2| inches long, which he attaches to a temporary handle, and introduces them into the os uteri in cases of dysmenorrhea connected with stricture of the orifice of the womb. After being introduced, the handle is unscrewed, and the bougies are left for two or three days. They are more convenient and are said to cause less annoyance than ordinary bougies which were employed for this purpose by the late Dr. Mackintosh. Menorrhagia. M. Ginestetff praises highly the expressed juice of the com¬ mon nettle, urtica dioica, which he gave successfully in Jss doses in an obsti- * Kliuische Vortr'age ueber specielle Pathologie und Therapie der Krankheiten des weiblichen Geschlechts ; Prag. 1845, 8vo. t A Treatise on the Diseases and Special Hygiene of Females, by C. de l’lsere. Translated with ad¬ ditions, by C. D. Meigs, m.d. Philadelphia, 1845, 8vo. X In the Medical Times for 1844-5, passim. § In the Lancet for 1845, passim. || Hints to Mothers, and other persons interested in the Management of Females at the age of Pu¬ berty; London, 1844, 8vo, pp. 20. I On Dysmenorrhea, and other uterine affections in connexion with derangement of the assimilating functions ; London, 1844, 8vo. ** Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journ., Aug. 1844. ft Bull, de l’Acad. Roy. de Mdd. Fevr. 28, 1845.