Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Surgical scraps. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![(F= 384 CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL. [June 14, 1S84 the surface of a burn will give rise to the most excruciating pain. To prevent irritation and to keep the parts at rest is indeed one of the surest ways of relieving pain, not only in the case of burns, but in the treatment of other forms of injury, and also in many kinds of disease. An instance of this is found in the method adopted to relieve the pain in certain joint diseases. Those who have visited the Children’s Hospital in Ormond Street, or indeed any other hospital for children, may remember having noticed that at the foot of many of the beds there was fixed a pulley, over which ran a cord with a weight attached to the end of it. This cord, it may further have been noticed, was fixed at the other end to a kind of stirrup which depended from the patient’s foot. Thus the weight—which con- sisted of a tin canister partly filled with shot— had the effect of keeping the child’s leg on the stretch continuously. In fact, the little patient looked very much as though he was lying on a kind of rack ; and if the visitor could have heard the surgeon order more shot to be poured into the canister, saying that he thought the patient was able to bear more weight, the command would have sounded very like that of a torturer, rather than that of one whose object it was to relieve pain. But the truth is that this rack is a very humane one indeed. It is the rack of modern times, as distinguished from that of past ages ; it is the rack of the surgeon, and not that of the inquisitor. The cases in which this apparatus is used are almost always instances of disease of the hip or knee joint. The object of this arrangement of pulley and weight is, by making traction on the foot and leg, to keep the lower of the bones, which go to form the diseased joint, away from the upper, and so avoid the excruciating pain caused by the carious or ulcerated surfaces touching one another. The benefit in such cases of having a weight drawing on the leg is most marked at night, when the patient wishes to get to sleep. With a good heavy weight, many a patient may sleep comfortably, who would otherwise be in a most pitiable condition through the long watches of the night. The position of such a person without any weight attached would be this. Knowing from past experience what too often followed on his dropping off to sleep, he would endeavour to keep himself from doing so. This, however, would of course be impossible for long, and at last the heavy eyelids would droop, the ward with its long rows of beds would grow dimmer and dimmer, the breathing of the neigh- bouring sleepers would sound fainter and yet more faint, until sight and hearing failed him, and his long watching ended in sleep. But now that he was no longer on his guard to keep his limb in a state of perfect rest, the irritation of the diseased part would give rise to spasmodic contraction ot the neighbouring muscles. This contraction of the muscles would bring the lower bone of the joint, with more or less violence, against the upper; the two highly sensitive ulcerated surfaces would touch, and with a shriek of agony, the child would awake, quivering in every limb. And then, as the pain gradually grew less, again the same terrible drowsiness would begin to oppress him ; and after another long spell of watching, he would fall asleep once more, to be once more awakened in the sam horrible manner as before. But with a sufficien weight attached, the patient may go to slee] confident of comparative ease ; for the weight i too much for the spasmodic action of the muscle to overcome, and the bony surfaces therefon remain separated. And not only does tin surgeon’s rack thus save the patient from i terrible amount of pain, but, by allowing him t<| get good rest of a night, it must increase enor mously the probability of ultimate recovery. IN THE RHINE WOODS. CUCKOO ! CUCKOO ! I hear it again ! An echo of youth from its far sunny shore ; Through the dim distant years it resoundeth once more. How mingled the feelings that rise with the strain— The joy and the pain ! I hear it, but not In the home of my childhood, the glorious and grand, ’Mid the wild woody glens of my own native land. Ah ! dear to me still is each far distant spot, And present in thought. I see them to-day 1 The glory of Spring-time on valley and hill, That struck to my heart with a rapturous thrill, And friends in the sunshine of life’s early ray, Young, happy, and gay. All vanished and gone ! Could I see it indeed as in spirit I see. The home of my youth would be joyless to me; Like a bird’s empty nest when the tenant has flown, Deserted and lone. Soft, softly it rings ! 0 shades of the buried Past, slumber in peace! 0 heart, bid thy sad, tender memories cease ! And welcome the Present, with all that it brings Of beautiful things. How often in youth 1 have dreamed of this land of the oak and the vine, This green, lovely land on the banks of the Rhine, With longiDg prophetic, that one day in sooth The dream should be truth. Now gladly I rest ’Mid its scenes of enchantment with those that I love; Warm hearts are around me, blue skies are above; And though distant are some of the dearest and best, I am thankful, and blest. The years as they roll Rob the cheek of its glow and the eyes of their light, And much we have cherished is lost to the sight; But one thing remains that they cannot control— The youth of the Soul. I. A. 9. Printed and Published by W. & R. Chambers, 47 Pater- ' noster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh. 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