Surgery, a practical treatise with special reference to treatment / by C.W. Mansell Moullin ; assisted by various writers on special subjects.

  • Mansell-Moullin, C. W. (Charles William), 1851-1940
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgery, a practical treatise with special reference to treatment / by C.W. Mansell Moullin ; assisted by various writers on special subjects. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    liver oil and iron, are often of use at the same time to combat the condition of ancemia which is frecjuently present. By measures of this kind not only is the immediate attack checked antl cureil, but the tissues are so built up that they are better able to resist injurious influences of the same character afterward, in spite of the general rule (which is especially true of this variety of inflammation) that one attack predis])oses to another. Local.—This must be guided very largely by the temperature of the part. Subacute attacks, in which the heat is considerable and the i)ain severe, should be treated as if they were acute ; but where the temjicrature is normal, or almost normal, those measures answer best which maintain an increased but uniform supply of blood. Warmth by itself is beneficial, but alternating with cold it produces a much greater effect. Pouring water down from a height, douche-jets, and needle-baths are exceedingly powerful, and are chiefly of use where the inflammation is past and only its effects remain. The same may be said of fric- tion, rubbing, and massage. Carried out efficiently these have immense influence upon the circulation ; the lymphatic spaces are emptied, the effete matter pressed out, the flow of plasma through the tissues quickened, and the nutrition greatly improved. Counter-irritants are of the greatest use in chronic inflammation, both for the relief of deep-seated pain and the diminution of tension by the absorption of the exudation. Rubefacients, vesicants, and even the actual cautery are employed, according to the depth of the structure it is desired to affect and the duration of the attack. How they act is uncertain, but that the effusion disap- pears, especially when they are repeated at frequent short intervals, there is no question. Setons, and other methods for causing continued suppuration, are rarely used now. Mercury and iodine are supposed to possess a special action in promoting the absorption of the products of chronic inflammation ; but, apart from the results they produce as counter-irritants, and in syphilitic affections, it is doubtful if they are not overrated. Potassium iodide, however, has a very considerable effect upon vascular tension. Superficial forms of inflammation—on mucous membranes, for example—^are sometimes benefited by the action of local astringents; and when there is a considerable degree of effusion, as in chronic synovitis, pressure, in con- junction with counter-irritation, may be applied with great advantage.