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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    present in artificially-produced saprcxmia, but is not frecpient in man. As the tem- perature rises the patient becomes delirious; the prostration is extreme ; the pulse is almost imperceptible ; the forehead becomes covered with perspiration ; the face grows more and more dusky, and at length, if the dose is sufficient, or if it is repeated, the patient sinks into a state of collapse, and the heart fails com- pletely. Treatment.—The local treatment, as in the case of septic fever, consists simply in thorough drainage, combined with the use of antiseptics. If the wound is on one of the extremities, nothing is more successful than a corrosive sublimate bath (one part in 5000) ; if this is impracticable, it should be thoroughly irri- gated, great care being taken not to injure the surface. The object is to prevent further fermentation and absorption; if this can be accomplished, and the patient's kidneys are sound, so that the poison is eliminated, the prognosis is good, in uncomplicated cases. Unhappily, sapraemia is usually merely an addi- tion to other even more serious affections. It has been suggested that where any definite nervous symptoms are present, which it is known can be counteracted by the action of other alkaloids^-dilata- tion of the pupil, for example—an attempt should be made in this direction ; but cases in which this would be practical must be very rare. After the acute symptoms have subsided, the anaemia and exhaustion left must be combated by iron, tonics, and a nutritious diet. Affections similar to septic fever and sapraemia are stated to have been caused by the injection into the blood of pepsin, trypsin, and other unorganized ferments. [Surgical (Traumatic) fever is the designation applied to the ephemeral fever which frequently appears after a wound or injury. It is due either to the absorp- tion of minute debris of tissue necrosis or to their oxidation. Intestinal Toxemia is a term used to designate a condition in which the ptomanies of putrefaction are absorbed from the intestinal walls, and thus enter the circulation. Metastatic abscesses may arise in this way. Intoxication from this source with pyrexia may be confused by the observer with sapraemic and septicaemic processes.]
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