Volume 1

A dictionary of practical surgery / [Samuel Cooper].

  • Samuel Cooper
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of practical surgery / [Samuel Cooper]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/1282 (page 9)
    ABD A BAPTISTON (from &, priv. and 6éz- TiSw, tmmergo, to sink under). Galen, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, and especially Scul- tetus, in his Armamentarium Chirurgicum, so denominate the crown of the trepan, because it formerly had a conical shape, which kept it from penetrating-the cranium too rapidly, and plunging its teeth in the dura mater and brain. While, however, it is admitted by modern surgeons, that mischief may be done by letting the saw penetrate too deeply, they do not find it necessary to ob- viate the possibility of such an accident, by using a conical trepan, with which it would be difficult to make any perforation at all; but they guard against the danger, by observing particular rules and cautions, laid down in another part of this book. (See 7'rephine.) In confirmation of this statement, consult Sharp’s Operations, p. 151. Ed. 3. and L’En- cyclopedie Méthodique, Partie Chir. art. Abap- téston. ABDOMEN. The Berry. When a sur- geon speaks of the cavity of the abdomen, he confines his meaning to the space included within the bag of the peritoneum. Hence, neither the kidneys, nor the pelvic viscera, are, strictly speak. ing, parts of the abdomen. Anatomists have divided this large cavity into different regions, the terms allotted to which are so very frequent in the language of surgical books, that some account of them in this Dic- tionary seems indispensable. . « The middle of the upper part of the abdomen, from the ensiform cartilage as low down as a line drawn directly across the greatest convexity of the cartilages of the ribs, is called the epigastric region. The spaces at the sides of the epigastiic region are termed, the right and left hypochondria, or hypochondriac regions. _ The umbilical region extends from the navel upwards to the line, forming the lower boundary of the epigastric region, and downwards to a line drawn across from one anterior superior spinous process of the ilium to the other. The middle space, below the last line, down to the os pubis, is named the hypogastric region. The parts of the abdomen, situated on the out- side of the umbilical region to the right and left, or externally with respect to two perpendicular lines drawn from the greatest convexities of the cartilages of the seventh true ribs, are named the ABD ilia, or flanks. On each side of the hypogastric region is situated the inguinal. region, or groin. The whole of the back part. of the abdomen has only one technical appellation, viz. the lambar region or loins. Lhe abdomen claims the particular attention of every practical surgeon ; for, it is the frequent situation of several of the most important sur- gical diseases. It is also very much exposed :to wounds, and various operations on different parts of it are often indispensable. One of the most common afflictions, to which mankind are subject, is that in which some of the bowels protrude, pushing out before them a portion of the perito- neum. This disease is called hernia, and ought to be well understood by every practitioner, who, however, can never acquire the necessary know- ledge, without being perfectly and minutely ac- quainted with the anatomy of the abdomen. | In dropsical cases, it is frequently proper to tap the abdomen, and this operation, named paracentesis, simple as it may seem, requires more considera- tion, and attention to anatomy, than many sur- geons bestow upon it. See Hernia, Paracen- tesis, and Wounds. Abdomen, Abscesses of the, may take place, either within the cavity of the belly, or at some point of its circumference, and may be either of an acute, or chronic nature. Women are gene- rally considered more liable, than men, to ab- scesses in and about the abdomen; the abscesses named lumbar being elsewhere treated of, are here excluded from consideration. Collections of purulent matter, resembling turbid whey, and containing whitish. or yellowish flakes, are not unfrequently formed in the cavity of the perito- neum, as one of the effects of inflammation ac- companying puerperal fever.—-(Stoll, Rat. Med. 4. p. 103; Lassus, Pathologie, Chir. T. 1. ps 137, Nouvelle Edit. 8v0. Paris, 1809.) In lying-in-women, abscesses frequently form between the abdominal muscles and the perito- neum, especially just above the groin. They are cases, which have been very correctly de- scribed by Conradi. Before the integuments pro- ject, the diagnosis is often attended with diffi- culty, and sometimes an obscurity prevails several weeks; for, the patients seem as if affected with slight colic pains, which yield to common,treat- ment, particularly external applications, but soon return. ‘Thus, unless the vicinity of Poupart’s ligament be carefully examined, where some b