A treatise on the venereal disease / by John Hunter ; with copious additions, by Philip Ricord ; translated and edited, with notes, by Freeman J. Bumstead.
- John Hunter
- Date:
- 1859
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the venereal disease / by John Hunter ; with copious additions, by Philip Ricord ; translated and edited, with notes, by Freeman J. Bumstead. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![ployed. When the contrary is the case, and the pain increases, the dressing should be speedily removed, to avoid unpleasant symptoms. When patients can bear compression, care should be taken to renew it as fast as the affected organ decreases in size under its influence. If this indication be not carefully fulfilled, disagreeable reaction will speedily follow. When compression cannot be used on account of the above-men- tioned contraindications, while we carry out other treatment, we may derive great advantage from the local application of mercurial oint- ments, together with emollient fomentations and cataplasms. Leeches applied repeatedly in small numbers, according to Lisfranc's method, are of great assistance; as is also calomel taken internally. Experience has taught me that it is not only useless to recall the discharge from the urethra, but that it is often dangerous; and that we cannot count on a complete cure of the epididymitis until the dis- charge has entirely stopped. But if Bromfield's method be dangerous, there is still more risk in introducing fresh venereal pus into the urethra; for, in taking venereal pus, whose nature has not been previously ascertained by inoculation, we should run the risk of giving syphilis to a patient who has only a simple gonorrhoea.—Eicord.] [Editor.—M. Yelpeaa first proposed to evacuate the effusion into the tunica vaginalis in this affection by incision with the point of a lancet. The lower and posterior part of the tumor, where the testicle is usually situated, is grasped by the left hand of the operator, while, with his right, he plunges a lancet perpendicularly into the bulging mass of the fluid above and in front. One or more incisions are made, which are usually followed by a jet of serum, or a few drops of blood. Lotions of acetate of lead are applied, and the operation repeated, if the effusion again accumulates. The credit of reviving the practice of incising the body of the testicle, which was first proposed by J. L. Petit, is certainly due to M. Vidal (de Cassis). This surgeon first practised it only in case the body of the testicle was involved; but, finding the operation perfectly free from danger, he ex- tended it to cases of simple epididymitis. It is performed in the same way as M. Velpeau's incisions of the tunica vaginalis, except that the knife is made to pass through the tunica vaginalis, and incise the tunica albuginea to the extent of half or three-fourths of an inch. In spite of the prejudices against this operation, M. Yidal says that he has performed it four hundred times without any bad result; and that it is always harmless if the incisions are confined to three-fourths of an inch in length. Its effects are in the highest degree satisfactory. It removes the strangulation, relieves the excessive pain, and acts as a powerful antiphlogistic in reducing the swell- ing-]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21131521_0132.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
