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
Catalogue details

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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    all the symptoms of a gonorrhoea. This happened several times to the same patient. The urethra is known to be sometimes the seat of the gout;1 I have known it the seat of the rheumatism. The urethra of those who have had venereal complaints is more apt to exhibit symp- toms similar to gonorrhoea than the urethra of those who never had any such complaint; and it is generally in consequence of the parts having been hurt by that disease that the simple gonorrhoea comes on, which, perhaps, is also a reason why they are in some measure similar. A discharge, and even pain, attacks the urethra; and strange sensations are every now and then felt in these parts, which may be either a return of the symptoms of the venereal disease without virus, may arise as it were spontaneously, or may be a consequence of some other disease. When it happens in consequence of some former venereal gonorrhoea, it is seldom constant, and may be called a temporary gleet, ceasing for a time and then returning; but in such cases the parts seldom swell, the glans does not change to the ripe cherry color, nor does it sweat a kind of matter. Such a complaint as a discharge with- out virus is known to exist, by its coming on when there has been no late connection with women, and likewise by its coming on of its own accord where there had never been any former venereal complaint, nor any chance of infection. From its commonly going off soon, both in those who have had connection with women, and those who have not, it becomes very difficult in many cases to determine whether or not it is venereal; for it is often thought venereal when it really is not so; and, on the other hand, it may be supposed to be only a return of the gleet when it is truly venereal. But, perhaps, this is not so material a circumstance as might at first be supposed. These diseases, when they are a consequence of former venereal complaints, may be considered only as an inconvenience entailed on those who have had the venereal gonorrhoea. No certain cure for them is known; they are similar to the fiuor albus in women. [Eicord.—Neither a suspicious connection as an antecedent, an apparent period of incubation, the greater or less intensity of the symptoms, their duration with or without remission, the dark or greenish color of the discharge, its peculiar odor, the color of the parts affected, nor the seat of the disease, can indicate its intimate nature, or betray the exact cause to which it should be attributed. I appeal to the confession of Hunter himself, who eludes the question, as Hecker did; and I would refer especially to the recent discussion in the Academy of Medicine, in which it was evident to all candid minds that there is no virulent gonorrhoea, except that complicated with, or dependent upon, a concealed chancre, which is rigorously demonstrable by inoculation.] § 3. Of the Common Final Intention of Suppuration not answering in the present Disease. When a secreting surface has once received the inflammatory action its secretions are increased and visibly altered. Also, when the irrita- 1 Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary, of Edinburgh, vol. iii. p. 425.