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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    § 1. Of the Proofs of a Woman having this Disease. It may be asked, what proof there is of a woman having a gonor- rhoea when she is not sensible of having any one symptom of the disease, and none appears to the surgeon on examination'/ In such a case, the only thing we can depend upon is the testimony of those with heat of urine. I was at first inclined to hope that (as women are not so easily infected with the venereal poison as men) all these complaints might be the conse- quence of a first connection, followed by a long and rapid journey in a postchaise ; I therefore ordered an opening mixture, and desired the parts might be fomented with a decoction of poppy-heads in milk and water, and a soft poultice of bread and milk applied. Finding no advantage from the use of these means, I examined the state of the parts affected, and found there was a considerable discharge of matter, principally from the urethra, the orifice of which was much swelled and inflamed, as well as the ducts of the glands on each side the urethra ; there did not appear to be any discharge from the vagina ; the hymen still appeared unbroken, and very firm and fleshy; the lacunae from Cowper's glands on each side were very much inflamed ; and there was a hard tumor on one side of the hymen, which afterwards suppurated. There was no appearance of disease anywhere about the labia or nymphae. It was treated as vene- real, and she went through a course of mercury, which was persisted in for some time ; the abscess above mentioned burst; her mouth grew a little tender ; her complaints were so much mended that there was no doubt of a speedy and happy termination of her disorder, when she was seized with a most violent diarrhoea, which was with the utmost difficulty restrained. Mercurials of every kind were then left off; the former symptoms grew more troublesome ; the heat of urine increased, and extended to the bladder, as appeared by the continuance of the pain for an hour or two after she had made water. She was now desired to rub about a drachm of mercurial ointment upon the thighs, labia, and inside of the pudenda. About this time, another abscess formed, in nearly the same situation with the former, which was opened with a lancet; this gave her much relief; the heat of urine went off in a great measure, but the discharge from the urethra still continued as much as before ; she continued the mercurial fric- tions with great freedom during the healing of the abscess, insomuch that her mouth was greatly affected; she then left off the ointment for a little time, and soon after, the orifice of the urethra swelled and inflamed very much, the discharge greatly in- creased in quantity, and there was likewise a discharge of matter from the vagina; an injection of crude mercury, rubbed down with mucilage of gum arabic till it was extinguished, and mixed with water, was ordered to be used twice or thrice a day ; she had all along taken the almond emulsion with gum arabic for her constant drink, and this was continued in large quantities; she also again resumed the use of the ointment as before, by which her mouth was at times made exceedingly sore. The disease had now continued nearly five months ; the catamenia regularly ap- peared ever since her first complaint; at the last return of them she was free from pain, and the discharge as little as it had been at any time during her illness, and she continued free from uneasiness during that period, but soon after its cessation the heat of urine again returned in a most violent degree, and continued for an hour or two with unabating violence ; the orifice of the urethra again swelled as much as before. The discharge from the vagina at present is much the same, to which is superadded a shooting pain in almost every direction of that passage and the parts adjacent, which frequently recurs during the day. I can feel no swelling of any other part within the reach of my finger; nor does the pressure give pain in any direction. Being now fully persuaded that the venereal virus must be fully subdued, all mercu- rials are left off, and she uses only an injection of opium and thin starch, keeping the bowels open with a little castor oil now and then. Every fresh return of the ardor urinae has been accompanied with a train of most distressing nervous symptoms hysterics, and extreme dejection of spirits, and the pain is generally most violent in the night, though she drinks an astonishing quantity of diluting liquors with gum arabic, pulvis tragacanth. comp., &c, and has frequently taken opiates, from which she has certainly received relief; but as they always increase her nervous symptoms she is greatly overcome by their use.—Home. [Is it possible to deceive one's self more perseveringly on the cause, nature and treatment of the disease in this unfortunate lady if And all because a gonorrhoea must be virulent, like a chancre !—Ricord.]