The history of ancient gynaecology.
- McKay, W. J. Stewart (William John Stewart), 1866-1948
- Date:
- 1901
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The history of ancient gynaecology. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.
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![Baddaguda.—This form [of swelling of the abdomen] is produced by the accumulation of indigestible matters with the food. The person has stercoral vomiting. The stools are in small quantities, and are evacuated with great pain; the umbilicus and heart are much swelled. In this disease it is recommended to give ghee internally, and rub it over the abdomen, while perspiration is produced by hot baths. When the remedies are of no use and the situation of the patient desperate, an operation is recom- mended, which is to be performed in the following manner: Below and on the left side of the umbilicus, and four fingers' breadth from the linea alba, an incision is to be made four fingers' breadth in length, and the breadth of four fingers of the gut is to be drawn out, and the substance, whether hair, or stone, or a bad secretion, which was the cause of the disease is to be removed. Ghee and honey is to be rubbed over the wound in the intestine, and it is then returned into the abdomen. Apply sutures, and treat the internal wound as recommended in such cases (Wise). Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, m his work on Medical Science,^ adds to the above information the following: Abdominal opera- tions, however, and operations in the mouth or about the anus, should be performed when the patient is fasting. The opera- tion should be performed with the utmost care; after it is over, a sesamum poultice should be applied to the wound, and a cloth bandage be tied round it. A certain incense should be kept burning in the operation-room. In the treatment of ascites we see the first use of the (Southey's) trocar : A friend is to hold the patient in a reclining posture by the armpits. The practitioner then 1 Bhagvat Sinli Jee, A Short History of Aryan Medical Science. London, 1896.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21463670_0040.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
