A dictionary of practical surgery: containing a complete exhibition of the present state of the principles and practice of surgery, collected from the best and most original sources of information, and illustrated by critical remarks (Volume 2).
- Samuel Cooper
- Date:
- 1810
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A dictionary of practical surgery: containing a complete exhibition of the present state of the principles and practice of surgery, collected from the best and most original sources of information, and illustrated by critical remarks (Volume 2). 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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![cal« as well as other, knowledge, has informed the practitioner, that parts, which from their vicinity to the source of the circulation, enjoy a vigorous cir- culation of blood through them, under- go inflammation more favourably, and resist disease better, than other parts, of similar structure, more remote from the heart The lower extremities are more prone to inflammation, and dis- ease in general, than parts about the chest; when inflamed, they are longer in getting well; and the circumstance of their being depending parts, which retards the return of blood through the veins, must also increase the back- wardness of such parts in any salutary process. (Hunter.) Healthy inflamma- tion is of a pale red; when less healthy, it is of a darker colour; but, the inflam- ed parts will, in every constitution, partake more of the healthy red, the nearer they are to the source of the cir- culation. (Hunter.') Inflammation, when situated in high- ly organized and very vascular parts, is more disposed to take a prosperous course, and is more governable by art, than in pails of an opposite texture. The nearer also such vascular parts are to the heart, the greater will be their tendency to do well in inflammation. (Hunter) Hence, inflammation of the skin, cellular substance, muscles, &c. more frequently ends favourably, than the same affection of bones, tendons, fasciae, ligaments, &c. It is also more manageable by surgery; for those parts of the body, which are not what ana- tomists term vascular, seem to enjoy only inferior powers of life, and, con- sequently, when excited in a preter- natural degree frequently mortify. But, inflammation of vital parts, though these may be exceedingly vas- cular, cannot go on so favourably, as in other parts of resembling structure, but, of different functions; because, the natural operations of universal health depend so much upon the sound condition of such organs. (Hunter.) The truth of this observation is illustrated in cases of gastritis, peripneumonv, &e. All new formed parts, not originally entering into the fabric, of the body, such as tumours, both of the encysted and sarcomatous kinds, excrescences, &c. cannot endure the disturbance of inflammation long, nor in a great de- gree. The vital powers of such parts are weak, and when irritated by the presence of inflammation, these adven- titious substances are sometimes re- moved by the lymphatics, but more commonly slough. This remark applies also to substances generated as substi- tutes for the original matter of the body; for instance, granulations and callus. The knowledge of this fact leads us to a rational principle of cure in the treat- ment of several surgical diseases. Do we not liere perceive the cause, why very large wens are occasionally dis- persed by the application of urine, brine, and similar things, which are now in great repute, on this account, with almost everyone out of the pro- fession? How many vermes, wrongly suspected to originate from a syphili- tic cause, are diminished and cured by a course of mercury! It is the stimulus of this mineral upon the whole system, that accomplishes the destruction of these adventitious substances—not its antivenereal quality. Topical stimulants would fulfil the same object, not only with greater expedition, but with no injury to the general health. In strong constitutions, inflammation, ceteris paribus, always proceeds more propitiously, than in weak ones; for, when there is much strength, there is little irritability. In weak constitutions, the operations of inflammation are back- ward, notwithstanding the part, in which it is seated, may, comparatively speaking, possess considerable organi- zation, and powers of life. (Hunter.) Healthy inflammation, wherever si- tuated, is always most violent on that side of the point of inflammation, which is next to the external surface of the body. When inflammation attacks the socket of a tooth, it does not take place on the inside of the alveolary process, but towards the cheek. When in flam, mation attacks the cellular substance, surrounding the rectum, near the anus, the affection usually extends itself to the skin of the buttock, leaving the in- testine perfectly sound, though in con- tact with the inflamed part. (Hunter.) We may observe the influence of this law in the fistula lachrynialis, in dis- eases of the frontal sinuses, and antrum, and, particularly, in gun-shot wounds. Suppose a ball were to pass into the thig-h, to within an inch of the opposite side of the limb, we should not find, that inflammation would be excited along the track of the ball, but, on the side next the skin which had not been hurt. If a ball should pass quite throng]) a liiT^b.- and carry into the-wound a piece](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21110657_0075.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
