Clinical memoirs on diseases of women / by Alfred H. M'Clintock.

  • M'Clintock, Alfred H. (Alfred Henry), 1821-1881.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical memoirs on diseases of women / by Alfred H. M'Clintock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    44/460 (page 24)
    Case 12.—Cellulitis on both sides; abscess on one. M. G., aged 26, was confined at Howtli on tlie 5th September, 1860, of her second child. She is a tall, slight woman, with dark hair, and sanguine complexion. On the recom- mendation of Dr. Rorke (of Baldoyle,) she was admitted to the chronic ward of the hospital, 16th October. It seems her labour was easy, and that she was recovering most satis- factorily, when, on the tenth or eleventh day, she returned to her laborious occupation of a washerwoman. The same evening she got pain in the lower belly, and has been confined to bed ever since. She has some fever upon her, and there is a hard, very tender tumour in the left supra- pubic region. Eight leeches were applied over the swelling, and she was put on the use of blue pill and James's powder. She was greatly relieved by the leeches, and, on the 19th, six more were applied. By the 24th, all fever was gone; the tumour is considerably reduced in size, free from pain, and much less tender; feels in every way greatly better; she gets one of her pills night and morning, and equal parts of mercurial ointment and iodide of lead oint- ment are kept constantly applied to left inguinal region. One week from this ptyalism was induced, and the internal use of mercury was stopped. About the same time she complained of some uneasiness in the right inguinal region; and, on examining this situation, some deep-seated hardness and tenderness were discovered, though nothing of the kind had previously existed. It appeared as though a transfer^ ence of the disease had taken place from the left to t]ie right side. Six leeches were applied over this new seat of tenderness. For the next six weeks there was little appre- ciable change in her condition, except a gradual retraction of the right thigh, which she now has to keep always in a semi-flexed position. Towards the middle of January it became manifest that the tumour, which had greatly increased in size, was softening and going to point in the iliac region. On the 2nd February I opened the tumour and gave exit to about twenty ounces of purulent fluid. The sac of the abscess seemed to extend deep into the j)elvis, and underneath