A manual of minor surgery and bandaging for the use of house surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners.

  • Christopher Heath
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of minor surgery and bandaging for the use of house surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    ii.vrK. G9 before the attempt at reductiou is made, and should inucli difficulty be experienced chloroform had better be resorted to at once, so as to relieve the spasmodic contraction of the spliiucter. A pad of lint and a T bandage should be applied to prevent the innnediate recurrence of the prolapse, and suitable treatment be adopted for its radical ciu'e. Since prolapsus ani is a frequent accompaniment of stone in children, an early opportiuiity should be taken to ascertain the existence of a calculus in the bladder. Rape.—Female children are occasionally brought to an hospital by the parents or the police, on the sup- position that they have been raped; and since legal inquiries are likely to arise, the house-surgeon must be very circimispect in conducting his investigations. First, he should note the time when the patient is brought to him, and then proceed to examine her. He should notice any external bruises or scratches, and then make a special examination of the genitals. The general appearance of the labia, whether bruised, in- flamed, or merely reddened, the condition of the hymen and the state of vagina and perinseum, should be specially investigated, as also whether any discharge is present or not. Where the alleged assault is re- cent, the microscopic examination of the vaginal mucus should not be neglected. A small quantity should be removed with a pipette (care being taken to wash it thoroughly first) from loithin the hymen, if that mem- brane is torn, and submitted to the microscope, when spermatozoa may be discovered, and even in motion. [By this means I was, on one occasion, able to convict a man of rape, the child having been brought to the hospital two hours after the assault.] When the investigation is already in the hands of the police it is no part of the surgeon's duty to put any questions to the child, but when, as often happens, his dictum will determine the parents in their after proceedings, he must necessarily investigate the whole