Volume 1
A manual of operative surgery / by Frederick Treves.
- Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet
- Date:
- 1891
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A manual of operative surgery / by Frederick Treves. 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.
35/795 page 17
![L fc t OS A ftf STRIDING part i.] CONDITION OF THE PATIENT. 17 and prophesies a speedy recovery, and often assumes the role of the unusually hopeful and courageous patient. The least favourable frame of mind is that marked by gloom and utter apathy, and by a morbid stoical indifference, difficult to dispose of. Tt is illustrated by the dull-faced woman, whose conversation smacks of Meditations among the Tombs » • and by the sullen man, who meets a cheerv account of the hopeful prospects of his operation by the remark that « he is ready to go Possibly the most favourable nerve conditions are met with among healthy young men, who sleep well, take whatever hap- pens as a matter of course, make few inquiries, and meet all circumstances m the spirit of Mark Tapley. Operations upon hysterical or epileptic patients are apt to be comphcated in their after-treatment by outbreaks of the nerve affection While attacks of both hysteria and epilepsy are clearly often induced by an operation, on the other hand a precisely opposite effect may follow the surgical measure. The insane bear operations unusually well, provided that certain conditions are present. They must be in sound health amenable to treatment, and of cleanly habits. The regular life of an asylum is conducive to a state of health verv well adapted to meet the strain of an operation ; and the absence of mental anxiety m the patient is another favourable feature In many subjects of chronic mania, of melancholia, and of dementia the general health is quite broken down, and, as a consequence they are not good subjects for any operative treatment. In tnose of the insane, also, who are violent, restless, mischievous or oi very dirty habits, the success of the operation may be so tar frustrated by the patient that its performance becomes a matter of question. In not a few instances, insanity appears to have been in- duced by operation. The patients are generally women, and the operation, for the most part, one concerning the breast or pelvic organs. The occurrence of this unfortunate circumstance is neither frequent enough nor sufficientlv well defined to influ- ence a surgeon in the performance of a necessary operation m men insanity has several times followed castration, especially when the testicles have been normal, as in the c](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21511330_0001_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
