Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The works of John Hunter. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![been already observed that many of these cases are rather from sym- pathy than inflammation. As this affection of the bladder often con- tinues for a considerable time, producing other sympathies in the neigh- bouring parts, and is not in the least mitigated by the methods com- monly used, I would recommend the following trials to be made use of in such cases. An opiate plaster to be applied to the pubes, or the small of the back, where the nerves of the bladder take their origin; a small blister on the perinseum, which is of service in irritations of the bladder arising from other causes. §.6. Of the Treatment of the Swelled Testicle. When the testicle sympathises either with the urethra or bladder, and is inflamed, rest is the best remedy. The horizontal position of the body is the easiest, as such a position is the best for a free circulation. If the patient cannot submit to a horizontal position, it is absolutely necessary to have the testicle well suspended. Indeed the patient will be happy in having recourse to that expedient as soon as he is acquainted with the ease which it affords. In this complaint, perhaps, no particular method of cure can be laid down. It is to be treated as inflammation in general, by bleeding and purging, if the constitution requires them, and by fomentation and poul- tices. Bleeding with leeches has often been of service. This we can- not well account for, as the vessels of the scrotum have but little con- nexion with those of the testicle. As I do not look upon the swelling of the testicle to be venereal, mercurials, in my opinion, can be of no service in these cases while the inflammation continues; but they are useful when that is gone and the induration only remains.3 Vomits have been recommended in such cases, and are sometimes of service. I have known a vomit remove the swelling almost instanta- neously. The effects of the vomit most probably arise from the sym- pathy between the stomach and the testicle. Opiates are of service, as they are in most irritations of those parts. When such swellings sup- purate, which they seldom do, they require only to be treated as com- mon suppurations, and mercury need not be given. a [Though mercurials are not required for the sake of counteracting the venereal virus, yet experience shows that calomel is of the greatest service, even in the acute stage of inflammation of the testicle. It is probable that it acts here, as in many other cases of adhesive inflammation, by controuling the capillary circulation of the inflamed part. It should always be combined with purgatives, and generally with local bleeding.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21996635_0002_0232.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
