Surgery : its theory and practice / by William Johnson Walsham.

  • William Walsham
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgery : its theory and practice / by William Johnson Walsham. 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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    examining bodies in which death has recently resulted from septictemia, jjvfemia, diffuse or puerperal peritonitis, and erj'sipelas. The effects of a wound received in dis- section, or in post-mortem inspection, will depend in some degree upon the health of the operator; the strong and ^•igorous are better able to resist the toxic effects than others debilitated by prolonged study or work in a hosi>itaI ward. On the other hand, those acclimatized to the dis- secting or pust-mortevi room are less liable to be affected than those who have biit recently been engaged there. The signs, as might be expected from -^'hat has been said above, A-arj' considerably, depending, as they do, upon the nature of the poison received from the corpse and the previous state of the operator's health. Thus : 1. A pustule may form at the seat of inoculation, and, after breaking and scabbing, leave a raised, indolent, i:)ainful red sore, which maj- exist for months in spite of treatment. 2. The wound may become inflamed, the superficial, and, perhaps, the deep Ij-mijhatics implicated, ^nd the axillai'y glands enlarged and painful, this con- dition being attended by sharp constitutional disturbance, often preceded by a rigor. Suppui'ation generally occurs in the woimd, and sometimes also in the axillary glands. The prognosis is usually good. 3. With or without the local signs of the preceding form, severe constitutional symptoins set in, preceded by a rigor, and rapidly assume a typhoid character. Diffuse sujjpuration occurs in the axillary glands, and iiiay spread to the neck and side of the_ chest. The prognosis is very unfavourable, the patient often dying in from one to three weeks, or only recovering after a tedious convalescence, and then, pro- bably, with a broken constitution. 4. Diffuse cellular, or cellulo-cutanoous orysi])eliis is sot up at the seat of wound, atttrndod witli the usual constitutional symptoms of those atVoctions, and may ra,pidly sjiroad up the limb and terminate in gangreno and 'death. The axillary glands m this form are not usually atfoeted. o. In ad- dition to the local sui^puration, a pya^uic state, with the formation of metastatic! abscesses lu various tissues and organs, sometimes occurs. 2'm(<//)7'/)<. —Immodiatoly on its inlliction the wound should 1)0 sucked and clea,nsed by a stream of cold water, and bleeding encourag(!d l)y t'ightlv binding the ])art above the wound. Where the corpso'is recent' and deatli IS known to be the result of some infective disease, tho
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