Notes on minor surgery / Edward O. Otis.

  • Otis, Edward Osgood, 1848-
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on minor surgery / Edward O. Otis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    useful : Eucalyptus—one part by measure of the oil to four parts by weight of vaseline ; boracic—boracic acid one part and five parts either of simple vaseline or of a base composed of two parts of paraffine to one part of vaseline, and of this base five parts to one of boracic acid ; this can also be made of half strength ; salicylic—one part of salicylic acid to twenty-nine of the same base as used in the boracic ointment or of simple vaseline ; carbolic— made with vaseline ot varying proportions, perhaps one to twenty, is the most useful. These are substantially the ointments and the proportions given by Cheyne in his Antiseptic Treatment of Wounds. For lubricating catheters I prefer eucalyptus oil or eucalyptus vaseline on account of its fragrant, pleasant odor, and use it in the proportion i f one part of the eucalyptus oil to sixteen parts of vaseline, olive oil or castor oil. If an application is to be made to the urethra after passing the catheter or sound, then glycerine must be the base. Having now made preparations for the treatment of any case of minor surgery which may present itself, let me next speak of some of the more frequently occurring cases. And first, I will refer to that bete noire of the general practitioner as well as the out-patient surgeon, enlarged cervical glands, which are too often dismissed with a coat of tincture of iodine and a prescription for iron or cod- liver oil. All the exciting causes in the track of the lymphatics should be looked for and considered—eczema of the head ; parasites. Often have I found that an abundant crop of pediculi capitis was the offending cause. In a child consider, (1) Purulent otorrhceal (2) Ulcers in the mouth. (3) Discharge from the nose. (4) En- larged tonsils. In an adult, (1) Enlarged tonsils also, and tonsil- litis. (2) A carious tooth. (3) A cold. (4) Enlarged caseating follicles in the pharynx. (5) Syphilis. If the cause can be discovered and removed, the enlargement will often speedily disappear. If no such exciting cause can be found, then it is fair to presume that the gland is a so-called scrofulous one, and for such I have obtained the best results (so far as external appli- cations go) from the ung. hydrarg. iodidi. rubria, of the British Phar- mscoposia, well diluted, say one part of the ung. hydrarg. iodidi. to seven or eight of simple ointment. For young children this must be still more diluted or vesication will be produced. A bit of this oint-