A report of surgical cases treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 / War Department, Surgeon General's Office.
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A report of surgical cases treated in the Army of the United States from 1865 to 1871 / War Department, Surgeon General's Office. 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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![tlio body of the i>ectorali.s major, and some fibres of the ranscle. The wound was well sponged with cold water, closed with silver sutures, and left to heal, as it did very rapidly, and almost entirely by first intention. Eelieved in mind and body, she continued well and cheerful until the following February, 1870, when the disease returned. A small, hard tumor beneath the cicatrix first attracted her attention, and increased until May 21st, when, having attained its foruier size, with indications of approaching ulceration, it was again removed. Three months afterward it rea,ppeared at several points aloiig the course of the scar. She next treated the tumor herself, five weeks— under the advice of friends and with my consent—with iioultices of crushed cranberries, which produced a peculiar jiustular eruption, but with neither api>reciable harm nor benefit. More recen tly I prescribed, and am still using in this case, with good effect in relieving pain, bromide of potassium and acetic acid, an external remedy, recommended by Mr. Henry Osborne, of Southampton, in a communication to the British Times and Medical Gazette, republished in the October number of the Practitioner of 1S70. He says : I have not had an opportunity of trying the bromide of potassium and acetic acid in many cases of cancer. I nevertheless am able to state that those who have given it a trial during the last twelve months have derived the greatest relief from its use. The proportion of bromide of potassium and acetic acid should be in accordance with the severity of the pain. In one case I ordered it to the extent of three drachms of bromide of potassium to one ounce of acetic acid and five ounces of water, to be used warm and kept constantly applied to the breast by saturating a piece of lint and covering it with oil silk. If abrasion of the cuticle or a cicatrix has formed, the lotion may be more readily absorbed, or especially if ulceration has taken place; in that case the lotion should be diluted accordingly. [Subsequently Surgeon ISTorris made the following further report of this case.] Washington, D. 0., June, 1871. General : I have tlie honor to report as follows on the treatment of cancer by cundurango, as prescribed in the case of Isabella G , aged 43 years. She had been my patient twenty-one months, suffering from scirrhus of the right mamma. I removed the tumor on the 5th of September, 1869, and again on the 14th of-May, 1870. It reappeared in July following, and on the 24th of April, 1871, the day on which she began to use the remedy, it occupied a remaining small portion of the mammary gland, and extended over its original situation as far as the axilla. The axillary glands were involved, the arm and hand swollen, and the skin ulcerated, forming three circular sores, which discharged a thin offensive pus peculiar to sloughing of this variety of cancer. She complained of pain and irritable stomach, and was too feeble to leav-e her apartment. Observing, as nearly as possible, directions laid down by Dr. Casares, of Ecuador, and contained in a pamphlet published for information by the Department of State, I prepared a decoction by putting half an ounce of crushed cundurango with twelve ounces of water, and boiling it down to six fluid ounces. Of this, one ounce was taken, morning and evening, until the 11th of May—eighteen days—when the dose was reduced to half an ounce, and continued to the 29th of May. Whether as coincident, or in consequence of this treatment, the tumor completely sloughed out, leaving the integument sound and a surface granulating beneath. Irritability of the stomach, with pain in swallowing and on pressure upon the epigastrium, increased, and the patient, much emaciated, died on the 6th of June. Post-mortem examination revealed cancer of the stomach and spleen ; a hard flat tumor, leaf shaped, starting from the point of entrance of the oesophagus, embraced a portion of the spleen, which could only be separated from the stomach by tearing the morbid growth common to both organs, 1 am indebted to Dr, J, J, Woodward, U, S, A,, for microscopical examinations of the tumor and specimen, and for his note appended to this report. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, BASIL NORRIS, iSurf/eon, U. f^. A> General J. K. Barnes, ^Sm-tjeon General, U, B, Army, Washington, D. C, 34](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21970695_0281.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
