'The London and Provincial Medical Directory' unmasked / [Richard Dawson].

  • Dawson, Richard, active 1845-1852.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 'The London and Provincial Medical Directory' unmasked / [Richard Dawson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and varicose-looking; incessant desire to pass urine, which came dribbling away, so that the drops fell at his feet; eyes dull, heavy, and watery-looking, appearing as if he had been weeping; the urine, on examination, was found abounding, indeed loaded with, spermatozoa.— I commenced the treatment of this case by cauterizing the ure¬ thra, which was done three times. Marked benefit followed each application. Galvanism was applied along the spine, to give tone and energy to the cerebro-spinal axis. The dry cupping- glasses were also frequently applied, upon the principles set forth by Celsus. This treatment was followed by very marked relief, an evidence of which will be found in the following extract from one of his letters I sleep well, and my sleep is refreshing. My appetite is good ; and I digest my food well. My nervous symptoms have almost entirely disappeared. I can read four or five hours a-day, and can remember well what I have read. This I think a good sign; as no doubt you. will recollect that, before your treatment, if I attempted to study even for half-an-hour, it was certain to bring back the pain in my head, so as to force me to leave off; and my memory was so bad, that I could not call to mind a single particular of the subject upon which I had been reading. Since the application of the cautery, I can retain my water for a proper time, and that without feeling any very urgent inconvenience. The inclination as well as the power for sexual indulgence have returned. We are daily receiving the congratu¬ lations of our friends, upon the improvement in my health, and the extraordinary change for the better in my appearance. I now feel cheerful, and can enjoy society.— “ Tor the first time, I yesterday mentioned to my father that I was wholly indebted to you for my recovery; but, as I expected, he only ridiculed the idea;—denouncing it as c downright nonsense', and strongly reminded me of the proverb about the prophet. “I think this case will fully bear out the principles which preface its details. Here a surgeon—a gentleman, too, justfy emi¬ nent for his professional knowledge—sees his own son gra¬ dually sinking, the victim of a disease ; and yet his suspicions are not once excited as to the real cause. Hay, such the infatuation, that an honest and disinterested acknowledgment and
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