The cyclopaedia of practical medicine: comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc (Volume 1).
- Date:
- 1849-59
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The cyclopaedia of practical medicine: comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc (Volume 1). Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![parts. Within this rounded edge, the expanded part is made very rough, so as to maintain a secure hold upon the body embraced. The forceps may be made straight; but Dr. Bond thinks, that in most cases the curved instrument will be found more convenient for the operator and easier for the patient.] As to the subsequent effect of abortion, it 7nay be stated as a general fact, that, in a very large proportion of cases, it produces little or no inju- rious effect on the constitution of the mother. It is an accident of very frequent occurrence in all countries, and has often occurred without leaving any permanent injury. Where the process of expulsion has been protracted, and much blood has drained from the uterine vessels, a proportional injurious effect has been the consequence on the general health of the mother. From what has now been stated respecting the causes and treatment of abortion, little requires to be said as to the management of women who are habitually liable to this accident. We are in possession of no means which can either prevent or remove the numerous organic diseases of the uterine organs, and of the embryo and its involu- cra. Much, however, may be done to avert the danger where it arises from plethora and irritation of the uterus alone, by obviating general fulness, and taking off the suceptibility to premature con- traction of the uterine fibres, by rest, mild diet, and the occasional use of anodynes. Where there is much constitutional debility present, we must adopt all the means we possess for relieving the weakness, and more particularly the cold bath, and proper diet and exercise. Warm rooms and late hours are to be avoided. [Dr. Churchill, considers, that one of the most effective means for breaking in upon the habit is to give the uterus a long rest, by separating hus- band and wife for several months ; and Dr. Hus- ton places great stress on the use of opiate injec- tions daily, with continuance in the horizontal posture. By these means, a tolerance on the part of the uterus has been acquired, which has allow- ed the gestation to go on until the full period.] The practice of inducing abortion for criminal purposes has prevailed in all ages. In the early months it is extremely difficult, from the appear- ances in the mother, to ascertain with absolute certainty that abortion has taken place. In dysmenorrhea there are, sometimes, membranous substances thrown off from the inner surface of the uterus which strikingly resemble the products of conception ; and even if the uterine organs are examined, we shall not arrive at complete certainty on the subject. Blood-letting, acrid cathartics, diuretics and emmenagogues, cantha- rides, the juniperus sabina, and various local means, have been employed to excite premature expulsion of the embryo. By the Ellenborough Act, passed in 1803, it was ordained in this coun- try, that if any person shall wilfully administer, or cause to be administered, any medicine, drug, or other substance or thing whatsoever, or use, or cause to be used or employed, any instrument, &c, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman not being, or not being proved to be, quick with child, at the time of committing such thing, or ising such means, then, and in every such case, the person so offending, their counselors, aiders, and abettors, shall be and are declared ~iltv of felony, and shall be liable to be fined, ^oned, set in and upon the pillory, publicly or privately whipped, or transported beyond the 1'for any term not exceeding fourteen years The same act ordains that administering medi- cines, drugs, &c, with the intent to procure abor- tion, after quickening, shall be punishable with death. . , , . (The absurd distinction between quick and not quick with child, which is still adhered to in the laws of some of the States, has been abandoned m England, in a more recent statute—1 Vic- toria, cap. 85. The following is the law as it now stands: And be it enacted, that whoso- ever, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any'woman, shall unlawfully administer to her, or cause to be taken by her, any poison or other noxious thing, or shall unlawfully use any in- strument, or other means whatsoever, with the like intent, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for the term of his or her natural life, or for any term not less than 15 years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding 3 years.] Robert Lee. ABSCESS, Internal The term abscess (derived from abscedo, to depart, denoting that parts which were in contact have become sepa- rated) implies, in its pathological sense, a collec- tion of pus in any of the tissues or organs of the body. The doctrines of suppuration will be fully discussed in the article Inflammation : in the present we shall consider the subject of internal abscess, including what are termed purulent form- ations. I. Of the yahiotjs modes in -which rrnc- LENT FORMATIONS TAKE PLACE. The theory of suppuration, or the process by which the secretion of pus from an inflamed sur- face takes place, is, that the purulent fluid is sepa- rated from the blood by a peculiar action of the vessels of the inflamed part, of the precise nature of which we are ignorant. When purulent matter is confined, and not infiltrated through the structure of an organ, it constitutes, in strict medical language, an abscess, the boundary of which is formed either by the tissue of the organ itself, or by what is called an accidental tissue. In both cases the formation of the boundary is accomplished by the same means, viz. : the effusion of coagulable lymph, which, in the former, produces the union and consolidation of the tissue of the organ in immediate contact with the pus, and thus prevents its diffusion ; in the latter, it forms a more or less perfect mem- brane over the whole of the surface from which the purulent secretion had taken place, and hence, the pus being enclosed, as if in a shut sac, is said to be encysted. It is to collections of purulent matter of the latter kind only, that the term encysted abscess is applied. It would appear that the cysts of abscesses have the property of secreting as well ;,s of ab- sorbing surfaces, from the circumstance of an encysted abscess being often speedily filled after the pus has been evacuated, and that abscesses do occasionally disappear without any external open- ing; the only inference in such cases being, that the pus has been absorbed. In most instances, the structure of the tissue](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21116805_0034.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
