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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![powers of diuretics when those measures have previously been properly employed, we shall per- ceive that the cases of dropsical effusion in which acupuncture is required, are comparatively few. [Dr. Dunglison has used acupuncture with ad- vantage to drain off the fluid from the cellular mem- brane in anasarca. In such cases, larger needles are advisable. Some prefer them to be of the size of an ordinary glover's needle, and of a triangular shape,—a puncture of this kind being less likely to close. It has likewise been advised in ascites, in hydrocele, and in every form ol encysted dropsy. By M. Velpeau it has been proposed to treat aneu- rism by acupuncture. In performing some experi- ments on animals, he found that arteries, punc- tured by the needle, became the seat of a coagulum, and were ultimately obliterated. In 1830, he read a paper before the Academie Royale des Sciences of Paris, proposing the operation in the cases in question, \Lond. Med. Gaz., and Amer. Journal of the Medical Sciences, Aug. 1831, p. 510). He found, in his experiments, that whenever the needle remained three days in the flesh, the trans- fixed artery was completely obliterated. M. Bonnet treated eleven cases of varicose veins by introducing pins through their cavities, and allowing them to remain there some time. Nine of these cases were cured. The same treatment was applied to hernial sacs. He passed three or four pins through the hernial envelopes close to the inguinal ring, and, in order that they might exert a certain degree of compression, as well as irritation, on the sac, he twisted the points and heads upwards, so as to give them a circular direc- tion. The inflammation usually commenced on the third or fourth day, and the pins were removed a few days afterwards. M. Bonnet treated four cases of inguinal hernia in this manner. In two, the hernia was small, and three weeks sufficed for the cure : the third was more troublesome. (Bul- let. General de Therap., and Amer. Med. Intelli- gencer, Dec. 1, 1837, p. 317 ; and Archiv. Gene- ral, de Midecine, Mai, 1839.) Acupuncture has likewise been employed to remove a ganglion of considerable size on the extensor tendons of the foot. After the needle was inserted, pressure was applied, and within a week the tumour had entirely disappeared. (Mr. Vowell, Load. Lancet, Aug. 25, 1838, p. 770.) When acupuncturation is conjoined with galva- nism or electricity, it constitutes galvano-punc- ture and electro-puncture (q. v.). See, on the whole subject of acupuncture, Dunglison's New Remedies, 4th edit., p. 53. Philad. 1843.] John Elliotson. AFFUSION. See articles Bathi>g and Fever. AGE. In nothing are organized beings more remarkable than in that perpetual mutation which seems to constitute the fundamental law of their condition. The whole period of their existence is characterised by a series of actions and reactions, ever varying, and yet constantly tending to defi- nite ends. The parts of which they consist undergo continued and progressive changes in their size, form, arrangement, and composition. The mate- rials which have been united together, and fashioned into the several organs, are themselves severally and successively removed and replaced by others, which are again in their turn discarded, and new ones substituted : till, in process of time, scarcely Vol. I. — 8 any portion of the substance originally consti- tuting these organs, remains as a component part of their structure. This continued renovation of the materials of which the body consists, takes place in the most solid as well as in the softest textures ; and so great is the total amount of these changes, that doubts may very reasonably be entertained as to the identity of any part of the body at different epochs of its existence. A period of seven or eight years was assigned by the ancients as the time required for this entire change of all the materials of the system ; but modern researches, which show us the speedy reparation of injured parts, and the rapid renewal of the substance of bones that have been tinged by madder given to animals with their food, render it extremely pro- bable that a complete renovation may actually take place in a much shorter period. General as this law may appear, it is subordi- nate to another and more universally controlling principle, to which all beings endowed with life are subjected, namely, the Law of Mortality. Every living being has a period assigned for its existence. With the germs of life are intermixed the seeds of death ; and, however vigorous the growth of the fabric, however energetic the en- dowments of its maturity, we know that its days are numbered ; and that even if it should escape destruction from causes that are accidental and extraneous, it is sooner or later doomed to perish by the slow, but unerring operation of natural and internal causes, inseparable from its.nature, and coeval with its birth. In tracing the gradual succession of phenomena that mark these eventful changes, and constitute the numerous and almost insensible steps of tran- sition which connect them, a multitude of inter- esting topics of inquiry present themselves. Much instruction is afforded with regard to the physical laws of the animal economy, by the study of that condition in particular of the system, in which it has passed its meridian state of activity, and may be regarded as on the decline ; and in which the causes that ultimately conduce to its destruction begin to prevail over the conservative powers that had hitherto predominated. Such is the state which is emphatically denominated Age. As youth is the state of transition from infancy to maturity, so age is the state of transition from maturity to decay. In the early periods of life, all the powers of the system are directed to the building up of the frame, and of the different organs; to their extension, consolidation, and perfection ; and to their adaptation to the perfor mance of their several functions. The exertiom. made for the attainment of these objects are great, and commensurate with the magnitude and im- portance of the design; and they give rise to a rapid and varied succession of changes. An abundant store of materials is wanted for these operations ; and although the consumption and renovation of these materials be considerable, yet the supply much exceeds the loss; and the body, accordingly, continues to augment in bulk, [n course of time, these opposite processes of reputa- tion and decay approach nearer to an equality, and, at length, are exactly balanced. The parts then cease to grow ; the system has reached its state of maturity ; and the object of the vital powers and functions is now to maintain it in o](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21116805_0055.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
