On rest and pain : a course of lectures on the influence of mechanical and physiological rest in the treatment of accidents and surgical diseases, and the diagnostic value of pain / delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in the years 1860, 1861, and 1862 by John Hilton.
- John Hilton
- Date:
- 1879
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On rest and pain : a course of lectures on the influence of mechanical and physiological rest in the treatment of accidents and surgical diseases, and the diagnostic value of pain / delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in the years 1860, 1861, and 1862 by John Hilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
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![in correcting some of the deformities of diseased knee-joints. The defor- mities, however, might as surely be prevented by the application of splints in the early part of their treatment. I had intended, if time had permitted, to adduce some facts tending to prove that one kind of loose cartilage may be absorbed from the knee- FlG joint, by retaining the loose cartilage accurately at rest in contact with the same part of the synovial membrane during several weeks, and em- ploying counter-irritation over it at the same time.* * In a clinical lecture on loose cartilages in the knee-joint, published in the Guy's Hospital Reports for 1868, Mr. Hilton gives several cases in which a loose cartilage gradually disappeared when kept fixed by strapping, so as to be pressed firmly against the synovial membrane. He concludes by saying, Synovial membrane is merely a modification of serous membrane, and as such is endowed with secreting and absorbing powers. You must use this latter function in order to get rid of the important disease which is now occupying our attention. How is fluid in a joint absorbed ? By the synovial membrane only, and by no other means. With clot in a knee-joint would you open that joint ? Certainly not. The clots of blood will undoubtedly be absorbed. Recognize, then, this absorbent power of synovial membranes, and use it in the cure of loose cartilage. For a mention of two other cases treated with complete success, see a short but interesting paper by Mr. Manby in the Birmingham Med. Review, July, 1875.—[Ed.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2102005x_0282.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
