Observations and experiments on the efficacy and modus operandi of cupping-glasses, in preventing and arresting the effects of poisoned wounds / by Caspar Wistar Pennock.

  • Pennock, C. W. (Caspar Wistar), 1799-1867
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations and experiments on the efficacy and modus operandi of cupping-glasses, in preventing and arresting the effects of poisoned wounds / by Caspar Wistar Pennock. 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.)

    7/27
    EFFICACY AND MODUS OPERANDI CUPPING-GLASSES, &c. [Extracted from the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, May, 1828.] THE occurrence of poisoned wounds being comparatively unfre- quent, the opportunities presented of witnessing their effects, are very limited. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the medical world should be still divided in their opinions respecting the modus operandi, and the treatment of external poisons. All the other departments of medical and surgical science have been cultivated with a zeal proportioned to their importance; and the accumulated experience of centuries, has rendered the enlightened practice of medicine and surgery, in many respects, certain. That branch, however, to which I have alluded, has, from un- avoidable circumstances, not attained correspondent elevation. Our practice in the treatment of such injuries, must be considered tenta- tive and experimental—too frequently, indeed, it is altogether empi- rical. The numerous physiological investigations, however, which at present are conducted with so much ardour, warrant the belief, that this neglected subject will be more fully elucidated, and that a more determinate and scientific practice will happily result from such inquiries. Among the authors who have recently written on the external appli- cation of poisons, Dr. Barry, an English physician formerly resident at Paris, has presented some very interesting views on the treatment of such injuries, which he has illustrated by a series of well-conducted and instructive experiments. Although the physiological inferences which he has derived from these experiments are not entirely satis-