Upon a new styptic, and upon the possibility of increasing the coagulability of the blood in the vessels in case of haemophilia and aneurysm and internal haemorrhage / by A.E. Wright.

  • Wright, Almroth, 1861-1947.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Upon a new styptic, and upon the possibility of increasing the coagulability of the blood in the vessels in case of haemophilia and aneurysm and internal haemorrhage / by A.E. Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Reprinted for the Author from the British Medical Journal, Dec. 19, 1891 UPON A NEW STYPTIC, AND UPON THE POSSIBILITY OF INCREASING THE COAGULABILITY OF THE BLOOD IN THE VESSELS IN CASES OF HAEMOPHILIA AND ANEURYSM AND INTERNAL HAEMORRHAGE. By A. E. WRIGHT, M.D. Dublin (late Grocers' Research Scholar). [From the Conjoint Laboratories of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Victoria Embankment, Lendon.] One of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of pathological and physiological science is the pause that fre- quently occurs between the discovery of a fact and its prac- tical application. This divorce between knowledge and prac- tice is in great part attributable to the fact that unfortunately physicians and surgeons are generally not practical physiolo- gists, and still more unfortunately the physiologist is often not either a physician or a surgeon. The history of the growth of the knowledge of the coagula- tion of the blood affords us with many instances of the truth of these remarks. If it had not been for such divorce between the knowledge of physiology and the knowledge of the re- quirements of practice, no doubt one of the first uses to which the discovery of fibrin ferment would have been put would have been its application as a styptic. I have, how- ever, not come upon any evidence of its having been employed for such a purpose, and am therefore taking an opportunity here of suggesting such an application for it. I have experimented somewhat extensively with a styptic of this nature and with a certain amount of success, but find that its coagulative properties can be greatly increased by availing ourselves of another fact in connection with the sub- ject of coagulation, which has been for some considerable time in the possession of the physiologist. I refer to the in- fluence which lime salts has been ascertained to exert upon the processes of coagulation (a fact the knowledge of which we owe among others to the researches of Hammarsten, Ringer, and Green) and also a fact to which particular attention has been recently directed by the brilliant discovery of Arthus and Pages, that the shed blood can be kept perma- nently liquid by converting the lime salts in the blood into insoluble exalates by the addition of small quantities of any of the soluble salts of oxalic acid. In connection with our present purpose we have, however, merely to note that the coagulation of the blood can be hastened by the addition of ealcium salts.