Cases of erysipelas accompanied by affection of the throat : with remarks on the propriety of limiting the application of the term / by James M. Arnott.

  • Arnott, James Moncrieff, 1794-1885.
Date:
[1826]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases of erysipelas accompanied by affection of the throat : with remarks on the propriety of limiting the application of the term / by James M. Arnott. 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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    In our treatment, as in our ideas of the nature of disease, of what indecision, vacillation, and anomaly, is not this name of Erysipelas the parent? Some conceive erysipelas to be of a bilious nature; others imagine it to be of an inflammatory nature; whilst both agree with a third, that it is of a most mysterious nature. One treats all cases of erysipelas by tartarised antimony, another by bleeding, and a third by bark. In idiopathic erysipelas of the face, why should not the same principles which regulate and modify our treatment ^of other exanthematous fevers, equally apply? On the other hand, why should we not call inflammation of the skin, occur- ring as it does as a primary affection, by its name, and treat it as such? Is there any more difficulty in conceiving that inflammation of the skin should produce a peculiar effect on the general system, than that inflammation of the perito- neum, mucous membrane of the bronchiae, &c. should? Is there any better reason for treating a case of inflammation of the skin, or of the cellular substance, solely by attention to general means, than that it is called Erysipelas? Is it not this name alone also, and the mysterious ideas associated with it, which leads to the strange anomaly of seeing inflammation treated by such a stimulant as wine? Because inflammation of the skin or cellular substance, like inflammation of the mucous membrane of the'bronchim, of the urethra, and of the eye, is less under the influence of geiieral blood-letting than inflammations of serous membranes and other tissues, ought we therefore to treat it by stimulating the system at large?— But this communication has already extended to too great a length. On reviewing, therefore, these observations, and for the reasons developed in the course of them, I would venture, in cionclusion, to submit— 1. That the term Erysipelas should be restricted to that febrile affection of the system, accompanied with inflamma- tion of the integuments of the face, to which it has most usually been applied; and that, until we have better evidence for so doing, the expressions Erysipelas and Erysipelatous should not be applied to affections of the skin in other parts of the body. 2. That the term Erysipelas Phlegmonodes should be abandoned, as unnecessary as well as inaccurate, and applied to dissimilar morbid conditions. 3. That Inflammation of the Cutis of the extremities and trunk, it matters not from what cause or however extensive, should be designated simply as such; to the exclusion of the terms Erysipejas aiul Erythema, as improper and unnecessary.
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