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Page 1: CÆSAR1AN0PERAT10N.PRESERVAT10N0FTHECH1LD

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fungous tumours from the anterior part ofthe eye, although indolent and benign atthe commencement, often become, when leftto themselves, or empirically treated, of amalignant or cancerous character, and thattherefore it is important to extirpate in anearly stage of the disease. The cases whichMr. Lawrence quotes from Sir A. Cooper’sand Mr. Travers’ publications do not appearto me to differ materially from those referred ito by Scarpa. I have just seen Mr. Tyrrell’swork on the eye, which issued from thepress during the last week ; it contains re-marks on fungoid diseases of the eye; andI would certainly adopt his recommenda-tions with respect to medical treatment,wherever the case admits of the necessarydelay ; but I believe it to be an unquestion-ably good rule in surgery, that after failurein medical treatment to arrest the progressof fungoid disease in the eye, wherevera doubt exists as regards its malignancy,and the organ has become useless and de-formed, to proceed at once to extirpate theeye, especially as the operation is not a for-midable one.

Case.—Sarah Allen Willis, 16 years ofage, daughter of one of the police, wasplaced under my care in the autumn of 1837.The globe of her right eye was much en-larged, and anteriorly converted into a fun-gous disease of a purple and in some parts,pale red colour, projecting irregularly frombetween the eyelids, which were red andswollen. The previous history of the case,as I learnt from the parents, was, that whenabout four years of age, she fell in a corn-field and received a severe injury of theeye, which had occasioned considerable in-flammation. Medical treatment does notappear to have been then had recourse to,and disorganisation of the different parts ofthe eye, and the formation of the diseasepresenting the fungous appearance I havedescribed, gradually followed. I gave a

fair trial to mercurial and other remedialmeasures, but without the slightest efficacy;the disease at the same time making pro-gress. Her general health was in some

measure, although slightly, affected by thedisease, and the catamenia had not appeared.I had not much expectation, from the com-mencement, of effecting benefit in this case,otherwise than by removal of the eye ; andI felt no hesitation, (especially with the con-currence of Farnham Flower, Esq., a sur-geon of high repute and experience, as wellas others whom I met in consultation on thecase,) after the unsuccessful result of themedical treatment, to recommend the opera-tion. The recommendation was willinglyacquiesced in on the part of my patient;and in December, 1838, I extirpated the eyein the manner recommended by Mr. Law-rence. The haemorrhage was, without muchdifficulty, restrained by compresses, and thecase proceeded in a most favourable manner,

so that in a few days after the operation mypatient was recovered so as to be able totake air and exercise.

, Dissection of the Eye.-In examining afterthe operation, I find the space usually occu-pied by the humours filled, and nearly thewhole of the eye converted into a fungousmass; the exception being at the posteriorpart, which with the optic nerve appearedsound. It varied in different parts as reospects its consistency and colour.

Result of the Case.-A period of more thautwo years having elapsed, I can with confi.dence pronounce this to have been a suc-cessful case, and attended with the happiestconsequences. A few months after the ope-ration the catamenia appeared, she daily im.proved in health, the sight of the left eye hasbecome much improved, and she is now inevery respect healthy.

CÆSARIAN OPERATION.PRESERVATION OF THE CHILD.

A STRONG, healthy woman, 35 years ofage, experienced some rheumatic painsduring her second labour. ;Soon afterwards,the power of walking became weakened,and gradually abolished. As the womanwas again pregnant, she was examined byDr. Hoebeke, evho found the pelvis so muchcontracted as to render delivery impossible;several other medical men were of the sameopinion. Gestation proceeded without anyaccident, and labour commenced on the13th of April, 1839. Dr. Hoebeke nowfound that the tuberosities of the ischiawere in contact with each other; he, there.fore, decided at once on operating. At Ito’clock, P.Tti., the linea alba was divided bya longitudinal incision, the uterus opened,and the placenta removed. The child pre.sented its breech to the wound, and wasextracted with some difficulty, for the headwas already engaged in the inlet of thepelvis. The child, however, was broughtinto the world strong and healthy. Thewound was now cleaned, and united by sixpoints of suture; the whole operation lastedonly one quarter of an hour, during whichtime the relator assures us that the patientdid nothing hut laugh andjoke.

14. The patient had passed a good night,without any pain or febrile access; ou the16th, however, the face was red, the pulsequick, and she complained of pain in theregion of the bladder, with some shootingpains in the abdomen. On the 17th the

patient felt much better, and the lochia cameaway in abundance. On the 20th the woundwas completely cicatrised, and the womanwas allowed to take some food. On the24th Dr. Hoebeke, regarding the patient asconvalescent, left her under the charge ofanother medical man, as he was obliged toleave town for a few days. On his return

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the patient was dead, and he then learnedthat she had been quite well up to the morn- Iing of the day of her death, when somefever, with cough, supervened ; the abdo-men being tumid, but not painful. Thesesymptoms were regarded as depending onbronchitis, yet the woman sunk very rapidlyin the evening. On examination after death,extensive inflammation, with effusion of pus,was discovered in the abdomen. The in-cision in the uterus was widely patent, andpresented the appearance of a large ulcer.This was the sixteenth operation which Dr.Hoebeke had performed, and he assures us,that in eleven of the sixteen he has beensuccessful.-Arch. of Belgic Med. and FrenchLancet, No. 56, 1840.

CYSTICERCUS OF THE BRAIN.

M. BOUVIER recently presented to theRoyal Academy of Medicine an example ofthis entozoon, which he found in the brainof a woman, aged 83 years. She had beenadmitted into the hospital on the 30th Dec.,1839, presenting no other symptoms thanslight feebleness of the intellectual faculties,with some loss of muscular power of theleft leg. Eight days afterwards she wasseized with pneumonia, and died withoutany other symptom of cerebral derangement.On examination, after death, a great numberof cysticerci were found on the surface of thehemispheres, in the membranes, corticalsubstance, optic thalami, corpus callosum,and cerebellum. Each cysticercus was en-closed in a small cyst, slightly adherent tothe surrounding parts. The volume of theanimal did not exceed that of a large pea,and seemed to consist, in great part, of atransparent vesicle, containing a very mi-nute oval body, which is the cysticercusitself, rolled up. In a few examples, apoint, like the head of a pin, could be dis-covered at the extremity of the ovoid ; thisis the head of the worm, and, on drawingit gently out, the animal is unrolled, andpresents the exact appearance of the figuredepicted by Bresmer.—Bul. de l’Acad., Feb.29,1840.

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BILIARY CALCULIVOIDED BY THE URETHRA.

DR. FABER details the history of this verycurious disease. The person affected was afemale, and did not indicate the passage ofgall-stones by the ordinary symptoms, norwas any disease of the liver suspected; shenever had jaundice, but had suffered lately,for a considerable time, with pains and ten-derness in the hypogastric region, and tenes-mus of the bladder ; her urine had becomeyellow, green, and brownish; more recently,she had observed several small calculi to

escape from the urethral canal. Chemicalanalysis proved these calculi to contain thesame constituents, as ordinary gall-stones.At length the pain in passing the urine be-came so great, that it was deemed necessaryto cut into the bladder to extract a largecalculus. The woman eventually recovered.

’ Of the numerous cases of biliary calculireferred to by Dr. Faber, one only, recordedby M. Barraud, presented any similarity tothe foregoing. As for the explanation ofthis singular fact, there are but two ways ofaccounting for it, either by supposing thatthe calculi were formed in the hepatic ducts,and thence passed into the bladder througha fistulous communication, or that the prin-ciples of the bile were deposited in the pelvisof the kidney, and formed the calculi inthat organ. Dr. Faber inclines to the latteropinion.—Gazette Médicale.

CROUP—TRACHEOTOMY—CURE.

THE propriety of opening the trachea incertain cases of croup has been questionedby some of the best authorities in this

country. Indeed, tracheotomy in croupand the Csesarean operation seem to standexactly in the same position. English prac-titioners shrink from the responsibility ofperforming them, more from a fear of conse-quences to themselves than from a just esti-mation of the value of those operations. Thefollowing case, however, amongst manyothers which we might cite, proves that achild may be rescued from instant death bya timely performance of tracheotomy for

croup, even under very unfavourable cir-cumstances.

’ A child, 7 years of age, who had justrecovered from typhus fever, presented afew symptoms of bronchitis on the 20th

February, 1840. On the 22nd, the symp-toms assumed a more threatening character;there was considerable fever, with dyspnoeaand prostration. Six leeches were appliedto the neck, sinapisms placed on the legs,and three grains of tartar emetic were admi-nistered. The emetic did not operate; theleech-bites furnished but little blood ; andthe sinapisms, which the attendants hadforgotten to remove for several hours, gaverise to considerable inflammation, termi-nating in ulceration. At five o’clock, P.M.,the state of the little patient was extremelyalarming: the voice was extinct, the pupilsdilated, skin cold, pulse very feeble; in aword, asphyxia seemed to be imminent.Attacks of suffocation were produced byevery attempt to examine the condition ofthe fauces; but false membranes were dis-

covered on the back of the pharynx, and themedical attendant now learned! for the first