A MIRROR OF HOSPITAL PRACTICE.

MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL.

PENETRATING WOUND OF ABDOMINAL CAVITY WITH PROTRUSION; RECOVERY.

By J. Fayrer, M.D., C.S.I.

Kiiagendra, a Bengalloe boy, aged 5 years, was admitted on the 25th August, 1871, with four transverse parallel wounds, from half to three quarters of an inch apart, and of from an inch to an inch and a half in length each, in the left ilio-lum- bar region, caused by falling on a glass shade, which broke under him, and inflicted the wounds above mentioned. On admission, shortly after the accident, a portion of large

intestine, about the size of an egg, with some omentum, was found protruding through the uppermost wound. A few small

pieces of glass were found in the wound, but they had not

injured the protruding bowel. The three lower wounds were

comparatively superficial. The boy was placed under chloroform, and the protruded

bowel cautiously reduced. The wounds were closed with wire

sutures, and dressed antiseptically, i. e., with carbolic acid. In

anticipation of peritonitis, and to keep the bowels in a state of perfect rest, three minims of tincture of opium were admi- nistered every three hours for several days, and gradually dimi- nished as he recovered. A very limited supply of food was allowed for the first three or four days. Under this treatment the boy did remarkably "well. He remained for several days perfectly quiet, in a semi-narcotized condition, without pain or febrile excitement, during which time the wounds healed with- out suppuration. By the 20th September he was perfectly well in general health, and the wounds had nearly cicatrized ; appetite good, and his bowels, regular. He was discharged, cured, on th& 29th September. 29th September, 1871.