- Email: [email protected]
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE INFIRMARY.
604 Generation of Sugar in a Dtbilitated Condition. M. ALVARO REYNOSO lately maintained, before the Academy of Sciences of Paris, that there exists a connexion between the phenomena of respiration, and the presence of sugar in the urine. He therefore considers that all the substances which retard the act of breathing, and thus diminish the amount of red blood in the lung, may be looked upon as causing sugar to be generated, and thrown off by the urine. According then to M. Reynoso’s views, we ought to find sugar in the urine of persons who are taking lowering remedies. To test the truth of this position the author examined the urine of persons taking bichloride, iodide, or sulphuret of mercury, antimonial salts, opium, or sulphate of quinine, and discovered sugar in that secretion. He intends making experiments in order to discover in how much time after these remedies are left off, the sugar disappears from the urine; and whether the absence of the sugar and the complete discontiuance of the remedy are coincident circumstances.
in the fundus of the bladder. The immediate removal of this stone was resolved upon. The grooved staff used by Sir John Fife was less curved than usual. The operation was done with great gentleness in less than two minutes, each step of the operation effected in the usual manner, and afterwards an elastic gum tube was introduced through the wound into the bladder. A piece of lint was pressed in on the right side of it, which arrested the bleeding of a small artery. l4th.-The tube and lint cameout this morning, and the boy seems convalescent. The irritability of this patient was so extraordinary as to discourage all idea of lithotrity. The boy was quite unconscious of the operation, the effect of chloroform being com-
lodged
plete. plete.
Malignant Tumour of the Heel. CASE 2.-T. T--, aged seventy-five, married, and a native of Warkworth, in the county of Northumberland, was admitted Nov. 6th, with a large malignant fungous tumour of the right heel; it covers the outer and posterior parts of the heel. A wart made its appearance five years ago on the seat of disease, which speedily took on ulceration, and gradually attained its Strangulated Hernia Reduced during Vomiting. size. There is excessive pain, profuse discharge of a present L’Union Medicale mentions that Dr. Kuttlinger, ofErIangen, in Germany, tried the taxis upon a woman sixty-four years of sanious nature, and a foul cancerous smell. The patient rehealthy for his age; his pulse moderate. He had age, whose crural hernia was strangulated, but without success. markably under various treatment for some time, and the removal been The patient was soon attacked with vomiting, and whilst she of the limb appeared the only chance of saving the old man’s was making efforts, Dr. Kuttlinger seized the tumour, pressed it with some force, and succeeded in reducing it in the very life. close below the knee by the usual Sir John Fife midst of the straining. Three months afterwards strangulation flap operation. amputated The remarkable circumstance in this case was occurred again, the taxis was tried in vain, and reduction was the diseased state of the coats of the arteries, which were effected exactly in the same manner as before. ossified, brittle, and friable, so that they gave way and were through by every ordinary ligature; larger ones were used, and even these were not drawn tight-in this way only could the haemorrhage be arrested. The patient, since the operation, is doing well, and on the 15th the stump was dressed, and found united by the first intention. cut
-
Dr. Lebert an the Structure of Cataract. Dr. LEBERT stated, a short time ago, before the Surgical Society of Paris, that he had no faith in certain ammoniacal preparations which had been supposed capable of producing resolution in cases of incipient cataract. He examined crystalline lenses somewhat altered in structure, and found very important changes. In hard cataract, for instance, there was an opaque, granular substance interposed between the lamellae of the lens; this substance is beyond the action of the absorbents, as the lamellae themselves are horny and atrophied. In soft cataract there is seen in the crystalline cells an effusion of a milky fluid, and in this fluid crystals of cholestearine can be distinguished, the lamellse being at the same time softened and hypertrophied. None but a surgical treatment can in such It was shown during cases be followed by a successful result. the discussion that those cases which were benefited by Gondret’s ammoniacal ointment, were not cases of incipient cataract, but instances of an early stage of amaurosis. Accusation of Mala-praxis in France. A case was lately tried at Montbrison, in France, which shows how unjustly the friends of a patient may burden the medical attendant with the untoward results of his treatment. Dr. POYET was charged by the widow of a man who had died after fracture of the femur-1, with refusing to call in another surgeon; 2, with having announced consolidation during the treatment; 3, with not having acquainted the family with the serious nature of the case. Dr. Poyet, however, brought sufficient evidence to show that the fracture was very oblique, and that the want of success was entirely owing to the negligence of the patient’s friends. He obtained a verdict in his favour, £12 for his attendance, and the plaintiff was charged with the costs.
Hospital Reports. NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE INFIRMARY. CASES OPERATED ON BY SIR JOHN FIFE.
(Reported by THOMAS
JOSEPH TURNBULL,
Dresser.)
Case of Lithotomy. CASE1.—T. T-, aged thirteen, from the county of Northumberland, admitted Nov. 7th, with symptoms of calculus He had been ill for nearly ten years, presenting symptoms of nephritis calculosa. A month previous to his admittance into the hospital, a calculus descended into the bladder. On the introduction of a sound, a stone was distinctly found
vesicæ.
then
An Un-united Fracture
of
the Femur.
CASE 3.-P. R-, aged twenty-nine, pitman, married, and a native of Coxhoe, was admitted into the hospital on Nov. 6th, with an un-united fracture of the right femur at its middle; it was broken thirty-four weeks ago by a fall of a stone from the roof of a pit: he lay three months in bed. Sir John Fife pressed a large, strong needle (such as used after autopsies) on the inside of the rectus muscle, till it reached the middle of the thigh, between the ends of the bone; he then moved the point freely both transversely and vertically, grating it against the ends of the bones. A piece of adhesive plaster was placed on the puncture, the patient put to bed, and the limb secured on Dessault’s splint. Ordered to take, iodide of potassium, five grains; carbonate of potassium, ten grains, twice a day.
Reviews and Notices of Books. An
Inquiry into the Proper Clas8ifcation and Treatment of J. Criminal BUCKNILL, M.B., SuperintendentofofLunatics. tendent the theDevon DevonBy County County Asylum. Large 8vo., pp. 56. C.
London, 1851.
IN consequence of the movement now being made to provide a suitable asylum for criminal lunatics, Dr. Bucknill, acting under the instructions of the visiting justices of the asylum to which he is attached, has addressed his views on the subject founded evidently on experience, to the chairman of that board, and subsequently communicated them to the profession and the public generally, in the form of the forcibly and well-written pamphlet now before us. Dr. Bucknill’s object seems to be, to prevent the inconveniences and injustice which must result to many so-called criminal lunatics, if removed to a central asylum. The individuals thus excepted are those, whose insanity being established beyond doubt, must render them absolutely innocent of crime, whilst their conduct and demeanour are such as to justify their detention, without injury to themselves or their fellow-patients, in the county asylums, in which they are at present confined. Dr. Bucknill’s arguments on this point by several cases) deserve the fullest consideration.
illustrated
in the fundus of the bladder. The immediate removal of this stone was resolved upon. The grooved staff used by Sir John Fife was less curved than usual. The operation was done with great gentleness in less than two minutes, each step of the operation effected in the usual manner, and afterwards an elastic gum tube was introduced through the wound into the bladder. A piece of lint was pressed in on the right side of it, which arrested the bleeding of a small artery. l4th.-The tube and lint cameout this morning, and the boy seems convalescent. The irritability of this patient was so extraordinary as to discourage all idea of lithotrity. The boy was quite unconscious of the operation, the effect of chloroform being com-
lodged
plete. plete.
Malignant Tumour of the Heel. CASE 2.-T. T--, aged seventy-five, married, and a native of Warkworth, in the county of Northumberland, was admitted Nov. 6th, with a large malignant fungous tumour of the right heel; it covers the outer and posterior parts of the heel. A wart made its appearance five years ago on the seat of disease, which speedily took on ulceration, and gradually attained its Strangulated Hernia Reduced during Vomiting. size. There is excessive pain, profuse discharge of a present L’Union Medicale mentions that Dr. Kuttlinger, ofErIangen, in Germany, tried the taxis upon a woman sixty-four years of sanious nature, and a foul cancerous smell. The patient rehealthy for his age; his pulse moderate. He had age, whose crural hernia was strangulated, but without success. markably under various treatment for some time, and the removal been The patient was soon attacked with vomiting, and whilst she of the limb appeared the only chance of saving the old man’s was making efforts, Dr. Kuttlinger seized the tumour, pressed it with some force, and succeeded in reducing it in the very life. close below the knee by the usual Sir John Fife midst of the straining. Three months afterwards strangulation flap operation. amputated The remarkable circumstance in this case was occurred again, the taxis was tried in vain, and reduction was the diseased state of the coats of the arteries, which were effected exactly in the same manner as before. ossified, brittle, and friable, so that they gave way and were through by every ordinary ligature; larger ones were used, and even these were not drawn tight-in this way only could the haemorrhage be arrested. The patient, since the operation, is doing well, and on the 15th the stump was dressed, and found united by the first intention. cut
-
Dr. Lebert an the Structure of Cataract. Dr. LEBERT stated, a short time ago, before the Surgical Society of Paris, that he had no faith in certain ammoniacal preparations which had been supposed capable of producing resolution in cases of incipient cataract. He examined crystalline lenses somewhat altered in structure, and found very important changes. In hard cataract, for instance, there was an opaque, granular substance interposed between the lamellae of the lens; this substance is beyond the action of the absorbents, as the lamellae themselves are horny and atrophied. In soft cataract there is seen in the crystalline cells an effusion of a milky fluid, and in this fluid crystals of cholestearine can be distinguished, the lamellse being at the same time softened and hypertrophied. None but a surgical treatment can in such It was shown during cases be followed by a successful result. the discussion that those cases which were benefited by Gondret’s ammoniacal ointment, were not cases of incipient cataract, but instances of an early stage of amaurosis. Accusation of Mala-praxis in France. A case was lately tried at Montbrison, in France, which shows how unjustly the friends of a patient may burden the medical attendant with the untoward results of his treatment. Dr. POYET was charged by the widow of a man who had died after fracture of the femur-1, with refusing to call in another surgeon; 2, with having announced consolidation during the treatment; 3, with not having acquainted the family with the serious nature of the case. Dr. Poyet, however, brought sufficient evidence to show that the fracture was very oblique, and that the want of success was entirely owing to the negligence of the patient’s friends. He obtained a verdict in his favour, £12 for his attendance, and the plaintiff was charged with the costs.
Hospital Reports. NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE INFIRMARY. CASES OPERATED ON BY SIR JOHN FIFE.
(Reported by THOMAS
JOSEPH TURNBULL,
Dresser.)
Case of Lithotomy. CASE1.—T. T-, aged thirteen, from the county of Northumberland, admitted Nov. 7th, with symptoms of calculus He had been ill for nearly ten years, presenting symptoms of nephritis calculosa. A month previous to his admittance into the hospital, a calculus descended into the bladder. On the introduction of a sound, a stone was distinctly found
vesicæ.
then
An Un-united Fracture
of
the Femur.
CASE 3.-P. R-, aged twenty-nine, pitman, married, and a native of Coxhoe, was admitted into the hospital on Nov. 6th, with an un-united fracture of the right femur at its middle; it was broken thirty-four weeks ago by a fall of a stone from the roof of a pit: he lay three months in bed. Sir John Fife pressed a large, strong needle (such as used after autopsies) on the inside of the rectus muscle, till it reached the middle of the thigh, between the ends of the bone; he then moved the point freely both transversely and vertically, grating it against the ends of the bones. A piece of adhesive plaster was placed on the puncture, the patient put to bed, and the limb secured on Dessault’s splint. Ordered to take, iodide of potassium, five grains; carbonate of potassium, ten grains, twice a day.
Reviews and Notices of Books. An
Inquiry into the Proper Clas8ifcation and Treatment of J. Criminal BUCKNILL, M.B., SuperintendentofofLunatics. tendent the theDevon DevonBy County County Asylum. Large 8vo., pp. 56. C.
London, 1851.
IN consequence of the movement now being made to provide a suitable asylum for criminal lunatics, Dr. Bucknill, acting under the instructions of the visiting justices of the asylum to which he is attached, has addressed his views on the subject founded evidently on experience, to the chairman of that board, and subsequently communicated them to the profession and the public generally, in the form of the forcibly and well-written pamphlet now before us. Dr. Bucknill’s object seems to be, to prevent the inconveniences and injustice which must result to many so-called criminal lunatics, if removed to a central asylum. The individuals thus excepted are those, whose insanity being established beyond doubt, must render them absolutely innocent of crime, whilst their conduct and demeanour are such as to justify their detention, without injury to themselves or their fellow-patients, in the county asylums, in which they are at present confined. Dr. Bucknill’s arguments on this point by several cases) deserve the fullest consideration.
illustrated