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lip of one year's duration. The growth, lumbar glands. The disease in both these as also an enlarged gland from beneath the regions rapidly progressed, but no ulcerajaw, was excised. Recovery. Case 9. Ation occurred. The child died asthenic, man, aged 27, under the care of Mr. De and worn down to a skeleton rather more Morgan, in the Middlesex Hospital. A tu- than three months after the operation. The mour, the size of a walnut, extended from post mortem discovered an enormous growth opposite the first molar tooth across the of medullary cancer from the lumbar glands median line of the hard palate, not, how-of the same side as the original disease, by which the viscera had been much displaced. The cord was also the seat of cancerous infiltration.

ever involving the soft palate. It was said to have been increasing in size for seven years. After excision it was found to be of cancerous nature (medullary), and did not appear to have grown from either the gum or the bone. There was some hemorrhage afterwards but it was arrested, and the wound subsequently healed well.

Excision of Non-Malignant Growths.Case 1. A healthy young woman, aged 25, under the care of Mr. Fergusson, in King's College Hospital, on account of a large tumour in the left thigh. It had been increas

See also "Removal of the Testis" and ing in size for six years, and now measured "Amputation of the Penis."

The

9 inches in length by 5 in breadth. In Amputation of the Penis.-A man, aged the operation for its removal it was found to 58, under the care of Mr. Cock, in Guy's extend deeply back to the linea aspera, and Hospital, on account of epithelial cancer, downwards into the popliteal space. The involving both glans and prepuce. The dis- cure, although delayed by abscesses in the ease had existed seven months. The pre-thigh, was complete in about two months. puce was first divided in order to examine, Case 2. A woman, aged 50, under the care and in the hope that amputation might not of Mr. Brooke, in the Westminster Hosbe needful, but the disease was found to in-pital, on account of a fibrous tumour in the volve so much that nothing less than re-buttock. Excision. Doing well. Case 3. moval of the organ would have been war- A man, aged 51, under the care of Mr. ranted. The case is doing well. Paget, in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, on Removal of the Testis.-Case 1. A man, account of a very large tumour in the neck. aged 56, under the care of Mr. Hilton, in The mass was as large as three fists, and Guy's Hospital, on account of malignant consisted of parotid structure, with some disease of the right testis complicated with cartilaginous portions interspersed. hydrocele. He had the appearance of good patient sank, and died four days after the health. The disease had existed a year and operation. Case 4. A fatty tumour, from six months. The cord was not enlarged, below the mamma of a healthy woman and there were no indications of affection of under Mr. Erichsen's care in the University the lumbar glands. After removal, the gland, College Hospital. Recovered. Case 5. A which was larger than a fist, presented a re-girl, aged 10, under Mr. Athol Johnson's markably good specimen of medullary can-care, in the Hospital for Sick Children, on cer. The patient recovered well, and has left the Hospital. Case 2. A boy, aged 9, under the care of Mr. Canton, in the Charing-Cross Hospital, on account of cancer of the right testis. He was a florid, healthy-} looking boy, but of thin skin and bright glistening eyes. There was no history of hereditary predisposition, and the disease was referred to a kick, which had been received some time before. The tumour was as large as a fist, and presented, after removal, the usual features of soft cancer. The cord was not perceptibly diseased. The wound healed kindly, and he soon left the Hospital. Within a month of the operation, however, the cord began to enlarge, and there were indications of disease of the

account of an encysted tumour in the cheek. Excision. Recovery. Case 6. A woman, aged 30, under Mr. Athol Johnson's care, on account of an enchondromatous tumour in the upper arm, near the axilla. Excision. Recovery. In this case, and the preceding, the freezing mixture was employed to render the parts insensible, and succeeded well. In both the wounds healed kindly.

Excision of Bones and Joints.-Two cases of excision of the elbow-joint, under care respectively of Mr. Fergusson and Mr. Hutchinson, remain under treatment. Both are doing well. The cases reported last month are both of them yet under treatment.

Case 1. A boy, aged 14, was admitted

into Charing Cross Hospital, having sus- Hospital, on account of stricture of nine tained a severe laceration about the elbow-years' duration. Perineal section had been joint. The ulnar nerve had been destroyed. performed three years ago, and the wound Sloughing and abscesses followed, and the had never since quite healed. The stricjoint having become disorganized, Mr. Can-ture had now got into nearly as bad a conton performed excision in the usual way, {dition as at first, and only a very small the H-shaped incision being adopted. The instrument could be passed through it. case has since done remarkably well; the Mr. Fergusson performed perineal section parts are now all but healed, and there is a for a second time, freely dividing the disgood extent of motion. The little finger eased tract. A flexible catheter was recontinues devoid of sensation. Case 2. Atained for twelve days after the operation. man, aged 20, under the care of Mr. Han- The patient has done well. A No. 9 silver cock, in Charing Cross Hospital, on ac- catheter can now be introduced, but the count of diseased elbow joint. The disease wound is not yet closed. Case 2. A healhad existed for more than a year and a half, thy labourer, aged 45, under the care of and the soft parts around the joint were Mr. Fergusson, in King's College Hospital, much thickened. The patient's health was for stricture, of eighteen years' duration, the extremely reduced; he had cough, and was result of gonorrhoea. There were two very much emaciated. The H-shaped in- fistulous openings over the pubes, and one cision was practised, and the entire joint re- in the scrotum, through all of which urine moved. During the operation, the man passed freely. The stricture began almost sank into a condition of nearly fatal col- at the meatus, and no instrument could be lapse; but after having rallied from that, he passed. The operation consisted in first progressed well and without interruption. dividing the anterior stricture from within He is now an out-patient; has good motion by a lancetted stilette, after which a groov. in the joint, although one or two small ed staff was carried down to the triangular sinuses remain unhealed. Since the opera-ligament. Guided by the latter, perineal tion (3 months), he has improved greatly insection was performed, and a No. 5 gum health, and has gained upwards of two stones in weight.

catheter passed into the bladder. A good deal of blood was lost. A large slough subsequently formed in the scrotum. The parts are now healing, but the patient has continued since the operation in a very low condition.

Case 3. A man, aged 43, under the care of Mr. Quain, in University College Hospital. He was admitted with an abscess in the perineum, and stated that he had had an

Removal of Necrosed Bone.-Case 1. A man, aged 30, under Mr. Holt's care in the Westminster Hospital, on account of necrosis of the fifth metatarsal bone of the right foot. The sequestrum was removed. Under treatment. Case 2. A boy, aged 8, under the care of Mr. Brooke, in the Westminster Hospital, on account of necrosis of the humerus. A very large sequestrum was re-attack of retention as long ago as eighteen moved. Doing well. Case 3. A girl, aged years, since which he had never had an in16, in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, under strument passed. Mr. Quain with difficulty the care of Mr. Stanley, on account of ne- succeeded in passing small instruments, but crosis of part of the tibia. The sequestrum could get no higher than No. 3. Perineal was removed. Recovered. Case 4. A section was performed under these circumwoman, aged 49, under the care of Mr.stances. A No. 7 catheter was left in after Erichsen, in University College Hospital, the operation for about thirty-six hours. on account of necrosis of the lower four- The case is doing well. Case 4. A man, fifths of the radius extending into the wrist- aged 31, under the care of Mr. Erichsen, joint. The disease had existed for three in University College Hospital, on account years, and a portion had been removed a of stricture of seven years' duration. Duryear ago. The whole of the affected parting the last three years the surgeon who was now excised. The case is doing well. had treated him had been unable to pass an Cases 5, 6, 7, and 8. These cases do not instrument. Mr. Erichsen succeeded in call for special mention; all are doing well. passing Nos. 4, 5, and 6, but subsequently Operations for Stricture of the Urethra.-determined to divide the stricture. Perineal Case 1. A healthy man, aged 45, under the section was performed in the usual way. care of Mr. Fergusson in King's College The patient is doing well.

portion of nutshell was found lodged in the crico-thyroid membrane just above the opening made into the trachea. It is right to add that chloroform had been given during the operation, but the patient was never fully under its influence.

Puncture of the Bladder.—A man, aged followed immediately afterwards. The dis40, under the care of Mr. Birkett, in Guy's ease proved to be a post-pharyngeal abscess Hospital, had suffered from a traumatic stric- connected with the spine, which was beture of the urethra for several years. Relieved to have pressed forwards upon the tention occurred, and the bladder became trachea. Case 4. A child, aged 8, was addistended, the patient suffering extremely.mitted in St. Mary's Hospital, under the Catheterism being impracticable, and the care of Mr. Lane, on the third day after free employment of opium, etc. having having, according to his own account, swalfailed to procure relief, Mr. Birkett punc-lowed a portion of nutshell. For two days tured the bladder by the rectum. The after the occurrence there had been no canula was retained fourteen days, and then symptoms of impediment to breathing or removed. No catheter has yet been intro- other uneasiness. The symptoms on adduced, the stricture being very tight. The mission were very slight, air entered into urine has continued up to the present time both lungs freely, and no particular part of to flow, chiefly by the rectum; a very small the trachea was referred to as the seat of quantity escaping by the urethra. The man tenderness or pain. On the sixth day symp. has suffered from a low form of pneumonia, toms of impending suffocation had become and been very ill, but he is now recovering. so imminent that it was determined to open Tracheotomy.-Case 1. A man of middle the trachea. Before, however, the opera age, under Mr. Lloyd's care, in St. Bar- tion could be completed the child had extholomew's Hospital, on account of syphi-pired. Artificial respiration and galvanism litic ulceration of the larynx. Most urgent were had recourse to, but proved of no avail. dyspnoea having supervened, it became ne-At the autopsy a small irregularly-shaped cessary to perform tracheotomy. The operation was done by Mr. Jowers, the HouseSurgeon in charge of the case. At the time of its performance the man was all but asphyxiated, and although occupied but very little time, yet before its completion he was to all appearance dead. Artificial Ligature of Varicose Veins.-A healthy respiration was resorted to and had to be man, aged 34, under Mr. Partridge's care, continued for two hours before it was safe in King's College Hospital, on account of to abandon it. Injections of brandy and ulcers on the legs, consequent on a vari beef tea were, during the time, thrown into cose state of the superficial veins. Mr. Parthe rectum. As far as the chest was contridge obliterated the veins in several parts, cerned, the operation was successful; the breathing being permanently relieved. The patient, however, sank and died from exhaustion, four days afterwards. Case 2. A girl, said to be aged 16, but looking much older, under care in St. George's Hospital. on account of croup. Tracheotomy was performed by the House-Surgeon, as a last resource, death from suffocation being immi-hesions. Dr. Barker's case, and also one nent. The thyroid body was much enlarged. Death took place almost immediately after the opening of the trachea, and appeared to be caused by the entrance of blood into that tube. At the autopsy the incision was found to have passed directly through the isthmus of the thyroid. The lungs were extensively affected by a low form of pneumonia.

by means of the needle and twisted suture. The man left the Hospital quite well in about a month.

Paracentesis of the Chest.-The case mentioned last month under care in University College Hospital, has since died of phthisis. On the affected side the lung was in every part united to the parietes by ad

under the care of Dr. Burrows, in St. Bartholomew's, remain under treatment.

Plastic Operations-Case 1. A woman, aged 25, confined six months ago of her first child, and delivered by instruments (craniotomy), was admitted into St. George's Hospital, under the care of Mr. Pollock, with a large vesico-vaginal fistula. The cleft extended from the meatus urinaCase 3. A boy, aged 3, under care in rius backwards to within three-fourths of Guy's Hospital. Tracheotomy was per- an inch of the os uteri. The operation per formed by Mr. Callaway, but the circum-formed consisted in paring the edges of the stances were almost hopeless, and death{flaps, and uniting them by the beaded suture,

they had heard the speaker say that lawyers were abandoning their profession from this cause, they would have been startled, but to us the fact is familiar.

lateral incisions being made to relieve ten- not a few were abandoning the profession, sion. Under treatment. Case 2. A wo- or refusing altogether to undertake the man, aged 23, under the care of Mr. Fer-treatment of grave surgical accidents, and gusson, in King's College Hospital, on especially of fractures. So frequent were account of the contracted cicatrix of a burn. {these prosecutions that members were no The right arm was bound nearly close to longer surprised at such statements. If the side, and the forearm flexed on the upper arm. The axillary cicatrix having been freely divided, the arm was elevated at a right angle with the side, and supported on a rectangular splint. There is every "It is proper for us, then, to interrogate prospect of a good result. The cicatrix at ourselves. Why is it that we are held to the elbow is to be dealt with at a future an accountability so much more strict than time. Case 3. A girl, aged 12, under the any other professional men, or than any care of Mr. Hancock, in the Charing Cross other artisans? Is it because there are Hospital, on account of extreme deformity, jealous and designing men in our own ranks the result of a burn three years before. The who instigate these suits? No doubt such chin was drawn down on to the sternum, men may be found, but only as an excepand the whole features were much distorted. {tion. The fact is that surgeons have someThe operation consisted in dissecting up a {times been mulcted in damages simply bevery large flap, from the left shoulder and upper arm, and transplanting it into a wound, made across the neck by the free division of the contracted parts. The flap has united well, and the result will be excellent. Case 4. An infant, aged 8 months, under the care "Is it chargeable to the members of anof Mr. Gowland, in the London Hospital, other profession-to the lawyers? There on account of a single hare-lip. The usual may be some men in the profession of law, operation was perfectly successful. Case 5. also, who, driven by the sheer necessity of A boy, aged 8, under Mr. Hancock's care, their circumstances - by their extreme in the Charing Cross Hospital, on account poverty, or who, without any such apology, of an extremely severe double hare-lip. with only loose notions of right and wrong, Parts of the vomer and incisive bone, which encourage and undertake such suits-such projected very much, had to be cut away. are the men who hang about the Tombs in Two operations were performed-the first New York, and who may be found, more for uniting the lip, the second for making or less, in every town-but the speaker has the septum. The success was complete.-reason to believe that honorable and intelMedical Times and Gazette, May 12, 1855. (ligent lawyers seldom countenance these

MEDICAL NEWS.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE.

Prosecutions for Malpractice.

Prot.

FRANK HAMILTON, of Buffalo, N. York,

cause the jury believed, from the united character of the medical testimony, that it was a conspiracy, and the more conclusive the testimony, the more certain, with some jurors, is the defendant to suffer.

prosecutions. That eminent jurist of the state of New York, Joshua Spencer, has told Dr. Hamilton, that for himself he does not think he ever commenced a suit of this character, although he has been frequently retained as counsel, and he believes his brethren, generally, look upon these comin submitting his valuable report on "De-plaints with suspicion and refuse to meddle formities after fractures," to the American with them. Medical Association at its last meeting, makes some verbal remarks which we find reported in the Buffalo Medical Journal for June, and which are so interesting, that we take pleasure in transferring them to our pages:

Dr. Hamilton said that he had a word to say which did not belong to the report. Prosecutions for malpractice have become so frequent that surgeons were alarmed, and

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Where, then, must we look for an answer to the question, why are these prosecutions against surgeons so frequent? Let the gentleman be assured, the causes are to be found in the very imperfections of our art, and in our own unwillingness to admit these imperfections. Surgeons have claimed too much, and it cannot certainly be expected that the world will demand of them less than they claim for themselves.

which were from cholera. From this time the epidemic subsided rapidly, and for the week ending on June 17th, we have a pub.

Again and again surgeons have said that a fracture of the femur might be generally made to unite without any shortening, while the fact is not so. Malgaigne, who is emi-lished list of 236 deaths, seventy six of nently an honest man, says to make this bone unite in an adult person, where the fracture is sufficiently oblique to prevent the ends from supporting each other, is 191 deaths, forty-eight of which are from 'simply impossible' (simplement impossi-cholera. ble.)

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'Let the profession be wiser in future and acknowledge that they cannot perform impossibilities."

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which are from cholera. Finally, for the. week ending June 24th, we have a published list of mortality showing a total of

fact that by these same highly interested and self-constituted guardians of the public health, our Board of Health was sneered at and almost censured, for declaring the disease epidemic, and for warning the people accordingly. It is enough to know now, that the figures (facts) most fully sustain them in the act, and insure them in future

To the reader of the foregoing statistics it is supererogation to say that New Orleans has not been, during the past five weeks, in a healthy condition; nor is it our province to stop here and inflict on those who so well Health of New Orleans.-About the 15th deserve it, the castigation they merit at the of May last, when quite a fuss was being hands of all honest men, for reiterated made in certain quarters about the salubrity assertions that New Orleans was healthy, of our climate-the mortality of the week, while, in addition to what we shall demon. ending on the 19th being in all 136—cholera { strate to be a large mortality from other made its appearance in the Charity Hospi- diseases, she was losing by cholera, an tal; for a day or two it excited no especial average of nearly twenty-five of her citizens attention, as our physicians have been ac-daily, for five weeks. Nor can we do more customed to seeing sporadic cases of the in this place than simply call the attention disease very commonly since the great epi- { of all right thinking men to the lamentable demic of 1848-9. Soon, however, it became evident that the disease was preva lent, and, although we find no published returns of deaths by cholera separately, we notice the total week's mortality of our city for the week ending on the 29th of May, advanced from 136 to 177, and this without returns from St. Patrick's cemetery, which is well known to be one of the well patron-all that confidence from the community ized cemeteries of our city. Allowing the which their neighbours seem to have codifference between 136 and 177 (41) to be so veted. many deaths from cholera, and adding This epidemic of cholera has been par. twenty more deaths by the disease from ticularly severe amongst negroes and little St. Patrick's cemetery, and we have sixty-children; it attacked numbers of the latter, one deaths by cholera for the first week of amongst high and low, with extreme ma its prevalence-indeed, we have it from re- lignity; little infants from one to three liable authority, that there were really sixty-months being subjected to all those disseven. The disease now increased stea-tressing symptoms, vomiting and purging dily, as was to be seen, not only by those of rice water, cramps, etc., and dying who frequent the hospital, but by those only within a few hours of the first accession of engaged in private practice, and the pub. symptoms. As a rule, however, the patient lished list of mortality for the week ending had plain premonitory symptoms, which on the 28th of May, shows a sum total of could almost always be checked if at once 381 deaths, 202 of which were from cholera. attended to. On the heads of the antiThings continued to grow worse until on cholera advocates must rest many of the Monday, June 4, our community was fur-deaths we have now to record.-New Ornished with a published list of mortalityleans Medical News, July, 1855, showing a total of 504 (!) deaths, 278 of which were from cholera. During the latter days of this fatal week, a decline was noticed in the epidemic, and the next published list of mortality, for the week ending June 10, showed a total of 381 deaths, 201 of

Massachusetts Medical Society.-This Society offers a prize of one hundred dollars to the author of a dissertation, which may be judged worthy thereof, on "the history and statistics of ovariotomy, and

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