Medico-Cirurgical Transactions (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1855 Excerpt: ...from such examination as we were able to make, we were led to apprehend that the calculus might be of so large a size that crushing it would be impracticable. However, we determined that the operation should be attempted. I had a forceps made for the purpose, larger and of greater power than those which I had previously used, and we were agreeably disappointed to find that it yielded at once to the force which I was thus able to apply, the fragments Deing afterwards gradually reduced by means of the ordinary instruments. It must be observed, however, that where we have recourse to this operation it is difficult to determine the exact size of the calculus. We have no means of knowing whether it be seized in its longest or in its shortest diameter. The fragments which come away may be preserved and weighed, but these are no measure of what is actually destroyed, as many of the smaller fragments may be entangled and lost in the mucus, and so much of the calculus (especially where it consists of the phosphatic salts) is always reduced to a state of impalpable powder, which renders the urine opaque, but is otherwise imperceptible to the eye, though it may be detected by chemical analysis. 2. Having made these observations as to the points which principally demand the attention of the surgeon, in connection with the operation of lithotrity, and having offered those suggestions which, according to my experience, are most important with a view to its favorable termination, I shall endeavour to communicate to the Society, as nearly as I can, an exact account of the actual results of my own practice. In doing so it will be my especial object to describe, however briefly, the cases in which the operation, in my hands, has proved to be unsuccessful, and the cause...