The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences Volume 6; Comprising an Accurate and Popular View of the Present Improved State of Human Knowledge - Illustrated with Upwards of 150 Elegant Engravings. S - Z (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. 1809 Excerpt: ...must be adapted to the circumstances of the case. It is sometimes found to have occurred in the protruded parts, when no sympton had previously led the surgeon to suspect it. But the mortification generally spreads to the superincumbent parts: the swelling becomes soft; the integuments deep red, livid', and afterwards black; the cellular membrane is emphysematous; the pulse sinks; lastly, the integuments give way, and wind and feces are discharged. Although these cases are generally fatal, yet their event is sometimes fortunate. We must chiefly trust to nature, and be careful not to interrupt those processes which she employs for the restoration of parts. The intestine is adherent tp the parictes of the abdomen behind the ring; these adhesions are of great importance in the subsequent progress of the cure, and should therefore never be disturbed. If the intestine has not ah ady given way, we may remove the stricture: where an opening has taken place, we may make such incisions through the sphacelated parts as will provide a free exit for the fecal matter. In either case, mild purgatives and clysters will be proper to unload the bowels, and to determine the course of the feces towards the anus. The use of both these means with the latter object, constitutes a very important part of the treatment of all cases of mortified intestine. In cases where the mortification has not gone so far, tlie protruded gut may be affected either in one or more small spots; or it may have become mortified through a greater or less extent of its whole diameter. In the former case it has been advised to leave the gut in the wound, after removing the stricture; or to return the intestine, and retain it in the neighbourhood of the ring by means of a ligature passed through the mesente...