Volume 1

A system of gynecology / by American authors ; edited by Matthew D. Mann.

Date:
1887-1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A system of gynecology / by American authors ; edited by Matthew D. Mann. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/805 (page 43)
    In 1873 also Dr. Thomas M. Diysclale of Philadelphia described a peculiar corpuscle as characteristic of ovarian fluid, and for a time it was believed that a perfect means of diagnosis of the existence of cystic ovarian tumors by microscopical examination of their contents could be determined; but while Dr. Drysdale seems to have been very suc- cessful in diagnosticating ovarian tumors, others have not been so suc- cessful. The late Dr. Atlee attached great importance to this method of Dr. Drysdale's, whose views njjon this matter may be summed up in the following words: I claim, then, that a granular cell has been dis- covei'ed by me in ovarian fluid which differs in its behavior with acetic acid and ether from any other known granular cell found in the abdom- inal cavity, and which by means of these reagents can be readily recog- nized as the cell which has been described; and further, that by the use of the microscope and assisted by these tests we may distinguish the fluid removed from ovarian cysts from other abdominal dropsical fluids. In this same year (1873) a paper which has been designated as a remarkable one, and which excited much adverse criticism, was pub- lished by Joseph R. Beck of Indiana, entitled How did the Sperma- tozoa Enter the Uterus ? The patient of the doctor in whom sexual orgasm could be produced by digital examination was the subject upon whom his observations were made, which are reported as follows : The cervix uteri had been firm, hard, and generally in a normal condition, with the OS closed so as not to admit the uterine probe without difficulty; but immediately the os opened to the extent of folly an inch, made five or six successive gasps, drawing the external os into the cervix each time powerfully, and at the same time becoming quite soft to the touch. All these phenomena occurred within the space of twelve seconds' time certainly, and in an instant all was as before—the os was closed, the cervix hardened, and the relation of the parts had become as before the orgasm. According to Flint, Jr., Sitzmann of Germany published similar observations in 1846. In 1874 one of the most important contributions to the pathology and treatment of diseases of the neck of the uterus was published by Dr. T. Addis Emmet. It had long been known that childbirth caused lacerations of the muscular portion of the neck of the uterus, but pre- vious to his description no one had seemed to recognize how uniformly such lacerations had been confounded with so-called ulceration of the neck of the uterus, or how commonly the ectropion at the neck of the liji resulting from such tears had been mistaken for hy]3ertrophy of the tissues. Emmet, recognizing these conditions, began to devise some method for their cure, and he advocated for this condition the paring of the edges of the ulcerated part and the bringing of them together by means of sutures.