A practical treatise on venereal diseases, or, Critical and experimental researches on inoculation : applied to the study of these affections : with a therapeutical summary and special formulary / by Ph. Ricord ; translated from the French by A. Sidney Doane.

  • Ricord, Ph., 1800-1889.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A practical treatise on venereal diseases, or, Critical and experimental researches on inoculation : applied to the study of these affections : with a therapeutical summary and special formulary / by Ph. Ricord ; translated from the French by A. Sidney Doane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    works of my learned colleague M. Cullerier, to cite the article Diagnosis, from a thesis by one of my pupils.* Diagnosis.—1' In our first part we have stated the insufficiency of the ordinary means of diagnosis. The position of the disease can prove nothing, as the organs of generation are subject to ulcer- ations or mechanical lesions, which cannot possibly be traced to chancre ; and chancre is found with its unquestionable characters in every part of the cutaneous or mucous tissue. The form affords nothing more definite; we have seen that it may vary according to the part affected, or some complication disconnected with the disease. Some authors have recommended the progress of the dis- ease as the best means, of diagnosis. This appears to us very in- sufficient ; for it is frequently impossible to see the entire course of the malady, and out of a hundred cases, taken promiscuously, it will scarce be found regular in two of them, influenced as it wil] be by idiosyncrasies and accidents, which may obscure it. The degree of pain and inflammation sometimes varies extremely, and sometimes unaccountably. The treatment cannot be appealed to ; for, as we have said, ulcers and sores which have become atonic, or which pre- sent such appearance in consequence of bad treatment, demand, in all its details, that treatment which some have regarded as proving the existence of syphilis. Lastly, we cite the authors of the article Syphilis, in the Dictionary in 15 vols., who, after opposing every means of diagnosis for chancre, even in part that which they consider the best, remark : ' We are much mistaken, if the diagnosis of chan- cre, according to our views, is not more certain and useful. It is doubtless sad to see science not only little advanced, but still en- cumbered with errors ; but is it not better to stop and return, than to follow an apparently beaten and easy path which leads to nothing positive, or to open a new one at a venture without knowing whither it will lead V M. Blandin, in his excellent article upon ulcers in general, in the Dictionary in 15 vols., remarks: < The common characters of syphilitic ulcers are not so well defined as some persons think. Ulcers which depend on a different cause, are often very analogous to them. However, generally speaking, syphilitic ulcers are round, * Consideration sur le chancre, par M. le docteur Doussaint de Grand 14 Mars 1837. Paris, these, No. 68. ' '