Medical and physiological problems, being chiefly researches for correct principles of treatment in disputed points of medical practice / by William Griffin and by Daniel Griffin.

Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical and physiological problems, being chiefly researches for correct principles of treatment in disputed points of medical practice / by William Griffin and by Daniel Griffin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    was now felt in the right epigastric region only. She had threat enings of a return of the attack in the course of the day, but it was readily subdued by a repetition of the opiate. On the fol- lowing morning there was scarcely any pain or tenderness, and if the complaint had been inflammatory, I would noAv have left the patient’s bowels perfectly at rest. But believing it to be an affection of the spinal cord, arising from disorder of the digestive functions, I ordered another dose of castor oil, which operated freely, and was followed by no recurrence of the attack. Mrs.——, aged 30 yeai*s, of a full habit, complained of pain in the right iliac region, which gradually increased until the whole of the abdomen became sore to the touch ; on the third day she took castor oil, which operated freely, but gave no relief. I saw her on the fifth, when she complained of being much worse, and directed her to go to bed, to have the bowels fomented, and to take pills of aloes and henbane every second hour until relief was obtained. In the morning I received a letter, stating, that she had been in agony all night, was much swelled, had not had her bowels moved for three days, and was now feverish and throwing every thing off her stomach. I became excessively alarmed, and regretted I had not bled her on the night before. On arriving at her residence, I found her complaining of violent pain all over the abdomen, but most acutely in the right iliac region, and almost down to the pubes at that side. There was some fulness of the bowels, and the greatest tenderness on pres- sure. She could not bear the slightest touch in the iliac region, and one spot she described as exquisitely sore. It was on this account, perhaps, that she bore the weight of my hand laid flat, and pressed very gradually, better than pressure with the points of the fingers, as in the former case the pressure on the most painful spot was not so direct. Her pulse was ninety-six, her skin feverish, and tongue white; she had nausea and occasional vomiting, and could not turn or move in the bed without consi- derably increasing her sufferings. The only symptom that could lead me for a moment to doubt that I had here a case of very serious inflammation to deal with, was the expression of the countenance, which did not betray the deeir anxiety and dis- tress I have usually seen in the inflammation of vital organs,