On the treatment of cancer by the regulated application of an anæsthetic temperature / by James Arnott.

  • Arnott, James (James Moncrieff), 1794-1885.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of cancer by the regulated application of an anæsthetic temperature / by James Arnott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    circular space of about four inches in diameter. The brine as it trickled from the net, was absorbed by a moist sponge held underneath; and the net was occasionally raised, for the double purpose of watching its effect, and of stirring the mixture. The skin became white in a few seconds, and the congelation was continued for precisely three minutes. There was a slight pricking sensation produced for about half this period, which ceased upon the part becoming benumbed; and a similar sensa¬ tion was experienced for some minutes after the congelation had ceased, although the greater part of what is usually felt at this time was prevented, by keeping the part covered for about five minutes with a net containing ice, and by the subsequent ap¬ plication of a rag dipped in cold water. I did not see the patient again until the 6th of July,—four¬ teen days after the application,—when she told me that there had not been the least return of pain. The sore on the breast was clean, and even healthy in appearance; and nothing but the common water-dressing had been applied. There had been no necessity for a repetition of the morphia, to which she had been so long accustomed. In cases of this description, it would, generally, be wrong to wait for a return of pain as a sign for the re-application of the frigorific, for the disease may advance without the accompani¬ ment of pain; and the congelation is demanded to stay the irritation, and the progress of the malady, as much as for the alleviation of suffering. In order that the frigorific mixture may be perfectly applied, it is necessary that the diseased surface should be in a horizontal position; and where it is denuded by ulceration, a thin mem¬ brane spread over it would act as an artificial cuticle, and pre¬ vent the smarting which the contact of the salt might otherwise eause before the production of anaesthesia. I have mentioned that, in the case which has just been re¬ lated, the breast was not enlarged. This was fortunate, inasmuch as the influence of the frigorific could penetrate the