History of a successful case of amputation at the hip-joint : (the limb 48 inches in circumference, 99 pounds weight) / by J. Sampson Gamgee.

  • Gamgee, Sampson, 1828-1886.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of a successful case of amputation at the hip-joint : (the limb 48 inches in circumference, 99 pounds weight) / by J. Sampson Gamgee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    AMPUTATION AT THE HIP-JOINT. 1. Previous History of the Patient. JOSEPH BEAMWELL, set. 37, married, and the father of seven childi-en, was admitted into the Queen's Hospital, Birmingham, the 3rd September, 1862. He stated that he had always been a very thin man, but enjoyed uninterrupted, good, general health. No hereditary predisposition traceable. 2. Origin and Progress of the Disease. In 1851, while the man was following his usual occupation, as a miner in a coal-pit, a piece of coal, about two hundred weight, fell on his right great toe, bruising it severely, and disabling him for some days. About a fortnight afterwards he casually noticed, while washing, that the right thigh was somewhat bigger than the left, but not at all painful. The enlargement did not affect any particular part, but was uniform all round the greater part of the shaft of the thigh bone. Eecollection distinct that the latter, and not the soft parts, was the original seat of swelling. The man was not prevented earning his livelihood in the coal-pit, though the thigh very steadily grew larger and heavier;—always, however, painless at the seat of disease. Occasionally a numbing, dragging, sensation was felt about the ankle, more especially at night time. The general health continued good, but in 1869 (eight years from the origin of the disease) the swelling of the right thigh bone had grown so much, in size and weight, B