John Scott on the treatment of diseases of the joints, and of ulcers and chronic inflammation : a new edition, with an introduction and a chapter on the constitutional origin and treatment of diseases of the joints / by William Henry Smith.

  • Scott, John, 1798-1846.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: John Scott on the treatment of diseases of the joints, and of ulcers and chronic inflammation : a new edition, with an introduction and a chapter on the constitutional origin and treatment of diseases of the joints / by William Henry Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    10/166 page 10
    most remarkable and cheering. Even in very complicated and bad cases, in which sinuses communicate with the cavity of the joint, in which the heads of the bones are ascertained to be in a state of ulceration, the good effects of perfect quietude of the joint will soon be manifest by the cessation of pain, the cessation of discharge, and the improvement of the patient's health. Having thus adopted one important, nay indispensable point of Mr. Scott's practice, and stated his principle, Mr. Liston proceeds to describe the means he recommends for the purpose of securing the perfect repose of the joint. It consists of layers of lint soaked in a solution of gum acacia, bound over and around the joint with a coarse calico roller bandage, with the occasional use of a splint to keep the whole in its situation until the mucilage dries—a most inefficient and awkward substitute for Mr. Scott's plaster must such a gum arabic casing prove ! At the same time, while admitting that in many cases this plan will entirely fail, and that other measures and purposes must be sought besides the simply rendering the joint quiescent, the writer has overlooked the other no less important principles of Mr. Scott's method. The truth is, the substitute involves far less trouble, time, manual labour, and we may add watchfulness and surgical skill; and therefore if it accomplishes one part, although certainly an indispensable one, of the general indication, it must not be con- founded with Mr. Scott's method, and when and where it fails, the failure cannot be adduced as evidence against the latter. The means described and recommended by Mr. Scott secure in the most perfect and complete manner the quiescence of the joint; it is one of its great merits that it does this more perfectly and for a longer period without a necessity arising for shifting and renewing the dressing than any other way. But it does more than this, it excites and maintains a gentle.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3