Outlines of the principal diseases of females : Chiefly for the use of students / By Fleetwood Churchill.

  • Churchill, Fleetwood, 1808-1878.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of the principal diseases of females : Chiefly for the use of students / By Fleetwood Churchill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    The treatment of the milder form is simple, and generally suc- cessful. If the irritation be considerable, the parts should be fo- mented three or four times a day. A decoction of marsh mallow leaves answers very nicely for this purpose. After each fomenta- tion,—the parts being carefully dried,—black wash or a weak solution of acetate of lead, or sulphate of zinc, &c. may be applied. I have found the former of these the more useful in ordinary cases, but, when the disease has become chronic and obstinate, the latter, or a lotion of nitrate of silver (gr. x. or gr. xv. to 3 i.), will be pre- ferable. If the inflammation should have extended into the vagina, it will be useful to inject some of the lotion by means of a small syringe. The little patient should be kept as quiet as possible, and care must be taken to prevent her rubbing the part. The diet should be moderate, and all stimulants prohibited : laxative medi- cines may be given occasionally. From the smarting which is caused by voiding the urine, the child is apt to retain it too long ; this must be guarded against, and much relief from this suffering will be obtained by bathing the vulva with warm water at the conclusion of each evacuation. If there be any tendency to adhe- sion, lint spread with simple ointment should be placed between the labia. Dr. Dewees1 found benefit from the exhibition of five drops of the Tinct. Cantharidis three times a day, increasing one drop per diem, but omitting the medicine altogether if it caused strangury, and also the application of a warm plaster to the back. In the severer form of this complaint, Mr. Wood recommends us to begin by giving a purgative, and by washing the vulva with the liquor plumbi acetatis dilutus, slightly aired, and by poultices made with the same liquor and soft bread, applied warm, immedi- ately after the parts have been washed. These applications are to be continued until the ulceration is healed. As soon as ulcera- tion commences, bark must be given internally, and Mr. Wood found great benefit from adding to the decoction some aromatic confection, tincture of calumbo and tincture of opium. Wine may be given in moderate quantity. At a more advanced stage, when the tumefaction and redness are diminished, and the ulceration stationary, the ung. oxydi plumbi albi was very useful. Should diarrhoea occur, chalk mixture, catechu, the powder of chalk with opium, or any medicine calculated to restrain inordinate action of the bowels, may be given. As a consequence of the milder variety of this disease, adhesion occasionally takes place between the inflamed surfaces, which, at a future period, may impede the discharge of the menses, or offer an obstacle to coition or parturition. These adhesions are easily destroyed soon after their formation by gently separating the labia, but at a more advanced period it is necessary sometimes to use the knife. 1 See the chapter on LeucorrhcEa in his work on Diseases of Children.