Observations on lithotomy : being a republication of Dr. James Douglas' appendix to his History of the lateral operation for the stone, and of the other original papers relative to Mr. Cheselden's invention and improvement of that operation / to which is added, a proposal for a new manner of cutting for the stone, by John Thomson, M.D.

  • Douglas, James, 1675-1742.
Date:
1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on lithotomy : being a republication of Dr. James Douglas' appendix to his History of the lateral operation for the stone, and of the other original papers relative to Mr. Cheselden's invention and improvement of that operation / to which is added, a proposal for a new manner of cutting for the stone, by John Thomson, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    15/106 (page 7)
    The table upon which the patient is placed is highest at that end upon which his buttocks rest; and by means of a pillow laid under him there, and another under his head when he lies upon his back, his belly is lower than any other part of his body. His buttocks are placed upon the edge of the table, and his knees being separated from one an- other, and bent as much as they can be conveni- ently, his wrists and ankles are tied together; ana* he is kept in that situation by three assistants, one at each leg, and a third at his head ; who presses with his two hands upon the patient's shoulders, to keep him from retiring backward from the ope- rator. The patient being brought from his bed in a night-gown, and situated in this manner, the ope- rator thrusts an hollow grooved steel catheter, through the urethra into the bladder; and with a syringe mounted with an ox's ureter, injects as much warm water into it as the patient can bear without pain, in the same manner as is done in the high operation. Into one patient of about eighteen years of age, and., who had a stone weighing six ounces and a quarter, Mr. Chcselden injected seven ounces of water; but he thinks the quantity may always be determined by the complaints of the pa- tient, without observing any other rule. When the water is injected, and secured from running out, by tying round the penis a narrow slip of flannel, he gives the end of the catheter to an intelligent assistant to hold; whose principal care is to keep it from rising, but not at all to direct