The principles of surgery / by James Syme.

  • Syme, James, 1799-1870.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of surgery / by James Syme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    bougies, and in a week or two, or sometimes in a few days, very formidable-looking tumours may tbus be discussed. Should the swelling exist along with a sound state of the urethra, or resist this treatment, means of promoting absorption must be employed. With this view, the patient should maintain the horizontal posture, use a very spare diet, and be subjected to a gentle course of mer- cury ; at the same time having the absorbent actions of the part excited by leeching, and discutient lotions, which answer better than blisters or ointments. If there is water in the tunica vaginalis, a complication named Hydro-Sarcocele, the fluid ought to be eva- cuated by puncture before these local measures are instituted. When the swelling attains a large size, and resists a patient trial of the means that have been mentioned, it may be removed by the knife as a last resource, and of course with a favourable prognosis in regard to the prospect of permanent recovery. A section of the tumour removed in such cases generally exhibits a compact fibrous structure, which is usually of a yellow or yeUowish-gray colour, and contains irregularly-sized cells interspersed through its substance. Cystic Sarcoma of the Testicle. The testicle is liable to the formation of cysts in. its texture, and these sometimes occupy so much of it as to constitute a mass in which the cystic character jiredominates. When this disease is associated with hydrocele or h-sematocele, its diagnosis cannot be made out with accuracy, imtil the fluid in the tunica vaginalis has been dravra off. The only remedy for this afiection is removal, and the operation may be performed vdth less regret, as the glan- dular structure of the testicle always sufiers such atrophy, or changes in its texture, that it cannot be expected to perform its function. 31 edidlary Sarcoma of the Testicle. Excepting the bones and the mamma, the testicle is perhaps more subject to the derangement of nutrition, Which leads to this morbid growth, than any structui'e in the body. It is generally met with at and before the middle period of life ; sometimes com- mencing without any assignable cause, but not unfrequently being referred to blows, or bruises, or to inflammation excited by other means. The patient's appearance is generally healthy, and the diseased action shews less tendency to spread than when it occurs