Domestic medicine and surgery : with a glossary of the terms used therein / by J.H. Walsh.

  • Walsh, J. H. (John Henry), 1810-1888
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Domestic medicine and surgery : with a glossary of the terms used therein / by J.H. Walsh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    be omitted to avoid them, and certainly a few repetitions are far better than to incur any unnecessary risk. It is to be hoped that this combination of the advantages of a series of treatises on each disease in the two first parts, with the alphabetical arrange- ment adopted in the third, will meet all difficulties, and bring the subject within the scope of every one who will take the trouble to read the plain direc- tions which are given throughout. A Dictionary of Medicine is a most useful book of reference to those who already possess the key to its stores, but with- out it they are with difficulty reached; and hence, in the present Manual, the attempt has been made to combine the alphabetical arrangement, which is the basis of a dictionary, with that which is usually adopted in elementary works. Throughout the Manual, every thing is described in language which may be readily understood, with the exception of the signs or abbreviations which are used in the prescriptions throughout the Second Part. This, however, is not without an object, which is to prevent errors in the quantities; for if common abbreviations are employed, (dr.) standing for drachms may readily be converted into drops or vice versd. To avoid this risk, therefore, the following four signs are introduced, and being similar to those used in ordinary physician’s prescriptions, a comparison with any of them in the possession of the reader may more readily be made. They are fully described at page 221; but to prevent mistakes are repeated here, consisting of (0) for pint (octarius), (5) for ounce, C) for drachm, and minim being used at length or with the abbreviation (mtn.) The use of Roman numerals, and of the abbreviation (a) for of each and (c) for cum (with) may also be mentioned here, though described at length in the same page. The diseases peculiar to the various periods of life and their treatment, with those also of the female sex, are grouped together for the advantage of ready reference,; and an attempt has been made to bring the diseases of the skin within the scope of domestic treatment. This would be a hopeless task without the aid of coloured illustrations, the great expense of which has hitherto prevented their adoption in treatises designed for the million. Modem science, however, triumphs over all difficulties; and the drawings by Messrs. Wells and Scott, engraved and printed in colours by Mr. Evans, though not perhaps capable of comparison with highly-finished paintings, are wonderful specimens of this new art, and are sufficiently faithful to the originals to enaole the careful observer to distinguish any of the eruptions represented. The remaining engravings are well executed by Mr. Hodgkin; but most oi them can only claim to be faithful copies of illustrations previously published by the highest authorities in anatomy and surgery.