Practical observations on some congestive, inflammatory, and ulcerative affections of the uterus / by Evory Kennedy.

Date:
[1847]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on some congestive, inflammatory, and ulcerative affections of the uterus / by Evory Kennedy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    7/50 (page 61)
    it is much more so, if the statements of Ricord and Lisfranc are to he taken literally. The first says that ninety-nine women and a half in every hundred, during some part of the month, suffer more or less from blennorrhagia; whilst M. Lis- franc was in the habit of stating that the evidences of its existence were present upon the linen of nearly all the Pari- sian ladies ; and this statement was based upon his own ex- amination into this matter at a great washing establishment near Paris(a). The prudent practitioner, when consulted in these affec- tions, would do well, in most cases, to forget the existence of such a circumstance, and in place of treating it, set about ascer- taining the true nature of his patient’s case. The empirical system of ordering an astringent lotion merely because there is a vaginal discharge, and then resting satisfied that everything practicable has been done, has prevailed too long, and proved an opprobrium, which every day’s experience must serve to render more culpable. Let us inquire whether, in the first instance, the disease was induced by an assignable cause; whether pelvic, sacral, or inguinal pains were first observed, with heat and irritation about the vulva, or in the course of the vagina ; whether this occurred consequent upon sudden suppression of the menses, after exposure to cold or local irritation—in connexion with cutaneous eruptions,—after any marked change inhabits of liv- ing,— early exertion after delivery, or miscarriage; whether the discharge, when it appeared, was subsequent to these, and how long; whether it was consequent upon intercourse, miscar- riage, pregnancy, or delivery; and how far the patient’s general health may be connected witli it ? Having inquired into all these matters, if the disease do not yield to a properly directed treatment, or if circumstances warrant a further examination, let this be made, and let the patient be treated upon fixed (a) See Acton on Venereal Diseases, p. 45.