On the efficacy of the secale cornutum in haemorrhage and leucorrhoea, and on its effects in gonorrhoea / by G. Negri.

  • Negri, Gaetano.
Date:
[1833]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the efficacy of the secale cornutum in haemorrhage and leucorrhoea, and on its effects in gonorrhoea / by G. Negri. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    0O/&u>yfo, ON THE EFFICACY OF THE^ECALE CORNUTUM IN HEMORRHAGE AND LEUCORRHCEAy AND ON ITS EFFECTS IN GONORRIICEA. BY G. NEGRI, M.D., Read before the Medical Society of London, Monday, Nov. 25, 1833. Gentlemen,—Since the action of secale cor- nutum on the uterine system attracted the par- ticular attention of obstetric practitioners, and has been successfully employed in cases of long protracted labours, Dr. Atlee, of Phila- delphia, Professor Bigieschi, and Dr. Ballar- dini in Italy, as well as Dr. Guillemont in France, have recommended it as the most effi- cient remedy to arrest menorrhagia, when occasioned by want of uterine contraction after labour. Dr. Shallcross recommended it also in those uterine haemorrhages, which originate from a partial detachment of the placenta; whilst Professor Dewees expressed his belief, that it might be efficacious in hae- morrhages in general. In the London Me- dical and Physical Journal for May, 1829, a case of menorrhagia, cured by that remedy, after three months’ trial, was related by Dr. Marshall Hall, who found it also beneficial in leucorrhoea. From all these facts Dr. Spajrani, who had already successfully employed the ergot of rye in several instances of leucorrhoea, was induced to try its efficacy in other uterine hemorrhages, not immediately connected with parturition. After the favourable result of his first experi- ments, he extended the use of the ergot of rye to any other hemorrhages proceeding from different mucous textures, both in male and female. The result of Dr. Spaj rani’s observations on this subject was published in the fasciculus for March, 1830, of Omodei’s Atmali Universali di Medccina e Chirurgia. In that interesting publication are related eight cases of menor- rhagia; four cases of what he calls uterine congestion; two of epistaxis ; five of hsemop- tysis; and two of hsematuria. (A correct ac- count of this essay was published in The Lancet for February, 1831). Another publication, on the same subject, appeared in the following number for May and June, 1830, by Dr. Pignacca. It contains two cases of menorrhagia and two of luemop- tysis, successfully treated with the secale cor- nuturn ; and in the fasciculus for February and March, 1831, of the same Italian periodical, two other papers were published, one by Dr. Gabini and the other by Dr. Bazzoni. The first contains three cases of menorrhagia; one of hcematemesis; one of pneumorrhagia; and two of epistaxis, one of which occurred in a woman affected with acute scurvy, and accom- panied with all the other symptoms of what has been called purpura haemorrhagica. Dr. Bazzoni’s publication contains an account of eight cases of leucorrhoea, treated with the ergot of rye, in which it afforded great benefit in arresting the white discharge, even in in- stances considered of an incurable nature from organic malignant disease of the womb. We have read since, in The Lancet for March 10, 1833, an account of an “admirable essay” on the use of ergot of rye in menor- rhagia, published in the Bulletin General de Therapeutique, by MM. Trousseaux et Mai- soneuve. A case of heemoptoe in a man, cured by the same medicine by Dr. Lanyon, was published in The Lancet, April 13, 1833; and another of menorrhagia in a woman, aged 60, by Dr. Bright, was lately published in The Lancet for June 15th, together with an article by Mr. II. A. O’Slea, “ on the anti-haemorrhagic effects of the ergot of rye on the male,” in which he states, “that, in corroboration of what was published by Dr. Lanyon, he (Mr. O’Slea) employed that medicine with the same view for the last two years, with invariable success and concludes, that “ the adoption of this prac- tice arose from reading an article on the same subject, published in a number of The Lancet, some time m the year 1831 ” In all this time we had ourselves a favour- able opportunity of trying the efficacy of the secale cornutum in different instances of me- norrhagia and leucorrhoea; and with the view of ascertaining its modus operandi; we tried it also, we think for the first time, in gonor- rhoea, both in female and male. In bringing before this Society the result of our experience on this subject, it is not to believe we intend to proclaim the secale cornutum as an infallible