Presidential address delivered November 8, 1901 / by John Macintyre.

  • Macintyre, John
Date:
[1901]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Presidential address delivered November 8, 1901 / by John Macintyre. 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.

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    that he is having iodide of potash internally since my treatment ceased. In the other cases above mentioned no other treatment whatever was given. I could quote other cases of lupus, but the results will probably be brought before some other meeting of the Association, and sufficient has been said to show that electric currents of high potential seem to affect such diseased structures beneficially. Tubercle.—I prefer meantime not to give any definite statements with regard to the action of this agent in the ordinary tuberculous affections of the upper respiratory tract which are of interest to us. The commoner seat of the infection, the region of the larynx, presented great difficulty at first, owing to a tendency to spark when electrodes were introduced into the cavities. This difficulty, to a great extent, has been overcome, and it was the one which I have already said offered the greatest problem in trying Arsonval's apparatus. I have cases under treatment at present, and can say in a case of tuberculous ulceration of the epiglottis the results were quite satisfactory. A second case of a rapidly increasing tumour of the nasal septum on the right side, which caused great stenosis and clinically suggested a sarcoma, and was diagnosed microscopically by the pathologists as tuberculous, has been vastly improved. The tumour, which was about 1 inch in diameter and pressed against the outside wall of the right nostril, is now practically on a level with the septum, and a very small area requires to be covered in. The stenosis is altogether removed, and the patient is free of pain and discomfort. Epithelioma—Rodent Ulcer—I have already indicated in my paper that this affection seems to yield to the same method of treatment, and one case referred to above has remained well for two years after other methods of treatment had failed. On the screen I now show a photograph of another case on the cheek. This patient, aged fifty-five years, dates his illness back to an attack of erysipelas about twelve years ago, and five years ago the condition was diagnosed as rodent ulcer ; he had been treated in various ways previously. You will notice the difference from the time I first saw him, three weeks ago, and now. The wound is granulating, a bridge of skin has formed across the centre, and comparatively little now remains to be covered in. Coming to the most serious forms of epithelioma, I must speak with the utmost reserve, being fully impressed with the responsi- bility of saying anything which will mislead you about the results. My whole work is in a purely experimental state, and would not be referred to were it not that a number of surgeons and patients
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