The use of hot water in surgery / by Theodore R. Varick.

  • Varick, Theodore R. (Theodore Romeyn), 1825-1887.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The use of hot water in surgery / by Theodore R. Varick. 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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    water have a temperature slightly below the boiling point; this might do if one were to apply it by means of a sponge, and then only for an instant. . . . But if employed continu- ously or by irrigation through the nozzle of a tube, it ought not to exceed in temperature 112° or 115° F., or a tem- perature which may be easily borne by the hand.” Dr. Hamilton evidently failed to appreciate the mode and object of the application advocated by me. The application is always made with a clean sponge or sheet lint, and is kept in contact with the part for several minutes, or frequently renewed applications are made, until the changed appearance of the parts is observed as previ- ously described. Again, the object of a high temperature for the coagula- tion of the albuminous exudate on the surface of the wound is not recognized. The temporary glazing which occurs over the surface of a wound, as the oozing gradually and spontaneously ceases, must not be confounded with, nor considered as identical with, that produced by the applica- tion of hot water. The glazing first named is nothing more than the result of coagulation of the sanguineous flow, having a surface of se- rum with an underlying clot, and due to fibrinous contraction and a process of desiccation. It is highly putrescible and easily washed away. As albumin at the temperature of the body is fluid, it possesses no protective power and partakes of the same liability to putrefaction as the other elements of the exudate. Hot water applied deprives it of its putres- cible property, and it will exist unchanged for an indefinite period. I have kept a film of coagulated albumin, applied to a piece of fine linen, unchanged for a period of over four months, while the beef-tea, for which the albuminized linen was used as a cover, remained absolutely unchanged for a like period.