Cocaine and its use in ophthalmic and general surgery / With supplementary contributions by F. H. Bosworth [and others].

  • Knapp, Herman, 1832-1911.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cocaine and its use in ophthalmic and general surgery / With supplementary contributions by F. H. Bosworth [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    smart, whereas immediately after the application I only felt the cold, no pain. I washed the nitrate of silver away with ordinary water, and put another drop of cocaine in. This relieved the smart for five minutes, then it returned, but very slightly; a serous liquid ran from my right nostril, just as it does when a stronger solution of nitrate of silver is put in the eye in the ordinary way. I instilled another drop of cocaine and continued writing. In a quarter of an hour the eye felt hot and somewhat painful. The con- junctiva of the lower lid was moderately, that of the adja- cent scleral conjunctiva slightly, red, and along the whole lower fornix lay a white streak of mucus. The cornea and upper scleral and palpebral conjunctiva were white as if nothing had been done. The pupil was wide, and the ac- commodation somewhat weakened, not so much as to make writing unpleasant, though the other eye had been ' cocai- nized ' in the afternoon of the same day. EXPERIMENTS ON THE EFFECT OF COCAINE ON OTHER MUCOUS MEMBRANES. i. The ear.—I have made only one experiment in this locality. It was an almost painless removal of polypoid granulations. I do not doubt that the remedy will find here a large field of application, both to allay pain and to render the parts insensible during operations in this exceed- ingly sensitive cavity. [In cases of perforation of the drumhead I noticed that cocaine anaesthetizes the mucous membrane of the drum cavity, but not the drumhead.] 2. The mouth.—I can confirm the former observations that the tongue and the soft palate become numb. I sprayed and brushed my soft palate; in ten minutes I could pass instruments over it without pain or reflex phenomena, retching, etc. I brushed a four-per-cent. solution over the right half of my tongue from the tip to the base, held the tongue depressed with my finger and immovable as long as I could endure it. In seven minutes I repeated the manipulation ; five minutes later the right side of the tongue and corresponding lip felt numb. Gentle touching ivas not perceived, but quite well on the other side. Then