Useful hints to those who are afflicted with ruptures : on the nature, cure, and consequences of the disease, and on the empirical practices of the present day / by T. Sheldrake.

  • Sheldrake, Timothy.
Date:
1803
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Useful hints to those who are afflicted with ruptures : on the nature, cure, and consequences of the disease, and on the empirical practices of the present day / by T. Sheldrake. 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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    Other diseases may be mistaken for ruptures, thon^h the resemblance is not so perfect but tliat they may, by the ■experienced surgeon, be distinguished from each other: It IS ot the utmost importance to patients that this should be done; because diseases, that are different in their na- ture require very different treatment,, and if the mode of treatment that is proper for one^ should, through mistake or from worse motives, be adopted in treating tinother dis- ease, it will frequently be prod uctive of fatal consequences. It is known that empirics and pretended rupture-curers have mistaken ruptures for other diseases, and other dis- eases for ruptures, and have actually destroyed their pa- tients by the mdde of treatment they adopted in conse- quence of such mistakes. The parts which form the inguinal rupture come out of the abdomen through the aperture in the tendon of the obliquus externus muscle, in the same direction with,, and upon the spermatic vessels in men, and upon the liga- menti uteri in women;. it commonly forms a small tumour in the groin at first; but, if neglected, it descends gra- dually into the scrotum, in the one, and the labia in the- other sex: sometimes violent exertion A\all produce a large rupture, and instantaneously force it down into the scro- tum.. At its first appearance in the groin, this rupture is frequently mistaken for a bubo, but, as it increases in size,, it assumes a different appearance, and may te confounded with other diseases. If the inguinal rupture is composed of omentum only, it will fee] flabby, unequal, be easily compressible, and, at first, is generally free from pain ; but, as a greater, portion of the omentum descends, it will, by its connexion with the stomach, sometimes create nausea, and a desire to vo- mit, even when there is no stricture. The varicocele is sometimes mista.ken for an omental hernia ; but the atten- tive observer will easily discover the difference: the vari- cocele being a relaxation-of the spermatic vessels, is inse- parably connected with the testicles, but the t-esticle is ge- nerally to be felt distinct, and is easily to be separated from, an omental hernia, even when that hernia is not i-eturn- ablp; the swelling formed by a rujiture may always be traced up to tlie aperture through which it descends from the abdomen, but, the varicocele is seldom, if ever, ex- tended so hioh; if a rupture is returned into the abdomen,, and the hand carefully applied upon the part, it will not descend again while that application is continued ; but if a varicocele is treated in,the same manner, it will return the