On surgical shock / by John H. Packard.

  • Packard, John H. (John Hooker), 1832-1907.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On surgical shock / by John H. Packard. 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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    the mechanical appliances used in those stupendous works arc unknown to us, we may be sure that a laborer on the Pyramids, who had the misfortune to have a leg or an arm crushed, must have presented much the same symptoms as would a workman on one of our railroads under like circumstances. We do, indeed, find some reference to this matter by some of the older writers. Heister says : “ Gunshot wounds, though in the strongest constitu- tions, generally produce the worst of symptoms, as excessive weakness, faintiugs, tremors, palpitations, convulsions, hiccoughs, etc., after which succeed instantly dangerous fevers, nauseous vom- itings, and the like.” And again: ‘^Amongst the many terrible symptoms attending these wounds, the first is an excessive languor, which is soon followed by fainting fits, partly occasioned by the hurry of their spirits, and partly by the effusion of blood.” Clearly as this passage indicates the state in question, it was written at a time when isolated facts were noted, without being grouped and generalized so as to develop principles. And, indeed, in that day the opportunities for observation afforded to individual surgeons must have been limited, as was also the intercommunica- tion of ideas. In military and naval practice shock was observed' as the effect of gunshot wounds, and was supposed to be peculiar to this form of injury; but it is scarcely more than incidentally referred to by them. Early in the second quarter of the present century the develop- ment of steam-power, and the consequent multiplication of ma- chinery, while adding greatly to the comfort of human life, increased in a corresponding degree its risks. With the growth of popula- tion everywhere, there came to be vastly greater numbers of people engaged in dangerous occupations, and accidents became far more frequent. To take one example only : The recent report of the United States Commerce Commission states that 20,025 persons were injured on the railways of this country during the last year, while 6,334 were killed. Among railroad employes, one in 33, or about 3 per cent., were injured. When we consider besides these the risks of factory-workers and miners, and all those of ordinary life, it is not strange that severe injuries are far more commonly observed by the surgeons of onr own day than by those of any former period. Along with these increased opportunities for ob- servation, there has come a vast increase in the number of observers and in the means of interchange of facts and opinions; and this