A manual of minor surgery and bandaging : for the use of house-surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners / by Christopher Heath.

  • Heath, Christopher, 1835-1905.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of minor surgery and bandaging : for the use of house-surgeons, dressers and junior practitioners / by Christopher Heath. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    loosened by discharge from the wound, although it may be advisable to relax the bandages (of necessity tightly applied in the first instance) after a few hours. Perfect rest of the wounded part, and, if possible, an elevated position, are absolutely necessary for suc- cessful treatment, while at the same time the whole system must be brought into a condition most likely to conduce to the formation of clot in the vessel and the rapid healing of the wound. The constitutional treatment of cases of severe haemorrhage is one of the most anxious cares of the surgeon. On the one hand, there is the immediate danger of the patient's death from exhaustion, and on the other, the fear that by over-stimulation the hfemorrhage may be again induced with equally dan- gerous effect. It is in these cases that opium is of the greatest service. From one-half to one grain, in frequently j;epea,ted doses, will do much to calm thejpatient's nervous system and mitigate the in- jurious effects of loss of blood. Stimulants may be cautiously 'exhibited, provided surgical means have been taken to arrest entirely the flow of blood ; but where, from the nature of the injury, that has been impossible, it would be destruction to the patient to excite immediately the action of the heart, and thus destroy nature's means of arrest. A previously liealthy patient will survive a state approaching syn- cope for many hours, and ultimately make a perfect recovery, while early and injudicious stimulation would have hurried him uncontrollably to the grave. Reaction after hajmoiThage is not usually of a violent character, but, if necessary, may be treated by gentle purgation and small doses of digitalis or aconite. Among the debilitated patients often met with in hospital practice, anaemia is the difficulty which stands in the way of recovery from a wound. It is in these cases, when the blood seems scarcely able to coagu- late, and there is a constant oozing from the wounded surface, that the preparations of iron in frequent