Malignant pustule in the United States / by A.N. Bell.

  • Bell, A. N. (Agrippa Nelson), 1820-1911.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Malignant pustule in the United States / by A.N. Bell. 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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    description of the disease, in the paper referred to, in order, if possible, to prevent unnecessary alarm: “ The pustule, unless it arises from inoculation, is generally on the under lip. It com- mences with a slight pimple and with considerable itching. Very soon a thin bloody fluid is found in the pimple, and it is sur- rounded with a livid or purple areola or ring. It also rests upon a hard base which may be felt as a small lump under the skin ; but has very little, if any pain. Unless arrested early, the swelling rapidly increases, poisonous pus is formed, and being absorbed, passes into the blood and poisons the whole system. It is not necessary to describe the further progress of the disease, or its treatment. Our only object is to enable others to recognize it in its earliest stages, and also to prevent unnecessary alarm from common pimples which occur so frequently.” About this same period of time, a case occurred in my own practice in this city, a brief abstract of which may be found in the published Transactions of the Society.* I was sent for to see Mrs. R., February 6, 1859, a married lady, aet. 34, with a nursing child. She had never been very robust, but enjoyed tolerably good health. I found her complaining of general malaise, and of a hard livid pimple at the vermillion border of the left upper lip, near the corner of the mouth. This however, she said, was better ; that it had itched a good deal at first and was very pain- ful, but since the pain had subsided, she thought it was only a boil, and that it would soon be well. Her attention was first called to it two days before, as a dark, red pimple, on account of its incessant itching. The centre was of a dark, purple color, denuded of cuticle and exuding a thin, dark serum. Her care- lessness about it, however, tended to divert my own attention, and I failed to discover at that time the relation of the “pimple” to her irritable, feeble pulse, 112 per minute, white furred tongue, with elongated papillm, anorexia and failing strength. Her bowels had not been open for the last two days, “ yet she had eaten nothing.” She complained of slight flatulence, but would not have thought of it without inquiry. She scarcely had any milk for the baby (five months old), and had to feed it. For the last two nights she had been very restless, felt too tired to be up, and no better for lying down. I prescribed the tincture of rhu- barb, half an ounce, immediately (12 o’clock M.), and the same dose to be repeated at bed time, if necessary. Directed a bread poultice to be put to the lip, and for her to take any simple food ♦ KiDgs County Medical Society.