Observations on the treatment of syphilis without mercury / by John Thomson.

  • Thomson, John, 1765-1846.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the treatment of syphilis without mercury / by John Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    pital, induced the late Mr Hicks to follow a similar practice in the treatment of the men affected with syphilis of the 92d regi¬ ment, at that time stationed in Edinburgh Castle. The results which this gentleman obtained in the cases so treated, and which I had an opportunity of seeing until the regiment marched for Ireland, in April 1817, were precisely similar to those which I had obtained in the Depot Hospital. In the course of reporting the cases in these hospitals for my clinical lectures on military medicine, I was surprised to be informed, in February i8i7, by Mr Kenning, resident surgeon of the Ordnance Medical Department, that a practice similar to that which I was following in syphilitic cases had been employed for a considerable period (I have reason to believe even some time previously to my appointment to the Depot Hospital) by Mr Rose, surgeon of the Coldstream Guards, and I was happy to learn, that the results of his practice were similar to mine- Soon after this period, the 88th regiment arriving here from France to replace the 92d, I found, that, in consequence of com¬ munications from London, the medical officers of this regiment had begun a short time before to treat all their syphilitic cases without mercury ; and since that time, up to the present date, I have had an opportunity of seeing a very great number of sy¬ philitic cases in this regiment treated in this manner, with uni¬ form success, under the judicious management of Surgeon John¬ ston, and Assistant Surgeon Bartlett. In private practice, 1 have followed a similar mode of treatment in a great number of syphilitic cases, many of which were seen by my friend Mr Turner, who for several years lived with me, and assisted me in my practice ; and in treating these cases, I have obtained results in all respects similar to those stated to have taken place in the military hospitals. Bubo in one or both groins, sometimes suppurating, and in other instances disappearing by resolution, has occurred in about one fourth of those affected with chancre, but in none of the chancres or buboes wdiich I have seen treated without mer¬ cury, has any disposition to gangrenous inflammation, or to phagedenic ulceration, ever manifested itself,—occurrences which ate so common in the treatment of these affections, under even the most careful employment of mercury. In a number of the cases of chancre, a hard tubercle, accompanied with disco¬ loration of the skin, has been observed to remain for a consider¬ able time after cicatrization, and this part has frequently shewn a disposition to become ulcerated, when it has either been ne¬ glected or has been irritated.