Appendix to the first and second sections of "Contributions to practical medicine and surgery".

  • Arnott, James, 1794-1885.
Date:
[©1871?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Appendix to the first and second sections of "Contributions to practical medicine and surgery". Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    APPENDIX TO THE FIRST AND SECOND SECTIONS OF CONTRIBUTIONS TO PRACTICAL MEDICINE AND SURGERY/^ The discovery that the animal tissues can be frozen for a short period^ without risk of injuring them was of great therapeutic importance. From time immemorial the idea had existed that either mortification or violent inflammation would almost inevitably be the consequence of subjecting any part of the body to so intense a degree of cold j and this erroneous idea had^ doubtless^ not only prevented the well known benumbing efiect of congelation from being employed to render surgical operations painless,, but had also prevented the discovery, to which reasoning a priori would have quickly led, of the remedial efficacy in inflam- matory and other diseases, of the thorough alteration in the condition of the morbid tissues caused by freezing them. Nor are these all the advantages arising from our knowledge of the innocuousness of freezing. It has removed, moreover, that fear of sloughing from this cause during the applica- tion of minor degrees of cold, which had much, and very injuriously restricted their use. The freezing of the tissues, so far from being dreaded during the application of ice in stran- gulated hernia, for instance, has been proved, by reports in recent medical journals, to be, when properly conducted, one of the most effectual and safe modes of reducing the intestine. In attributing such important results to the use of in- tense cold—results which have been verified by the experi- F