An essay on burns, in two parts : principally on those which happen to workmen in mines, from the explosions of carburetted hydrogen gas: containing also a view of the opinions of ancient, and modern authors upon the treatment of accidents by fire: and including a variety of cases conducted upon different principles ... / by Edward Kentish.

  • Kentish Edward, -1832.
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on burns, in two parts : principally on those which happen to workmen in mines, from the explosions of carburetted hydrogen gas: containing also a view of the opinions of ancient, and modern authors upon the treatment of accidents by fire: and including a variety of cases conducted upon different principles ... / by Edward Kentish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    means, but to point out the necessary rules, and fix the actual station of the science; by which means we shall more easily perceive the further progress of which it is capable.” He thus gives us the treatment of Burns. “ On Gangrene by Burns.—Whether this accident is the consequence of the application of caustic or of actual fire, its consequences are owing to the decomposition of the fibres, by their combination with oxygen and the disengagement of too great a quantity of heat. Caloric is a stimulant for every part of the body to which it is applied: no bad consequences arise from a moderate ap- plication of this power: if the body is in perfect health, a gentle re-action takes place, both useful and agreeable; but a too great quantity of this principle, forcing itself into the organs and increasing their temperature, is in- compatible with life. The re-action excited by a too great quantity of heat causes an inflammation, the degree of which will be according to the greater or smaller ca- pacity the burning body had for heat. Thus metals in fusion produce greater mischief than boiling oils, and these latter than boiling water. “ But a burn does not always proceed so far as to pro- duce a gangrene: an inflammation is the most common consequence; the disorganization of the fibres is the worst state. The inflammations produced by burns are of the most painful kind, because they attack the cutaneous organs, which are of the most sensible structure. These inflammations terminate by resolution, or by ulceration, according to the intensity of the injury. Even in a com pleat burn, where the caloric has destroyed the tis- sues, it is only the superficial parts, exposed to the too rapid introduction of this body, which are destroyed; for