Diseases of the ovaries : their diagnosis and treatment / by T. Spencer Wells.

  • Wells, Spencer, 1818-1897.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the ovaries : their diagnosis and treatment / by T. Spencer Wells. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    than she had been, but the skin was hot; the tongue very dry ; the lips parched; the pulse 120; respiration 52. A pint of clear urine was drawn off. I thought of bleeding, but resolved to wait for two hours to see whether perspiration would break out, the aspect being good and the state of the urine favour- able. At 10.30 the patient was found to have been sick ; the pulse was 136, the respiration 52. At 10.45 I bled to 10 oz. rapidly in a full stream. At 11 the pulse was 124, the respira- tion 48 ; the face rather pallid ; the pulse still incompressible, although fuller than before the bleeding. At 12.20 the pulse was 124, the respiration 40. Next day the face was flushed, and the tongue still parched ; the skin, although hot, was moist; the pulse, 120; respiration, 28. I cut away the thread around the pin, but left the pin itself. On the second day the patient was much better; her pulse was only 116. The stitches were removed in due time, and a very free dis- charge of serum gradually set up, just at the point where the cyst had been pinned to the cyst wall. Convalescence pro- gressed, and on February 26 the patient was sent to Eastbourne. I next saw her on May 11. There was then a very little discharge from the bottom of the cicatrix, and a slight hard- ness and elastic swelling felt per vaginam. The abdominal tumour had disappeared. She returned to her situation, and I saw her again in July in excellent health, the catamenia being regular, and with a very slight moisture only at the lower end of the cicatrix. She became servant in a family at Camberwell, where she remained in excellent health, and called on me quite strong in February 1868. I saw her early in 1872 in excellent health. In the case numbered 17 in the table, the patient was in good health for nearly three years after the operation, and then died almost immediately after a subcutaneous injection of morphia in Germany ; and in case 23 a careful examination, in July 1872, failed to detect any trace of the cyst. The painful position of a surgeon who has laid bare an ova- rian tumour, has partly emptied it, has possibly separated some adhesions, and then begins to fear that he cannot com- pletely remove the tumour, can only be estimated by those who have unexpectedly found themselves in similar difficulties. If