A treatise on the diseases and surgical operations of the mouth, and parts adjacent : with notes on interesting cases, ancient and modern / by M. Jourdain ; translated from the last French edition.

  • Jourdain, M. (Anselme Louis Bernard Bréchillet), 1734-1816.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases and surgical operations of the mouth, and parts adjacent : with notes on interesting cases, ancient and modern / by M. Jourdain ; translated from the last French edition. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    to little purpose. I advised the removal of the tumor by opera- tion. It was performed by M. Henning, a skilful surgeon, thus :—drawing down the lip with the left hand, he made three incisions with a sharp pair of scissors, (a bistoury would have made a neater, cleaner cut, and been in all respects preferable,) one to the right, a second to the left, and a third just above the depression of the chin. The wound healed without de- formity, the annoyance caused by the contraction of the lips wore off in time, and none of the functions of the mouth were in anywise impeded. Case III, (Baile, Journ. of Med., vol. xxvi.)—A peasant, named Vial, had for ten years a chancrous ulcer of the lip, which spread over a large portion of the right cheek, and had also a point of discharge at the symphisis. A surgeon of emi- nence in Provence, to whom in his extremity the patient applied, reflected upon the difficulty of performing any operation, and satisfied himself with giving some styptics to arrest, as he said, the progress of the ulcer. Small cancerous tumors may possi- bly be eradicated by caustics, such as the concentrated vitriol used by Boerhaave, but we cannot rely upon them for the cure of extensive malignant ulceration. The knife, where practica- ble, is the only sure local agent. The patient was further assured by the surgeon, that the disease was in the blood, and that consequently it would be hazardous to close up this outlet of morbid humor, lest by me- tastasis some graver mischief should ensue. Two other sur- geons pronounced it, under the mistaken name of noli-me-tan- gere, to be incurable. And in truth this neglect of serious ulcers, under the idea of their incurability, is often the real cause of their assuming a malignant character. Finding the patient in this dilemma, I determined upon my course. The extract of hemlock—a discovery attributed by M. Chomel to M. Reneaume, a physician of Blois—had been repeatedly used with success, for cancerous tumors and ulcers. I, therefore, prepared my patient, during fifteen days, by repeated doses of hemlock combined with cooling diluents, and then pro- ceeded to the removal of the entire ulcerated mass with the 27