Cases illustrative of the antiseptic use of carbolic acid / by Joseph Bell.

  • Bell, Joseph, 1837-1911.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cases illustrative of the antiseptic use of carbolic acid / by Joseph Bell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    infancy, in a transition stage, and will, we have no doubt, greatly improve, specially in direction of simplicity.* yi. Carbolic Acid Lotion, or pure glacial acid dissolved in water. This may be used in various strengths, from 1-20 to 1 in 100, the stronger being used for injecting old abscesses and sinuses, washing out recent wounds, etc.; the weaker for disinfecting sponges, clean- ing stumps, etc. B. Carbolic Acid and Linseed Oil.—a. 1-6, in this the lint used as the antiseptic veil for opening abscesses is steeped; b. 1-12, of this the paste is prepared, with which recent stumps are dressed. C. Plasters composed of Shellac and Carbolic.—These are of three different strengths, of which the first two, 1-3 and 1-6 respec- tively, are used as antiseptic protective plasters; the third (1-100) merely in cases where the ordinary lead plaster would be used, with the advantage that the carbolic acid corrects the feetor. III. Cases.—Abscess.—1. Mr J., a tall, strong young man, showed me a very deep and large abscess in the middle line of the back of the neck. It gave him great pain, and his general health was beginning to be affected. He was anxious not to leave his office. I opened it by a deep incision, and let out about §ii. of very foetid pus. I used the antiseptic veil of lint (in c. 1-6), fastening it tightly with plaster. Next day there were only a few drops of ser- ous oozing, and I dressed it with the strongest carbolized plaster; and though the wound did not heal up for a week, being large and deep, there was no more pus ; the daily change of the plaster, with the usual cautions against admission of air, kept it perfectly sweet. He had no pain, attended his office without losing one hour, and there was no unpleasant smell. By any other method of treatment it would have been a case of constant poulticing for days together, he could not have gone to his office from the quantity and odour of the discharge, and the healing would have been much less rapid. 2. Dr Thatcher sent me a boy with an enormous swelling of the cheek, of three weeks’ standing, depending on a periosteal abscess of the outside of the body and ramus of the lower jaw, and pointing into the neck. I evacuated about §iii. of very foetid pus under the antiseptic veil, and on the third day dressed it with the strong c. plaster only. My previous experience of such abscesses led me to expect a long suppuration and an ugly scar. From the fourth day there was no pus, and now there is no visible scar whatever. 3. On 22d February I evacuated sub-carbolically, in Dr Moir’s ' The exact proportions used at present by Mr Lister are— 1. Watery Solutions.—a. 1-20, used for freshly-made wounds before applying the plaster, or for injecting compound fractures, etc., while changing dressings ; h. 1-40, used in changing the dressings of open wounds. 2. Oily Solutions.—a. 1-4, in opening abscesses; b. 1-10, in cases where a. irritates ; c. 1-20, in cases where the lac plaster is too stimulating. 3. Glycerine Solution.—1-4, used with an india-rubber tube in dressing stumps. 4. Spirituous Solution.—1-.5, for injecting old sinuses.