Notes of surgical practice amongst the Chinese / by Dr. Parker of Canton.

  • Parker, Peter, 1804-1888.
Date:
[1846]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes of surgical practice amongst the Chinese / by Dr. Parker of Canton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    feet six inches in circumference. Its magnitude and weight en¬ tirely disabled him for labour; and he had no resource for mainte¬ nance but in begging. When extirpation of the tumour was pro¬ posed, the poor man cheerfully consented, and the operation was performed on the 26th October 1844. Two elliptical incisions, each eighteen inches in length, were required to encircle the base of the tumour. Three arteries of moderate size were secured. The whole operation and subsequent dressings occupied about 40 minutes. The tumour was found to weigh 8i lbs. Its structure was glandular; but there were in the interior a few small cavities, some filled with a mucilaginous fluid of a dark colour, others with a yellowish limpid fluid. Portions of the tissue cut harder than the rest, and were as firm as cartilage. The patient bore the operation with great forti¬ tude, and rallied well from the shock and loss of blood; but, about six hours afterwards, secondary hemorrhage occurred. The wound was laid partially open, but no bleeding vessel could be seen. The application of cold water and tincture of muriate of iron sufficed to arrest the hemorrhage. Cold water epithems over tight dressings were continued. The edges of the wound united by the first inten¬ tion to a great extent; but partial separations were kept up by the escape of purulent matter from beneath. With this exception, and a degree of paralysis from division of the portio dura^ nothing un¬ toward occurred; and, in the course of three weeks, the patient was well enough to undertake the duties of porter in the hospital. Case 2. Calculm Vesicm—Lithotomy—Recomry.—Si Yau, aged 85, from the district of Pingyuen, resident in Canton, has been affected with symptoms of stone in the bladder since 1842. A year ago he entered the hospital, when the operation of lithotrity was performed, by which the stone was broken into two pieces, but could not be crushed on account of its extreme hardness. On this occasion lithotomy was proposed, and consented to. The stone—in two pieces—was easily extracted by the lateral operation. The frag¬ ments weighed together one ounce and one drachm. The longer circumference of the whole stone was 5:^ inches, the shorter 3^ inches. All went on well, and no unfavourable symptom followed. In nine days the urine ceased to flow through the wound, and in eighteen days the patient was perfectly well. It is believed that this is the first case of lithotomy that has ever occurred in China. Its successful performance appears to have arrested the attention of the people most powerfully. Case 3. Calculus Vesicce—Lithotomy—Recomry. — Chau Wei, aged 21, from the district of Pwanyii, has suffered from stone for fourteen years. During this long period, according to his own state* ment, he has not been able to sleep in a recumbent posture. Two stones were extracted; a smaller one, wgi^hing one drachm, and a larger, weighing one ounce. The patient did well^until the