Observations on the nature and treatment of calculous diseases / by Benjamin W. Dudley.

  • Dudley, Benjamin W. (Benjamin Winslow), 1785-1870.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the nature and treatment of calculous diseases / by Benjamin W. Dudley. 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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    tient to give a correct narrative of his case: but a large ma- jority of the whole number of those operated upon were of a class not accustomed to much restraint in their manner of liv- ing, and whose promiscuous table embraces the most crude and indigestible articles of food. No circumstance is better calculated to show the close con- nexion between this disease and the particular condition of the digestive organs, than that which is so frequently observed during the treatment preparatory to the operation of lithoto- my. A subject of the malady who may have suffered intense- ly for months, or for years, has been known to be so com- pletely relieved by those medicines selected for the purpose of regulating the digestive organs, and of preparing the system for the operation, as to retire satisfied with the benefit he had de- rived, under the delusive impression, that by occasional recur- rence to the use of the same medicines, the operation might be avoided. Where the general system is maintained healthy un- der the influence of calculus, there are also cases in which the use of particular articles is calculated to obtund the sensibilities of the bladder, and thus preserve the patient in a tolerable state of repose. A British admira', according to Sir A. Cooper, was so completely relieved of all the most distressing symptoms of calculus, by the use of calcined magnesia, that he continued to take this medicine to the extent of a tea spoonful three times a day, for many years, and was thereby enabled to at- tend to all the active and laborious duties of his profession. By the use of a remedy of the same class, the carbonate of soda, the water of crystallization being expelled by means of heat, I succeeded in one case, in bringing off large quantities of calculous material, bearing the appearance of having been partially re-dissolved in the bladder, and thus secured a like degree of repose to the patient. But such cases are so rare, and the remedy so delusive in its effects, that, like lights set up to decoy, they are calculated to injure by delay; or at least in a great majority of cases, to protract the sufferings of the patient, and to make the ultimate resort to the operation more doubtful in its result.