Volume 1

The first lines of the practice of surgery : designed as an introduction to students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners / By Samuel Cooper.

  • Cooper, Samuel, 1780-1848.
Date:
1819-20
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first lines of the practice of surgery : designed as an introduction to students, and a concise book of reference for practitioners / By Samuel Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    the rise was much more remai’kable; for, a thermometer, in- troduced into the tunica vaginalis immediately after the oper- ation, indicated a temperature of only ninety-two degrees; but on being again introduced the following day, the quick- silver rose to ninety-eight and three quarters. Yet, even in this case, it was supposed, that the temperature of the inflamed parts was less, than that of the blood near the heart. * It is remarked, that parts secreting fluids, do not, in their inflamed state, cause so lively a sensation of heat, as other organs not performing a similar office: hence, a severe in- flammation of the urethra, it is said, does not occasion so distressing a feeling of heat, as an inflammation of the skin, f It is more easy to conceive, than describe, how any quick deviation from the natural state of parts must excite pain. Perhaps, it may be the unusual condition, into which the nerves are thrown, joined with an increase of sensibility in them, that is to be r^arded as the cause. In chronic inflam- mation, the graduality of the change allows the nerves to become adapted to it, and the degree of pain only amounts to a dull uneasiness; but, in phlegmon, the change being quick, the pain is considerable. Each kind of inflammation seems to have its particular sort of pain. Thus, phlegmon excites a pain, which is joined with a sense of throbbing and heaviness; erysipelas gives rise to a pungent itching kind of pain; and anthrax causes a pain, characterized by a sensation of burning and stiffness. The throbbing is sometimes de- scribed as depending upon the strong pulsation of the arteries, which are alleged to beat in many instances with preternatural force, not merely in the seat of the inflammation, but for some way from it towards the heart. “ Inflammation,” says Mr. Hunter, “ is not only an action of the smaller vessels in the part itself, but in the larger vessels leading to it. This is proved in whitlows, where the inflammation and throbbing pain are confined to the extremity of the finger; yet, vvhen we grasp the finger, a strong pulsation is felt in the two arteries leading to the inflamed part, while no such pulsation can be felt in the other fingers. If the inflammation be very con- siderable, the artery, as high as the wrist, will be sensibly affected.”! The preceding fact, though not advanced by Hunter for any such purpose, is always strongly insisted upon by those authors and lecturers who inculcate the doctrine of * Hunter on the Blood, &c. p. 293. t Meckel, Handbuch der Pathol. Anat. b. 2. abth. 2. p. 22. X Hunter, p. 278.