Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

158 THE CHARLOTTE MEDICAL JOURNAL
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or removed with a knife, when pain developed
and when it spread itself unequally it
There was not much difference between
the surgery of 1700 and that of any century
was called a cancer. This is the malig- which preceded it, of which we have any
nant and worst state of a scirrhus." If definite knowledge.
the skin remained unbroken it was called
an ocult cancer. The most common loca-
In thai day the surgeon had no watch-
words. Today he has three which will
tion of cancer was the female breast; other never be discarded or laid aside.
locations were the lips, gums, tongue,
fauces, nose and parts of generation—it
The first letter in the first work was furn-
ished by Antony van Loenwenholk at Lonwas
also recognized in the male breast. don on Sept. 14th, 1683; the second by
The causes of cancer included those of Marcus Antonius Plenciz at Vienna in 1762;
scirrhus, and in addition it was said to the remaining were quickly found by Polfollow
the "application of lenient acrimo- lander, Davaiue, Weigert, Tyndall, Cohen
nious or caustic medicines to a scirrhus." and Pasteur, and then in 1824 Sir Joseph
A cancerous disposition of the body was Lister pronounced it; the pronounciation
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thought to follow the eating too freely of has never changed—nor never will—it is
pork and lard. "Grief and trouble of mind" asepsis. At the Massachusetts General
were also classed as causes of cancer. Hospital on October 16th, 1864, VV. T. G.
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Quacks claiming to possess infallible Morton and John Collins Waren pronounc-
secrets for the cure of cancer flourished ed "Ether" a safe and sure anaesthetic,
then as now. Heister, to prove that noth- The last of the three watch-words in moding
short of the complete removal with the ern surgery was given us by Virchow and
knife offered any hope of relief, quotes the Metchnikoff when they emphasized the imexpression
of Hippocrates that "no phy- portance of understanding morbid prosician
had yet been happy enough to dis- cesses.
cover a medicine from which he could To aseptic methods practiced on an anaes-
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promise any certainty of a cure." He also thetized patient by a surgeon familiar with
recites the memorable case of Anne of morbid conditions is due to difference be-
Austria, mother of Louis XIV, "who failed
to be relieved of a cancerous breast, though
tween surgery of 1700 and the present day.
she submitted to the attempts of most every Effect of Fever on the Course of Infection
one in the kingdom who had any pretengarkankeiff
conducted a series of experilons
to the practice of physic or surgery
^^^,^ ^.^ ^^j^^^^ i„ ^^-^^ -^
j^^,^^
but particularly to those who boasted of had been induced by Aronsohn's method. I
their secret art m curing this disease."
The results seem to prove; U) that during |
A brief description o the operation for ^^^^^ ^^^ organism is more susceptible to ,
cancer of the breast wH give a fair idea of ^uto-infection by ihe bacteria inhabiting !
surgical technique in /OO.
^^^ ^^^ ^^^-^-^^ ^l^ 1^ .^^ infectious :
The patient was restrained in the proper ^j^^^^^^ g^^^om occur in this way; (2) that I
position by three or four strong and cour- ^^^.^^ j^, diminishes natural immunity, ,
ageous assistants, the breast raised from the ^^^^ renders the subject liable to infections i
chest by transfixing it near its base with a ^^ ^^^-^^ -^ -^ otherwise immune; and (3) I
double pronged steel instrument or by two ^^^^ ^^^ resistance of the organism to the I
strong ligatures passed at right angles to ^,^j^^„^^ ^„^ ^^^^^1^ of bacteria is so far |
each other through Its base or by seizing It decreased that even attenuated strains of I
with a strong pair of toothed calipers. The ^,^^ pathogenic characteristic lesions.- .
gland was then removed with one sweep ^eitsch. f. klin Med., V. 68, p. 295. I
made with a large knife or small sword. I
Diseased tissue in muscle or rib, when j
visible, was cut away. A few large vessels Comparative Value of Different Methods \
secured and the wound dressed with a large
*** Hcbotomy. 1
quantity of scraped lint, sprinkled with a Cyrille Jeannin considers hebotomy a real j
styptic powder or impregnated with plaster advance over symphysectomy. As to the i
of Paris, and the whole secured with a best method of performing the operation, he (
bandage. By many it was a common prac- prefers the open method, which allows of |
tice to treat the wound with suppurrants, prevention of wounds of the bladder, better |
corrosives or the actual cautery to make hemotasis, and better drainage. The in- |
the destruction of diseased tissue more cer- cision of Gigli is too far inward, that of i
tain. But many objected to this and cited Van der Velde too far outward, the median •
the observations made by Celsus that "such incision of Codereini being the best. In i
practice in no way aided the cure, but pos- the subcutaneous method we have the dan- I
sibly promoted a recurrence." Enlarged ger of wounding the bladder, and that of •!
axillary glands were removed through a thrombosis and infection .—La Presse Medi- •
separate incision. cale.
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