History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

1 86 History of Medical Practice in IllinoisWhiting, Petersburg. Dr. G. V. Black was appointed as a Special Committeeon Oral Surgery.It was reported that the causes of death as given by the State Board ofHealth were quite inaccurate because, of the entire number of deaths reportedin 1882 and 1883, the causes of only 22 were given; 5 were frompneumonia and 4 from overdoses of morphia. A Committee on OriginalInvestigation was appointed to inquire into this. There was also considerablediscussion about obtaining sufficient material for anatomic dissection.New legislation was advised, and the doctors were asked to help. Antivivisectionistsat that time were not organized.Dr. Park's report on surgery for the year noted the publication of thethird volume of Agnew's "Treatise on Surgery" and Holmes's "System ofSurgery." It was also announced that the "International Encyclopaedia"and the "Deutsche Chirurgie" were approaching completion. The reportcontinued with a long list of items somewhat as follows: Surgical dressingsand the carbolic spray were mentioned. Little was now heard of the latterand it was noted that it could be dispensed with as, in his last 1000 operations,he (Park) had used it only three times; his operative mortality was6 per cent. The general principles of antisepsis had become established,and cleanliness and surgical cleanliness were no longer synonymous. Theirritant qualities of carbolic acid were better appreciated, and weak solutionsof corrosive sublimate(1:1000-5000) had supplanted the use of carbolicacid in nearly all foreign and domestic clinics. Iodoform was,however, still used for many purposes, and naphthaline gauze and ointmenthad been introduced into active surgical use. Professor Kocher'smethod of preparing catgut was stated to give complete satisfaction; thecatgut was soaked in oil of juniper berries two or three days and was thentransferred for keeping into absolute alcohol containingsublimate, thus yielding a good strength of gut easily absorbed.1:500 corrosivePark also spoke of Fehleisen's monograph on erysipelas, proving it to bea germ disease caused by a micrococcus. The recognition of the specificcocci of gonorrhea by Neisser in 1879 was mentioned, also the finding oforganisms in osteomyelitis and the animal experiments on the pus thusobtained. The discovery of tubercle bacilli in the fistulous tracts fromjoints and the spine was confirmed, thus doing away with the term "scrofula,"which had become an eyesore to the pathologist. The year 1884 marksthe birth of many proper pathologic and bacteriologic terms and discontinuanceof much of the old nomenclature which was often uncertain andtraditional in origin. Rectal anesthesia was described by means of theconveyance of ether via a rectal tube. The ether bottle was placed in a waterbath at 130 to 140 ; "in 2 to 4 minutes the patient tastes ether in his mouthand in 10 to 12 minutes he is asleep."