152

weeks since she had walked, and shewas still extremely weak, she fell

away quite faint. The uterus occa-

sionatly protruded a little into thewound, and thus retarded the cure ;but by means of a bandage, about twoinches in width, passed tightly roundthe body, it was kept within the abdo-men, and then the wound soon healed.The patient rapidly gathered strength,and in the middle of March was as wellas ever.—Graefe & Walther’s Journalder Chirurgerie.

THE MEDICAL REPOSITORY*

AND

JEMMY COPLAND.

* Quere, Mausoleum ?—Printer’sdevil.

ANOTHER number of this magnificentpublication has just appeared, and, aswe are truly desirous that its intrin-sic value should be generally estimated,we shall make a few observations on

some of the original communicationswhich constitute the leading articlesof this lunar production, which we ihave undertaken for the purpose of

convincing our friend JEMMY COP-LAND that we shall at all times feel

highly gratified in giving the greatestpossible publicity to any thing that

may bear the impress of his justlycelebrated name ; assuring him at thesame time how deeply we regret thatthe limited circulation of his journalshould impose upon us the necessityof rescuing from oblivion the lucu-

brations of such intelligent corre

spondents as Messrs. PETTIGREW,RENNIE, and others, which have ob-tained such a prominent situation inthe pages of his present number.

I- That part of JEMMY’S. periodicalwhich is devoted to original commu-nications, has, in the present instance,to boast of five papers ; the first of

which is by T. J. PETTIGRGW, surgeonto the Asylum, &c.; and what does

the reader suppose Mr. PETTIGREW

has been about? «Tby he has actuallyextirpated the tonsils!!! And, as a sub-

ject of the first importance, there isblazoned in the Mausoleum a case ofextirpation of the TONSILS, by T. J.Pettigrew!!! Petty-grew! ° We

may pick a thousand sallads, ere we

light on such another herb."

Sunt quorum ingenium nova tantl1merustnla promit.

There are some," says Horace," whose genius produces nothing but

new-fishioned sweetmeats," and Mr.PETTIGREW, relying upon the igno-rance of his readers, sets out byclaiming to be one of the number." The extirpation of the tonsils,"says he, ° is, I believe, an operationnot frequently performed in this coun-try, and has been more frequentlydone by the means of ligature than

by the knife, though I conld never

discover the grounds upon which this

preference was founded." Could not

discover the grounds upon which thepreference has beea founded ! whichis no wonder, for, in truth, there are

many cases in which the ligature aloneoan be employed, whilst there are

o:hers in which excision by the knifemay be preferable, and all judicioussurgeons are aware of the circum-

stances which must direct tliem in de.

ciding upon which method they shouldadopt. Sir ASTLEY COOPER has per-

153

formed the operation in both ways ina variety of instances, and no unne-

cessary preference has been given byhim to either method ; as far as our

experience directs us, other surgeonshave followed his example. It is

true that HEISTER and SHARP, WISE-MAN and DESAULT, occasionally em-ployed the ligature, and that Mos-

CATI in one instance also adopted thesame method ; but to say that the

-removal of enlarged tonsils by ligaturehas been the most common practice isa most monstrous and impudent asser-tion, well becoming Mr. PETTIGREWand the journal in which it is con-

veyed.The following is the author’s de,

scription of the operation-" The patient was seated on a chair

before me; her head firmly held byan assistant, whilst another pressedand kept down the tongue with thebowl of a teaspoon. I then planteda hook into the left tonsil, and drewit gently forward, then carrying a veryfine probe-pointed bistoury to the backof the gland, I immediately cut it out,"&c. The other tonsil was then re-

moved in a similar manner, and an

alum gargle was employed. Now willour readers believe, that of all themethods that have been devised for

extirpating the tonsils, the one in

question is the most ancient, and thatPAULUS EGINETA has described the

very instruments with which Mr. PET-

TIGREW performed his operation, andthe manner of employing them. The

operation has also been done with the

scissars, but more frequently with the

scalpel or bistoury, and Mr. PETTI-GREW’S description of his process is

nothing more than the directions ofDESAULT and BICHAT in an EnglisliLdress, by far too identical to be mis’-taken for originality. This being the

case, we cannot express how much

we are disgusted with the concludingparagraph of Mr. PETTIGREW’S paper,by which it would appear that he

really imagines himself to be the first

surgeon who has attempted the re-moval of enlarged tonsils by the bis-

toury or the knife! !! "The operationI have recommended," says he, "is so

exceedingly simple, so easy of per-

formance, and so free from any dan-

- gerous result, that I flutter myself itwill be considered as an improvementira Surgery." He flatters himself that

his operation will be considered an

improvement in Surgery! and it is byno means improbable, that in the

next number of the Repository somewiseacre will demonstrate the circu-

lation of the blood, flattering himselfthat HARVEY and his discoveries were

never heard of, and that lie has beenthe first to promulgate a great physia-logical discovery. It will be observed,that throughout the paper, this re-

doubtable operator never once men-tions the names of the authors to whom

he is indebted for the information he

has acted upon ; but claims the whole

merit for himself—fatters himself

that he has made a great improvement,and having succeeded in humbuggingthe Editor of the Repository, am-

bitiously endeavours to carry his pointwith the public in a similar manner.

Softly, however, good Mr. PETTI-

; GREW! It is our province to unmask. quackery, and expose unfounded pre-; tensions, wherever we may find them,

154

and although you may have crammedour friend COPLAND, the public shall

know that your case is nothing more

nor less than an impudent attempt to

puff yourself into the notice of the

public and those members of the pro-fession who may be ignorant enoughto give credence to what you say.

Finally, there is not a surgeon in

England who would not have performedthe operation in the same manner, to

say nothing of the numbers who have

already done it-and further, weshould hope there is no practitionerwho, in a case resembling the pre-

sent, would have relied entirely uponiodine, a medicine, to say the least

of it, whose efficacy in subduing e 11-

larged tonsils has not even been hint-ed at, nor can it, by any analogy, bepresumed to be useful in such affec-tions. Yet Mr. PETTIGREW tells us,that" having seen the beneficial ef-

fects of iodine in producing resolu-

tion of some glandular tumours, I re-solved upon giving it a trial in this

case, and it was accordingly used ex-ternally as an ointment, and given in-

ternally in the form of tincture." No

benefit, however, was derived fromthe iodine, and the author says, thatge nothing was now left but the removal

of the tumours." So, because the iodinedid rao good, " nothing was now leftbut the removal of the tumours." It

would be rather difficult to under-

stand, exactly, what the author means

by " nothing was now left but the

removal of the tumours." If he mean

that nothing was now practicable butthe removal of the tumours, he is

grossly in error, and he ought to knowthat in the first instance, " when every

night was expected to be the patient’slast, he should not have employeda medicine whose efficacy, even on

analogy, could not be sustained. No

prompt practice was employed, andhow long he continued the iodine doesnot appear. " Nothing, however,was now left but the removal of the

tumours ;" and taking it all in all, amore disgraceful case than the pre-sent never sullied the pages of a me.

dical journal, not even JEMMY CoP.

LAND’S, if it be possible that any

thing can diminish the value of such

a work, which, according ;to commonreport, is held in no estimation but bybutterfactors and tobacconists.

Page 372. There are some obser-

vations on the Treatment of Pulmo-

nary Disorders, by A. RENNIE, Sur-

geon. This author seems disposed to

quackery, and would appear to assumethat the worst pulmonary diseases inhis hands are easy of cure. There is

no reason, he thinks, why tubercles

in the lungs should not be absorbed,‘ For who," says he, "can limit the.powers of vitalised textu2-e in self resto-ration ?" He next attacks the morbid

anatomists : "To tell us, after death,"says he, " that such a case was ne-

cessarily incurable, and medical meanswere absolutely to no purpose, is say-

ing nothing at all—we know it already—Death has occurred—Means have

been baffled. Further, he seems tothink that morbid anatomy " is pro-ductive of much more extensive and

: serious practical evil than of real

advantage." The author is an advo-

cate for some degree of full feedingin pulmonary cases, and becomes quite

155

sentimental when he finds that a con-

trary system has been pursued." How extremely common,’’ says

he, " in pulmonary cases, is the prac-tice of pursuing debilitating depletionand debilitating starvation, with theview of subduing a disorder essen-

tially dependent on, or at least asso-ciated with, debility !"

Debilitating depletion—Debilitatingstarvation ! Who would have thoughtthat any surgeon Could have written

such nonsense, or that any Editor

could have caused it to be printed.

0, father Abraham, what these ChTis4tians are !

(To be continued,)

HOSPITAL REPORTS.

GUY’S HOSPITAL.

Curious Case of Injury of the Spine.

J. H., aged 32, a muscular andrather robust man, was admitted intoNaaman’s Ward, on the 13th of thelast month.

He had been accustomed to workin the dock yards at Deptford, andabout twelve months since, whilst en-gaged, with many others, in lifting alarge piece of timber by a crane, hereceived a violent blow on his back,and immediately fell down, deprivedof all power in the lower extremities.He was taken to a surgeon in theneighbourhood, who directed, merely,that he should be kept-quiet, andsometime after the accident made anissue near the seat of the injury.In about seven months, the power

of moving the left leg gradually re-tnraett, but at present the patienthas but little influence over the right,which is also very insensible, parti-cularly-towards the foot; he can move

the thigh a little from side to side, andcan flex it very slightly, but cannotextend it, being obliged to push itback with his hand. There is a de-pression observable on the spine,about the first or second lumbar ver-tebrae, and pressure made upon thejoint gives pain. His health does notappear to have suffered much ; his

appetite is pretty good, tongue clean,and his sleep sound and refreshing.

Since he has been in the hospital hehas had another issue inserted, andhas taken, occasionally, some ape-rient medicine. He is not confinedto any particular position, and does.not complain of any pain on turnina-from’one side to the other. SIR AS TLEYsaw the case on Tuesday last, and,expressed his opinion favourably asto the result, and at the same timefavoured the pupils with a recital ofthe case of fracture of the spine,which lie has published in his work onDislocations and Fractures : the caseof the boy who, in attempting to lifta wheel, lost his balance, when theperiphery of the wheel came with con.siderable force upon his back, whichSir Astley says it broke ; the boy recovered the use of his limbs in about.twelve months. This is the very case

respecting which Mr. CHARLES BELLhas chosen to say so many hatshthings; and because Sir A stleytholiglit,fit to say, that the boy broke his back,’instead of spying that lie subluxatedhis back, Mr. Bell has let loose uponhim all the cynical satire that hecould venture to express.

Sir Astley, however, in the presentcase, has made a shrewd sort of prog-’.nosis; the both legs hung pendulousabout twelve months ago; in seven-months after the accident the sensi-bility and motion of one leg returned,ergo, in another seven months thesame good luck may happen to theother.

The only operations performed herefor the week, were those of fistula inano and paracentesis abdominis. The

pupils were assembled in the operat-ing theatre to witness the’display ofsurgical skill, in the liberation of’strangulated femoral hernia. The;.pubis w as already-, shorn of its pro*