INTRODUCTORY.
In preparing this hand-book, the object will be to give in plain and comprehensive language, as briefly as possible and with little discussion, a few general rules, which if even approximately observed, can but lead to success in the treatment of all non-malignant rectal diseases commonly known, and for which the general practitioner will not infrequently be called upon for relief.
Hemorrhoids, being by far the most common among this class of ailments, and the greatest bone of contention regarding the best manner of effecting a radical cure, will take precedence in our consideration, and receive the attention that their importance and dignity justly merits.
It is an indisputable fact that until within the past few years, an operation for the radical cure of hemorrhoids was considered so formidable an undertaking, that their treatment, outside of palliative measures, was almost entirely eschewed by the general practitioner.
“No fact is better known to the profession,” says Dr. S. S. Turner, U. S. Army, “than that nearly all men, doctors not excepted, will suffer more than the pain and inconvenience of a thousand operations, rather than undergo an operation for removal by any of the methods in vogue. The fame of some specialists who are distant enough to ‘lend enchantment to the view,’ will generally induce people of large means when life has become something of a burden, to place themselves under their care and take what they offer.”
“But unfortunately, piles are by no means limited to people of large means. The greater number of sufferers must take what the general practitioner can give and will not take the cutting and crushing operations until compelled by dire necessity, and are only too glad of a less heroic alternative which offers them hope of relief. For this body of sufferers, the operation by carbolic acid injection offers a means of relief to which they will readily submit. In a sufficient number and variety of cases to justify me in having an opinion upon the question of its merits, I have never met with anything which I have regretted.”
With these stubborn and uncompromising facts confronting us on the one hand, and a full appreciation of the superiority, the simplicity, the safety and certainty of the operation by carbolic acid injection on the other, the writer has no alternative other than to espouse, and proclaim his honest conviction and hearty support in favor of the latter method of cure; and essays to point out in this little publication, in a plain, comprehensive and a practical way, what has been acquired by personal observations and experiences, and all in all, believed to be the best manner of applying this truly scientific and greatly superior method. A method, the discovery of which, I feel prepared to say, marks an epoch in the history of medicine, unrivaled in advancement by the treatment of any other disease or class of diseases to which the human family is subject.
“There is no organ that is so prone to become diseased as the rectum. There is no class of cases so little understood and treated as rectal diseases. There are no diseases so annoying and painful, and at the same time producing such dire results on the general system, directly and reflexly, as rectal diseases. For years Rectal Surgery has been principally in the hands of itinerants, whose remorseless greed for money has caused them to treat for revenue only, and to play the vampire on all that fall into their clutches. It is high time for the general practitioner to gather up all the information possible, in order to be able to treat all patients suffering from rectal disease, and thereby drive the itinerants back to their previous occupation of tilling the soil.”—(Yount.)
Nowhere in medical lore do we find suitable instructions whereby the beginner may knowingly and intelligently engage in a rectal examination—what to expect, where and how to find it, and how to pursue each succeeding step in applying the treatment. Writers either presume too much on the part of those who have not had experiences, or, are so habituated to the use of general anæsthesia in accomplishing the objects sought, that milder means have been seriously neglected. Finding many, otherwise well informed practitioners, at a great disadvantage in this respect, was a leading incentive to the hurried preparation of the following few pages.