Suppositories of Carbolic Acid with Soap. Syn. Suppositoria acidi carbolici cum sapone (B. P.). Prep. Carbolic acid, 12 gr.; curd soap, in powder, 180 gr.; starch, q. s.; mix the carbolic acid with the soap, and add starch, q. s., to make of a suitable consistency; divide into 12 equal parts, and make each suppository into a conical or other convenient form.
Suppositories of Colocynth. Syn. Suppositoria colocynthidis (Sp. Ph.). Prep. Colocynth, 30 gr.; salt, 1 dr. Evaporate to a due consistence.
Suppositories of Morphia with Soap. Syn. Suppositoria morphiæ cum sapone (B. P.). Prep. Hydrochlorate of morphia, 6 gr.; glycerin of starch, 50 gr.; curd soap in powder, 100 gr.; starch, q. s. Mix the hydrochlorate with the glycerin of starch and soap, and add starch q. s. to form a paste of suitable consistence. Divide into 12 equal parts, each of which is to be made into a conical or other convenient form of suppository.
Suppositories of Tannic Acid with Soap. Syn. Suppositoria acidi tannici cum sapone (B. P.). Prep. Tannic acid, 36 gr.; glycerin of starch, 50 gr.; curd soap in powder, 100 gr.; starch, q. s. Mix the tannic acid with the glycerin of starch and soap, and add starch q. s. to form a paste of suitable consistence, divide into 12 equal parts, each of
which is to be made into a conical or other convenient form of suppository.
Suppositories, Vaginal. Syn. Suppositoria vaginale (Guadrist). Prep. Liquid chloride of zinc, 5 minims; sulphate of morphia, 1⁄2 gr.; mix with 2 dr. of the following paste:—Thick mucilage of tragacanth, 6 parts; white sugar, 3 parts; starch, 9 parts. Mr Druitt prescribes in leucorrhœa:—Tannin, 10 gr., with mucilage of tragacanth, q. s.
SURGERY. “This word,” says Brande, “in its modern acceptation, may be defined as the practical application of science, in the use of all mechanical and instrumental means, for the removal of diseases and the relief of human suffering.”
One of the earliest professors of the ancient art of surgery, of whom history affords a reliable record, was Hippocrates, a Greek, who lived in the fifth century of our era, and who seems to have been a man of considerable skill for the period in which he flourished, since he could set fractures, reduce dislocations, and perform other important operations. About two centuries after Hippocrates the studies of surgery, anatomy, and medicine were prosecuted with evident success at Alexandria. The Alexandrian school produced some able surgeons, one of whom, Ammianus, invented an instrument for crushing the stone in the bladder, and was thus the first to practise the now important surgical operation known as lithotrity. At the beginning of the Christian era Celsus practised the art of surgery in Rome; he appears to have been the first to operate for cataract, and to apply ligatures to arteries after operations. It is curious to note that so practical a people as the Romans held the art of surgery in comparative contempt, and banished its professors, whose services they discarded, for the practice of spells, incantations, and charms.
In the sixth century lived Œtius, who conceived the idea of dissolving urinary calculi by the administration of internal remedies; and in the tenth, Avicenna, who, it has been conjectured, invented the flexible catheter, and was the inventor of the instrument now known as Hey’s saw. In 1271 the Paris College of Surgeons was founded, and the College of Surgeons of London in 1460, and the Edinburgh College in 1505.
The most prominent figure in the annals of surgery of the 16th century was Paré, a man of great originality of thought, whose works exercised a considerable influence over his own contemporaries, and for many years subsequently. Towards the end of the 17th century lived Wiseman, serjeant surgeon to Charles II. Wiseman was a man of considerable ability, and was the first to demonstrate that gun-shot wounds were not of a poisonous nature; and that therefore the old practice of applying painful and caustic dressings to them might most advantageously be abandoned. A contemporary of Wiseman was Young, of Plymouth,