When we do not deem it adviseable to amputate very soon after the induction of the ulcerative action, it is sometimes useful to cut off part of the black mortified portion, or perhaps to remove a joint, by cutting through the remaining ligaments. In this way, we lessen the fœtor, and make the patient more comfortable.
After making these observations on mortification, I shall conclude with the following case:
A young woman, who lived at a considerable distance from Glasgow, was, in May 1797, seized with erysipelas of the right foot and leg, which, by her account, had been extremely violent, and very much neglected. On the tenth day of the disease she was brought to town, and admitted into the hospital. The foot was quite cold, the leg livid, and extremely painful. Pledgets dipped in camphorated spirit of wine were applied to the parts, and bark, wine, and opium, were prescribed, together with oranges, &c. and gradually increased in quantity, until at last she came to drink, besides soup, a couple of bottles of wine daily, at the same time that she took eight grains of opium, and a very considerable quantity of bark, in the twenty-four hours. By these means, the pulse was soon brought down from one hundred and forty to one hundred and eighteen strokes in the minute; but it was not until twenty days after her admission that the ulcerative action was evidently induced. The quantity of the medicine was now gradually diminished; and, in a few days more, the separation being complete, the limb was amputated above the knee. During the operation, I paid particular attention to the saving of blood; and the circulation being destroyed in the parts below the knee, there was scarcely any lost. At this time, she was still taking a bottle of wine, with a considerable quantity of bark and opium, daily. The wine was omitted after the operation; but she had a drachm of laudanum, and continued to take the bark. In the evening the same quantity of laudanum was repeated. Next day she was quite easy, and had slept well; the pulse beat only one hundred in the minute. On the third day the stump was dressed, when it was found (as was to be expected[74]), that only a very imperfect adhesion had taken place: One of the corners was also livid. The bark was therefore freely continued, and six ounces of wine added daily; but the pulse having, on the fifth day, risen to one hundred and ten, and the spot becoming of a darker colour, she was allowed a pound of wine, which made the pulse fall, and soon produced a separation of a small slough. In a short time she went to the country cured. During the whole period of the cure, the opium and wine which she took produced neither stupor, nor the slightest appearance of intoxication. I at one time, when the pain had for a couple of days been moderate, was willing to ascertain the effects of a milder preparation than the camphorated spirit, and substituted proof spirit in its place; but, in an hour, it was obliged to be renewed, the pain having greatly increased.
Of the Treatment of the Inflammatio Assuefacta.
After the inflammatio valida has continued for a considerable time, if neither suppuration, nor any other termination be induced, it is very apt to be converted into the state which has been called passive inflammation, or which, on account of its most frequent cause, I have called the inflammatio assuefacta. This action is, in several respects, different from the acute inflammation, and resembles it only in its general appearance. It may therefore, in one respect, be considered as a termination of inflammation, being, strictly speaking, a new action, or spurious inflammation.
This action succeeds the acute inflammation, sooner or later, in different places; and, when once induced, each succeeding inflammation of the same part is apt very quickly to terminate in the same condition; or, if the renewal of the inflammation be very frequent, this is at last induced without any previous acute inflammation.
A state somewhat similar to this, if not exactly the same, precedes acute inflammation, as well as follows it; for, during the period which intervenes betwixt the first formation of the action and its perfection, the part remains in this state. We can sometimes observe the augmentation and diminution of the redness and pain during the systole and diastole of the arteries; and, by the use of the same remedies which cure the inflammatio assuefacta, we can sometimes prevent the farther progress of the disease.
Thus, pepper boiled in milk, is frequently used by the country people as a cure for cynanche, during its incipient stage.