The Compleat Surgeon / or, the whole Art of Surgery explain'd in a most familiar Method.

by M. Le Clerc

C H A P. V.

Of Critical, Malignant, Pestilential, and Venereal Tumours and Impostumes.

What difference is there between Critical, Malignant, Pestilential, and Venereal Tumours?

It consists in these particular circumstances, viz. that Critical Tumours or Impostumes are indifferently all such as are form'd at the End or Termination of Diseases, in whatsoever Place or Part they appear.

Malignant Impostumes or Tumours are those that are obstinate, and do not easily yield to the most efficacious Remedies.

Pestilential Impostumes or Tumours are those that are accompany'd with a Fever, Swooning, Head-ach, and Faintness: They usually arise in the time of a Plague or Pestilence, and are contagious.

Venereal Tumours or Impostumes are those that appear only at the bottom of the Groin, and are the product of an impure Coitus.

However, the Critical Impostume may be Malignant, Pestilential, and Venereal; the Malignant Impostume may be neither Critical, nor Pestilential, nor Venereal: But the Pestilential and Venereal Tumours are always Malignant.

What are the ordinary kinds of Critical Tumours or Impostumes?