Observations on aneurism : and its treatment by compression / O'Bryen Bellingham.

  • Bellingham, O'Bryen, 1805-1877.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on aneurism : and its treatment by compression / O'Bryen Bellingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    ment for the cure of aneurism. He had the misfortune to have the brachial artery of his right arm wounded in venesection, and he has detailed his case, and given a description of the instrument, (by the long-continued use of which he was eventually cured) in Blegny's Zod. Med. Gallic, published in the year 1681. This instrument,, named a Ponton, appears to have been a very simple con- trivance ; it consisted merely of a pad of a peculiar shape* with leathern straps attached, which passed round the arm,, above and below the elbow, and were perforated with- holes to permit of their being tightened or loosened. The pad had a hollow or channel on its under surface, which it was supposed would permit the blood to pass freely down the artery under it, as a bridge (ponton) permits the water to flow under it (hence tne name.) A rude figure of Bourdelot's instrument is contained in Dionis' Cour d'Operations, 5th edition, published at Paris in 1757- The following is a condensed account of Bourdelot's case given by himself:— I had the artery at the bend of my right arm punctured where it passes under the median vein. On seeing the blood flow per saltern, I applied graduated compresses, and kept the arm quiet for some time; the skin soon healed, and an external cicatrix was quickly formed. In no long time afterwards a small tumour made its appearance, which gradually increased without my being able to arrest its growth ; and it subse- quently attained the size of a hen's egg. He accomplished a cure by wearing for a year the instrument described above ; the pad left a hollow at the bend of the arm, which was filled up in the course of three or four months ; there remained not the smallest mark of the tumour, but for two years subsequently he was sensible of a degree of constric- tion in the situation of the wound, which, however, eventually entirely disappeared. In the same journal for the year 1681, Rogerus has