Report made to the Institute of France, on the 22d of March, 1824 / by Baron Percy and Chev. Chaussier on a memoir presented by M. Civiale, M.D., of the faculty of Paris, entitled A new method of destroying the stone in the bladder without the operation of lithotomy ; translated from the French by R. La Roche.

  • Percy, Pierre-François, baron, 1754-1825.
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report made to the Institute of France, on the 22d of March, 1824 / by Baron Percy and Chev. Chaussier on a memoir presented by M. Civiale, M.D., of the faculty of Paris, entitled A new method of destroying the stone in the bladder without the operation of lithotomy ; translated from the French by R. La Roche. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    instrument itself of Mr. Martin is at this moment. A drawing of this instrument is found at the close of the chemical history of calculi, by Mr. Marcet, translated lately in our language by Dr. Riffau. Were this fact more clearly exposed, and its date better established, it would be impossible to deny that it was well calculated to direct the at- tention of Dr. Civiale, and lead him to imagine the possibility of grinding the stone in the bladder by well combined mechanical means. But in the position in which this physician was then placed, he was in need of nothing but his own powers and inspiration to arrive at his discovery. For some time past, he was pre-occupied with the idea of dis- solving the stone by means of an unalterable sack? susceptible of being carried into the bladder, open- ed and closed at will, and in which the stone being drawn and enclosed, could be attacked by means of chemical agents, injected into the viscus,—a kind of chimerical notion which, before he had thought of it himself, had been pursued by several young physicians; who, nevertheless, having met with no greater success, have not, like himself, arrived at a result much more interesting and positive. For the purpose, however, of selecting the chemi- cal agent proper to attack the stone, it was first necessary to ascertain the nature of this latter, and obtain from it some specimen: and how was it possible to succeed without applying to it a hard body, an instrument capable of scratching or perforating it, and of carrying exteriorly sonic