Report of the surgical staff of the Middlesex Hospital, to the weekly board and governors, upon the treatment of cancerous diseases in the hospital, on the plan introduced by Dr. Fell.

  • Middlesex Hospital.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the surgical staff of the Middlesex Hospital, to the weekly board and governors, upon the treatment of cancerous diseases in the hospital, on the plan introduced by Dr. Fell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the living tissues beneath. For the first two or three days they were seldom deep enough to lodge the strips of calico; still even the scratches sufficed for ‘the perco- lation of the remedy into the subjacent living parts. Each day the incisions were a little deepened, and fresh strips of anointed calico, or rolls of cotton wool covered with the paste, were inserted into them, until in the course of from two to seven weeks, the average time being about three weeks, the whole depth of the tumour was penetrated; and then the use of the paste was dis- continued, and the eschar left to separate. As much of the success of this treatment depends upon the mode of practising it, we think it right to add a few observations upon certain details, which may be of value to those who undertake it. It is an advisable precaution to destroy the skin effec- tually by the preliminary action of the acid. The paste is capable of destroying that tissue, but its action is slow and extremely painful. Sometimes a thick white friable epi- dermis forms upon skin which has been irritated, but not killed, by the acid ; and in one instance, a week was occupied in the entire destruction of skin, which had at first been incompletely charred. By the use of the acid an eventual saving of pain is obtained : and as its action is severe, it should be em- ployed under chloroform, if the surface be extensive. In some instances we deadened the local sensibility by congelation, instead of resorting to chloroform. It is important, for the most part, to renew the dress- ings every day, until the action of the paste has extended through the whole depth of the diseased mass. For unless it be kept percolating more and more deeply, a line of demarcation will be formed across, instead of