Cases occur,--happily not frequently,--of alarming and uncontrollable haemorrhage. The following case is suggestive of the alarming extent and persistence that may attend one of those haemorrhagic cases, even when recovery eventually takes place. It is reported by Dr. Sannanel in the _Gazetta Toscana delle science medicale e fisiche_ of 1844. The case was that of a Jewish infant circumcised on the eighth day. Some hours after the operation the child was observed to be bleeding; the haemmorrhage would only cease for a few moments, and then come on with increased force, and which proved rebellious to ordinary remedies. Dr. Sannanel was called during the night of the third day after the operation. A number of physicians had been in attendance, and neither ice, astringents, pressure, nor any usual haemostatic means had had the least effect; cautery with nitrate of silver, sulphuric acid, and the actual cautery by means of heated iron were tried in succession, without any good results. Ten days passed in this manner, the haemmorrhage only ceasing for a few moments at a time, and the child was nearly exsanguinated from the continued serous seepage and the paroxysmal haemorrhages, when a lucky application of caustic potassa almost immediately stopped the haemorrhage. This case was seen by nearly all the leading medical men of Leghorn, who lent their aid and counsel to save the little life. The case is interesting from the length of time it persisted, and that even after all the loss of blood and suffering that the little fellow endured he survived.[63]