Observations on the Diseases of SeamenBlane, Gilbert, Sir
History
Observations on the Diseases of Seamen
Blane, Gilbert, Sir
Medicine, Naval -- Early Works To 1800; Sailors -- Diseases
Of those who died on board, fifteen[124] were carried off with the
Symptoms of the locked jaw; but of those sent to the hospital, only
one. The reason that so few in proportion were affected with it in the
hospital may have been, that none of the wounded were landed till near
the end of the third week after the principal action. The danger of
this symptom was then, in a great measure, past, though I have known
it to take place in every period from the second or third day till the
fourth week.
Only three men in the whole fleet recovered from this alarming
complaint; and as it is interesting to know every thing relating to so
desperate a symptom, I shall give a short account of each.
The first was a seaman of the Montagu, who had his thigh wounded by
a splinter which carried away part of the integuments and _membrana
adiposa_, and lacerated in a small degree the _vastus externus_
muscle. The wound did extremely well till the 23d day, when the jaw
became almost entirely fixed, and the whole muscles of the wounded
side were thrown into frequent spasms. Mr. Young, the surgeon, who
was always anxious and assiduous in his duty, consulted with me, and
we had immediate recourse to the warm bath, which gave a degree of
instantaneous relief, and was repeated twice a day for half an hour.
He was sensibly better every time; in nine days was entirely free of
the symptom, and continued afterwards to do well. The only other means
taken for this man’s recovery, besides what were used with the other
wounded men, were from three to five grains of opium, which he took
every day, in divided doses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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