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
It is to be remarked, that the locked jaw did not take place in those
cases in which the wounds had a foul and gangrenous appearance more
than others; for those that digested and cicatrized favourably, were
equally apt to be affected by it; and though amputations are most
liable to this symptom, the slightest injuries, even a scratch, will
sometimes bring it on.
It would be difficult, therefore, to establish any particular treatment
that would tend to prevent accidents of this kind; but Mr. Bassan,
surgeon of the Arrogant, one of the line-of-battle ships engaged on the
12th of April, mixed laudanum with the dressings of all the wounds, and
no locked jaw occurred.
In the Bedford there occurred a curious circumstance concerning this
complaint. In one of the cases that proved fatal, the symptoms did not
come on till the wound was so far healed that all dressing had been
laid aside.
Mr. Wood, surgeon of the hospital at Jamaica, informed me, that in
cases of the locked jaw from injuries to small members, such as
fingers, he had tried the effect of amputating the part after the
symptoms had come on, but without any effect in putting a stop to them.
Would it not appear, from the two last mentioned facts, that this
symptom is not kept up, nor even takes place in the first instance,
from an immediate present irritation, but that the constitution comes
to be so modified, or receives such an impulse, as it were, that
the complaint runs its course independent of the presence of that
_stimulus_ which excites it?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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