Why electrolytic treatment of stricture does not succeed in all hands / by G.C.H. Meier.

  • Meier, G.C.H.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Why electrolytic treatment of stricture does not succeed in all hands / by G.C.H. Meier. 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.

    17/22 (page 15)
    Now a man, if he does not contract a gonorrhoea, may not experience the slightest symptom or incon- venience from such a congenital contraction ; but let him acquire a urethritis, and the little pouch formed behind the meatus, the fossa navicularis, will continually n?tain a little pus, and a chronic inflam- mation will be set up, for the simple reason that there is not sufficient drainage through the ob- structed meatus. These cases cannot be cured by electrolysis, for the latter never can nor does produce absorption of normal tissue; there must be some abnormal deposit for its action. These eases are usually cured in a few days by no othor treatment than simply enlarging the meatus, so that free drainage of the matter may take place Another form of obstruction in this situation, which is not readily absorbed by the electric current without additional internal medication, is that due to syphilitic deposits, either of the initial hard sore or of gummata. Here a judicious course of internal treatment will accomplish all that may be desired in a short time, if the nature of the lesion be recog- nized ; while if a mistake is made and it is treated as an ordinary organic stricture by the current alone, some more enemies of urethral electrolysis will be added to the list. As to cancerous deposits, arguing from cast-s of cancer of the rectum, although a cure may not be brought about, I have seen great amelioration of the obstructive symptoms by the aofteuing influence and analgesic effects of the current. Lastly, we come to the consideration of mistakes