On the use of medicated pessaries in the treatment of uterine disease / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner.

  • Tanner, Thomas Hawkes, 1824-1871.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of medicated pessaries in the treatment of uterine disease / by Thomas Hawkes Tanner. 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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    would take tlie trouble so to make them that they were of any service. The difficulties just alluded to have, however, been overcome since Mr. White Cooper directed attention ('Lancet,' 28th June, 1862) to the utility of the butter obtained from the Theobroma cacao nut, from which choco- late is made, as the basis for ophthalmic ointments. This material possesses many valuable qualities, the chief being these:—It has an agreeable smell, and does not soil the fingers when handled; it does not become rancid; while, more particularly, though very firm, it has the property of becoming fluid at a low temperature. It is sometimes a little too stiff, but this fault is readily obviated by com- bining with it a little olive oil or glycerine. Pessaries made with cacao butter, though they have the consistence of wax while cold, are dissolved in the course of a few minutes when introduced into the vagina. If ophthalmic surgeons are much indebted to Mr. White Cooper for directing attention to the uses of this butter, obstetric physicians are under no less an obligation. For although it had been used in America for making ointments for some time before this gentleman wrote of its merits, yet no physicians in this country were acquainted with its value, as far as I can learn from many inquiries. There are few uterine diseases in which the use of medi- cated pessaries may not advantageously form a part of the treatment. But they are more especially valuable in acute and chronic inflammation of the cervix uteri; in internal metritis, with exfoliation of the lining membrane of the uterus; in slight prolapsus or procidentia; in cancer; in all varieties of ovaritis; as well as in many afl'ections of the female bladder. By means of them the diseased parts may be kept constantly bathed in such drugs as mercury, iodine, lead, zinc, belladonna, opium, conium, &c. Tliey are not only most efficacious in relieving pain, but they also shield the diseased and irritable surface from contact with the vaginal walls. Owing to this latter property, they are of great utility in healing excoriations about the labia uteri ; though, of coiirse, part of the benefit derived from their use