[p. 237]
instrument through a thicker substance than he supposed; and in certain
ganglionic cases, when the skin is flabby and mucous, many physicians
open them, expecting to find a collection in them; here the physician
forms a wrong judgment, but by such a procedure no great harm results
to the patient from having had the part opened. But with regard to
watery parts, and such as are filled with mucus, and which are situated
in regions where every one of the parts, if opened, will occasion
death or some other injury, these will be treated of in another work.
When, therefore, incision is made in the ear, all sorts of cataplasms
and pledges should be avoided, and it is to be treated either with
applications for recent wounds, or anything else which is neither
heavy nor will occasion pain, for if the cartilage be laid bare and
abscesses form, the case will be troublesome; this happens from such
modes of treatment. In all aggravated cases, the most effectual remedy
is the transfixing of the part with a hot iron.
Part 41
The vertebrae of the spine when contracted into a hump behind from
disease, for the most part cannot be remedied, more especially when
the gibbosity is above the attachment of the diaphragm to the spine.
Certain of those below the diaphragm are carried off by varices in
the legs, more especially by such as occur in the vein at the ham;
and in those cases where the gibbosities are removed, the varices
take place also in the groin; and some have been carried off by a
dysentery when it becomes chronic. And when the gibbosity occurs in
youth before the body has attained its full growth, in these cases
the body does not usually grow along the spine, but the legs and the
arms are fully developed, whilst the parts (about the back) are arrested
in their development. And in those cases where the gibbosity is above
the diaphragm, the ribs do not usually expand properly in width, but
forward, and the chest becomes sharp-pointed and not broad, and they
become affected with difficulty of breathing and hoarseness; for the
cavities which inspire and expire the breath do not attain their proper
capacity. And they are under the necessity of keeping the neck bent
forward at the great vertebra, in order that their head may not hang
downward; this, therefore, occasions great contraction of the pharynx
by its
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