NATURAL HISTORY 



835 



preceding case, having found that 

 pressure on one part of the tongue 

 produced no bad consequences on 

 the other parts, I was led to remove 

 the excrescence in the following 

 manner. 



On the 28th of December, I 

 made the boy hold out his tongue, 

 and passed a crooked needle, armed 

 with a double ligature, directly 

 through its substance, immediately 

 beyond the excrescence. The needle 

 Mas brought out below, leaving the 



, ligatures ; one of these was tied 

 very tight before the excrescence, 

 the other equally so beyond it, so 

 that a segment of the tongue was 

 confined between these two liga- 

 tures, in which the circulation was 

 completely stopped. The tongue 

 was thin in its substance, and the 

 boy complained of little pain during 

 the operation. Thirty drops of 

 laudanum were given to him imme- 

 diately after it, and he was put to 

 bed. He fell asleep, continued to 

 dose the greater part of the day, and 



. was so easy the next day, as to re- 



, quire no particular attention. On 

 the fifth day from the operation, the. 

 portion of tongue came away with 

 the ligatures, leaving a sloughy sur^ 

 face, which was thrown off on the 



! eleventh day, and was succeeded by 

 a similar slough ; this separated on 

 the fifteenth day. The excavation, 

 after this, gradually filled up, and 

 on the twentieth day it was com- 

 pletely cicatrized, leaving only a 

 small fissure on that side of the 

 tongue. 



Encouraged by the result of this 

 case, I was led to perform a similar 

 operation upon a person at a more 

 advanced period of life. 



Margaret Dalton, 40 years of 

 age, was admitted into St. George's 



hospital, on the 25th of December, 

 1801, on account of a tumour, the 

 size of a pea, situated on the right 

 side of the tongue, near its edge. 

 The history of the case was as fol- 

 lows. A small pimple appeared, 

 and gradually increased, without 

 pain ; the only inconvenience was, 

 that it affected her speech, and, 

 when bruised by the teeth, bled 

 freely. 



The operation was performed on 

 the 11th of January, 1802, in ex- 

 actly the same manner as has been 

 already described. It produced a 

 considerable degree of salivation, 

 which was extremely troublesome, 

 (much more so than the pain the li- 

 gatures produced,) and continued 

 till the slough came away. The li- 

 gature nearest the root of the tongue, 

 separated on the 6th day, the other 

 on the 7th, and in three days after 

 the separation of the second liga- 

 ture, the wound was completely 

 skinned over. 



A third case of this kind came 

 under my observation, in which 

 there was a small tumour in the sub- 

 stance of the tongue, about the size 

 of a pea, which gave me the idea of 

 its being of that kind which might 

 terminate in a cancer. The patient 

 was a gentleman of about 41 years 

 of age. Upon examining the tumour 

 I told him of my alarm respecting 

 its nature ; and at the same time ad- 

 ded, that I was very ready to re- 

 move it, should it be the opinion of 

 other practitioners that such a step 

 was adviseabic ; and my experience 

 in two former cases led me to be- 

 lieve it might be done with safety. 

 I therefore advised him to consult 

 other medical practitioners of repu- 

 tation, and acquaint me with tbeir 

 opinion. Mr. Cliiie was coHSuUcd, 

 3 H 2 and 



