292 On the Sarcocele of Egypt. 
incisions, and discutients, had been employed. The last 
person he consulted pierced the tumour through its centre 
with a large needle and ligature; he suffered but little pain, 
which proved that the testicles did not participate in this 
disease. This seton, which was moved daily, produced an 
abundant flow of serous foetid matter ; (he was also affected 
with elephantiasis). The continued discharge of the seton 
produced but little diminution of the tumeur; and as no 
more was to be expected from it than other means which 
had been employed, I proposed the extirpation ; and when 
1 was about to perform it, an order to go to Alexandria, 
which the English had threatened to attack, compelled me 
to leave this unfortunate old man to his fate. To the causes 
I have adduced may be added, bad diet, intemperance, too 
frequent venery, the immoderate use of warm baths, to 
which all classes of Egyptians are addicted: living in damp 
and marshy places, the effects of climate, mode of dress, 
or injuries of the scrotum, may also contribute to the for- 
mation of the disease. ; 
Sarcocele has been hitherto considered to belong exclu- 
sively to man; the term is limited to the disease in the 
genital organs. But we may consider the fleshy tumours 
which take place in other parts, particularly in the face, 
where the skin is liable, as well as the scrotum, to be af- 
fected by venereal and other diseases, as so many sarco- 
matous tumours of the same nature and depending on the 
same causes. The examples of such tumours are suf- 
ficiently numerous. There are also local causes which de- 
termine their formation in one part rather than others, 
such as falls, mechanical injuries of the skin, or the appli- 
cation of chemical corrosives. 
No author, that I know of, has described a similar dis- 
ease in the female genitals, although the skin which en- 
velops these parts differs but little from the skin of the 
genital organs of man. The periodical discharge and other 
resources given by nature to the female, operate, without 
doubt, against the formation of these excrescences. But a 
singular case of a woman named Hammet Fatomi, of Cairo, 
furnishes me with an example of well marked sarcocele of 
ihe labia; I shall relate this case. Every author who has 
written on sarcocele has described it as incurable, from 
the ill success they have had by internal or topical re- 
medies. All those who have proposed extirpation have 
been fearful, or at least have not practised it. M. Imbert 
Delonnes has the merit of being the first to perform this 
operation, in boldly extirpating the sarcocele of ier j 
Tdi 
