ion 



\\nfND3. 



WUANOLER. 



UMW cut* are uneaninww and festering of the wounded port, Ui 

 absorbent gland* up the rm become inrtiua.il, there is pain fait in tli 

 arm ami in the glaud* of the axilla : these symptoms are attended wit 

 more or lea fever, and generally great anxiety. These symptoms some- 

 times i Hi-ream-, tin- cellular tissue of the arm ami side becomes inflame* 

 abaoarom form, and the patient sometimes dies from the fever 

 sequent exhaustion. This disease is principally ct.nlincd to im-.lii-. 

 men, and much difference of opinion has existed as to its treatment 

 Formerly tonics, wine, and brandy were administered, and activ 

 means taken to destroy the poison by caustic potash, liquor ammonia 

 nitric acid, Ac. ; but at the present day there is a general opinion it 

 favour of mild antiphlogistic treatment, and having recourse only t 

 tonics and wine when the symptoms seem to require it. Leeches 

 bleeding, purgatives, ontimonials, and opium constitute the chie 

 features of the treatment in the onrly and inflammatory stage. Thi 

 application of lunar caustic, a solution of alum, and other things, havi 

 been recommended immediately after the receipt i the wom 

 after some considerable experience, it may be doubted if these thing 

 prevent the absorption of the poison. At any rate, if any good is to be 

 done, the application must be immediate. 



Bita of Venomum Snakei. These are frequently fatal in tropica 

 climates. The only snake that is to be feared in Great Britain is tin, 

 viper. Its bite, however, is seldom fatal except where some peculiar 

 state of the constitution is favourable. Immediately on the receipt o 

 the bite a pain and a burning sensation are felt in the part, which are 

 followed by rapid swelling and a livid discoloration of the part. Th 

 constitution becomes atiected also rapidly, and there is giddiness 

 extreme prostration of strength, depression of spirits, faintnesd 

 syncope, a small quick irregular pulse, difficulty of respiration, profuse 

 eol,l elaininy sweats, confusion of vision, headache, vomiting of bilious 

 matter, a general yellow tinge of the skin, and a great pain about the 

 navel. These symptoms are observed in greater or less degree to follow 

 the bites of most venomous snakes. The bite of some of the snakes oj 

 Africa and America is certainly fatal, and persons die in a few hours 

 after receiving the wound. 



In the treatment of cases of bites from snakes, the first object should 

 be to endeavour to prevent the passage of the poison into the system. 

 Various modes are adopted for fulfilling this intention. The most 

 effective is the immediate excision of the part. This will hardly be 

 required after the bite of the British viper, as it seldom proves fatal ; 

 but it is frequently the only remedy with regard to tropical snakes. 

 The application of the tourniquet or a ligature above the wounded part 

 has been recommended ; also the application of cupping-glasses. These 

 remedies, however, do not extract the poison, and only arrest its effect. 

 The application of caustic may in some instances have the effect of 

 destroying the poison. Various local applications have hod a great 

 reputation for their prevention of the effects of the poison of snakes, 

 but none of them seem entitled to any consideration. The treatment 

 of the constitutional symptoms consists in the administration of stimu- 

 lants : of these, ammonia is preferred. It is the basis of the Kit a, de 

 luce, a remedy once very popular for the bite of snakes. Mr. Ireland, 

 whilst in the West Indies as a surgeon to a regiment, employed arsenic 

 in doses of one grain as a remedy against the effects of the bite of the 

 Coluber carinatut. In South America, the plant they coll Guaco is said 

 to have a very beneficial effect. Poeppig, in his ' Keise,' has collected 

 all the evidence which he could procure of the value of Guaco in these 

 cases, but this is far from being satisfactory as to the value of this 

 remedy. Cases from the bites of rattlesnakes and other poisonous 

 perpenu have occurred in this country, as these reptiles are often 

 brought over here for the purposes of exhibition. A man died a few 

 years since from this cause in St. George's Hospital. 



H'oundt of Particular Parts of the Jiudy. When any of the viscera 

 of the body are wounded, questions frequently arise as to the treat- 

 ment, which con hardly be answered by general principles : hence the 

 wounds of particular parts of the body require consideration. \\ omul- 

 of the head are frequently accompanied with concussion and compres- 

 sion requiring a modification of the treatment. Wounds of the scalp 

 are also frequently attended with severe inflammatory symptoms, and 

 no injuries of the body require more attention and close watching than 

 these. Of all wounds which the surgeon is called on to treat, those of 

 the throat are perhaps the most common, and require the most prompt 

 attention. These wounds are generally the result of attempted suicide, 

 and vary in extent according to the greater or less determination of 

 the individual, as well as the edge of the instrument used for effecting 

 the wound. The first thing to be attended to in these coses is to arrest 

 the haemorrhage, which must be done by placing ligatures on the 

 wounded arteries. 



When the trachea is opened, the entrance of blood into the lungs 

 xhould be avoided as much an possible, as its existence there as a 

 foreign body may bring on inflammation of the lungs. When a wound 

 occurs in the larynx above the rima glottidis, every attention should 

 be paid to removing anything that may irritate the glottis or prevent 

 the free passage of air to the lungs. When the oesophagus is wounded, 

 all the food of the patient should be administered by means of a tube 

 pasted through the mouth, nostrils, or the wound. It is sometimes 

 the ca*e that a surgeon gent for to a cut throat will attempt imme- 

 diately to bring the edges of the wound together by sutures. If this 

 be done the chances are that the patient will die of suffocation as soon 



as this is effected. When the bleeding has ceased, an attempt 



U- nrulc gradually to I -ring together again the disunited parts. This U 



u li the most perfect success, and sometimes 1 1 

 ' of rut throat will recover. It will, howi\,r. 



. 



require great skill and attention on the part of the surgeon to meet ail 

 the difficulties that will arise in the treatment of eases where so many 

 important organs are involved. 



i. Is of the chest become dangerous when they involve the 

 viscera of the thorax, and several important questions arise out of the 

 nature and extent of these wound*. Th.- most important . 

 cations of these are 1, the entrance of foreign bodies into the 

 of the thorax ; 2, the injury of one or more of the intercostal arteries; 

 3, the protrusion of a portion of lung from the wound ; 4, th. 

 rence of emphysema from the wounding the lungs ; and 5, extra \ . 

 of blood in the cavity of the thorax. Wounds of the abdomen, when 

 superficial, require the some treatment as wounds generally. In 

 trating wounds of the abdomen there is always great danger 

 occurrence of peritonitis, which requires watching on the part of the 

 surgeon. In coses where there is protrusion, the same general treat- 

 ment will be 1 required as for hernia. [HERNIA.] 



v (Cooper's Dictionary of Surgery; Cooper's Firtt Lina of Surgery ; 

 Cooper's, Sir Astley, Lectures on Surgery; Listou's Elements of Surgery.) 

 WKANGLEK. In old times the word Wranglu was used in the 

 universities in the sense of " to dispute publicly," that is, to defend or 

 oppose a thesis. The verb has gradually acquired a meaning of re- 

 proach (being made to imply uncivil and indecorous opposition), which 

 it had as early as the time of Shakspere. In the 'Taming of the 

 Shrew,' the teacher of music says to the scholar 



" Wrangling pedant, this is 

 The patroness of heavenly harmony." 



The substantive Wrangler is hardly ever used, except as signin. 

 of a person who has passed the mathematical examination for the 

 Bachelor's degree in the university of Cambridge (the word is unknown 

 in Oxford) with such credit as to have had his name inscribed in the 

 highest list, or list of wranglers. Of these the first in merit is the 

 Senior Wrangler: but persons not accustomed to the phraseology of 

 the University are apt to confound Wrangler with Senior Wrangler, 

 that is, to imagine that any one of their friends who may have obtained 

 a wranglership must necessarily be the first man of his year. The 

 second list is that of Senior Optimal, as they are called, and the last 

 ;hat of Junior Optimfy. All who are in these three lists (which are 

 Jollectively called the mathematical Tripos) are said to take the Bache- 

 or's degree icitli honours, or to go <mt to honnim ; those whose n 

 appear in the Classical Tripos are said to take classical honours ; while 

 ;he remainder, who are colled the ol iroAAo/, abbreviated into " the Pol," 

 jhough they equally take the Bachelor's degree, are not supposed to he 

 ionoured. But in point of fact, the last of the Junior Optimes, or the 

 ast on the list of honours, has always been considered an unfortunate 

 person, and the name of the wooden spoon * has long been attached to 

 lis place. It is not as if all were examined together, and the honoured 

 vere selected out of the whole list : those who wish to go out in 

 lonours declare their intention and arc examined separately; so that 

 t frequently happ'ens that the last of the honoured graduates is a 

 >erson of very inferior attainments to many at the head of the un- 

 lonoured multitude. With regard to the facetious terms current in 

 the universities, it should be known that the nicknames invented by 

 undergraduates are generally adopted in the university, which become 

 .herefore real and well-known denominations. From the vice-chancellor 

 to the freshman of yesterday, the last of the honoured is the wooden 

 poon : and he must be a formal man (a " regular Don " the under- 

 graduates would call him) who, in speaking of the * previous exatnina- 

 ion," as it is styled in the grace of the Senate which established it, 

 hould use those words instead of " the little go," a term which was 

 jorrowed from the Oxonians as soon as the grace was p. 



There is no history extant of the original introduction of the terms 



wrangler, senior optimc5. and junior optini<5. Huber, whose history of 



ur universities has been translated by Mr. Newman, says that every 



ttempt he has made to unravel the skein of university technicalities 



las made him giddy with headache. A Cambridge man however finds 



difficulty in seeing how the word was used, as applied to the manner 

 n which an examination (not a public disputation) is passed. The 

 .lamination which takes place in January, and at which a young man 

 a said to " take his degree" (because in fact he then does all that will 

 e asked of him, the old disputations having long been abandoned i, in 

 Id times was not an examination for the B.A. degree, but for the right 

 f being admitted to perform the disputations necessary for a degree. 



All degrees were originally gained by disputations, the substitution of 



1 examination, to see whether the candidates were fit to dispute, I 

 thing of comparatively modern times. The vice-chancellor, when 



Since the institution of the classical honours, to which mathematical ones 

 re n ncccmnry preliminary at Cambridge, the wooden spoon ha fre.|i; 

 ccn a distinguished classic, who did not need nor wi i i<n :mj thing except 

 ic formal place on the luuthrmatical list, which was required i 

 >mp. tilion for a place in the classical one, though by recent changes ch> 



mours may bo obtained without the necessity of pawing tin mathematical 

 xauunutiou, and the degree of 11. A. be obtained through the classical tripos. 



