EXTRACT XLVIII. 



A MODE OF EMPTYING ABSCESSES, SEROUS CAVITIES, 

 INCLUDING THE CEREBRO-SPINAL, ETC., AND THE 

 OBVIATING OF PITTING IN SMALLPOX. 



THE following observations apply to an instrument origin- 

 ally invented for the purpose of evacuating smallpox 

 vesicles with a view to prevent pitting, but which may 

 be adapted to the evacuation of any collection of fluid 

 in any part of the body, and were a contribution to the 

 International Medical Congress held in Rome in March 

 and April, 1894. 



Surgical aid in the -prevention of pitting in smallpox (instru- 

 ment shown) , and on the use of the same instrument in 

 the treatment of abscesses and the collection of fluid 

 materials generally within the body. 



Mr. President and gentlemen, The subject of my 

 remarks is mainly that of preventing the unsightly occur- 

 rence of pitting by smallpox, and, incidentally, that of 

 the treatment of abscesses. Of course pitting results 

 from the destruction of more or less of the dermal tissues, 

 and is due to the formation of pus in the interior of the 

 smallpox vesicles, and the disintegration of the surface 

 layers of the dermis in immediate contact with the area 

 of suppuration. 



If this process can be prevented, therefore, by checking 

 or altogether avoiding pyogenesis with its destructive 

 dermal changes and consequent hollowing of the surface, 

 the occurrence of pitting should cease. 



To accomplish this it has for some time struck me that 



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