464 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1740. 



An Account of Tumours, which rendered the Bones soft. Communicated to 

 the Royal Society by Mr. Pott* Surgeon. N° 459, p. 6l6. 



In Nov. 1737, a gentleman, aged 27, complained of a swelling in the inside 

 of his right thigh. On examination it appeared to be an encysted tumour of 

 the steatomatous kind, lying loose between the sartorius and vastus internus 

 muscles. Mr. P. took it out, and he got well in 6 weeks. 



After this he continued well for near a year, except that he complained at 

 times of a slight pain in the joint of that hip, which went off and returned at 

 different times. He then fell into such a disposition to sleep, that no company 

 or diversion, nor his own endeavours to the contrary, could keep him awake 

 after 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening, if he sat down. This continued on him 

 for 3 or 4 months, and then the pain in his hip became worse; for which he 

 used the cold-bath, flesh-brush, and riding on horseback, but without any 

 effect. 



He then asked the advice of Dr. Beaufort, who put him into a course of the 

 ^thiops mineral, cinnabar of antimony and gum guaiacum, with the Spa- 

 water, and purging with calomel, by intervals: this method he pursued for a 

 considerable time, but without any benefit. After this, by the advice of some 



• The name of Percival Pott holds a conspicuous place in the catalogue of English chirurgical 

 authors. He was one of Mr. Nourse's pupils, and not many years after his establishment in busi- 

 ness he was elected surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and got into very extensive practice. 

 Thus circumstanced, he had abundant opportunities of making observations conducive to the advance- 

 ment of his profession, and of his own reputation ; which rose to a degree seldom equalled ; inso- 

 much, that for many years preceding his death, he was consulted in the treatment of most cases 

 accompanied with difficulty, or requiring any great or nice operation, not only in the metropolis and 

 its vicinity, but even in very remote parts of the country. The result of his experience on these 

 and other occasions he communicated to the world in various tracts, published at different periods of 

 his life, and which have since been reprinted collectively by Sir James Earle ; to whom the public 

 is indebted for an excellent account of Mr. Pott's life. This edition of his works contains the. 

 author's Treatise on Ruptures; his observations on Fistula Lachrymalis; his Treatise on Injuries to 

 which the Head is liable from external Violence; his Remarks on Fractures and Dislocations; his 

 Practical Remarks on the Hydrocele; his Treatise on the Fistula in Ano ; his Observations on the 

 Cataract; his Observations on the Mortification of the Toes and Feet; his Treatise on the ne- 

 cessity of Amputation in certain cases ; his Remarks on Palsy of the I/imbs from Curvature of 

 the Spine; and some other tracts. 



Mr. Pott was born in London in the year 1713, and died of a fever in 1788, at the age of 

 75. At this advanced age he had, in consequence of his temperate mode of living, so little in- 

 firmity of body, and so much activity of mind, that he continued to be busily engaged in the 

 exercise of his profession, till within a few days previous to his death. 



