214 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1751. 



XLV. Observations on Fungous Excrescences of the Bladder; also a Cutting Forceps 

 for Extirpating these Excrescei^ces ; and on Canulas for Treating these Diseases. 

 By M. le Cat, F.R.S. Translated by The. Stache, M.D., F.R.S. p. 292. 



A widow woman had for some years felt pain in the small of the back, thighs, 

 &c. In the year 1734, she made bloody urine, and had one thigh and leg cede- 

 matous. These accidents, having disappeared, were succeeded by worse symp- 

 toms : she had frequent calls to make water, and did it often, a little at a time, 

 and with pain, which was violent, particularly after the urine was discharged, 

 and this was of a dull red colour, or a little tinged with blood. 



All the profession, as well as M. le Cat, thought that she had the stone ; but he 

 would not pronounce positively, till he had searched her ; which he did the 17 th 

 of October 1735, As soon as the sound was introduced blood came away, and 

 in greater quantity, the more it was moved about. The free play of the sound 

 was obstructed; he found no stone, but pretty sure signs of excrescences in the 

 obstruction of the sound, and the issue of blood, which its motion occasioned. 

 However, by dint of management he found a situation of the sound, in which, 

 by giving a little jerk, he touched a hard body, the dull percussion of which 

 conveyed nothing but obscurity to his hand or judgment. In order to come at 

 the knowledge of this body, he passed the crooked sound destined for men, the 

 bent of which he thought fitter to favour his inquiries. He found the same body 

 again, but still with the same obscurity. These doubts held them a long time 

 in suspense what course to take : but the extreme pain which the patient suffered, 

 and the frequent haemorrhages, which would soon have put an end to her life, 

 made them determine to perform the operation ; that is, to open the neck of the 

 bladder, either to extract the stone, if any, or remove and treat the funguses, 

 which existed beyond all doubt. 



He cut the patient the 18th of Oct. 1735, by what he calls the rural appara- 

 tus, that is, without placing her on the table used in the hospitals, which could 

 not well be carried to the country where this woman dwelt. He placed her on 

 the edge of her bed : a chair turned upside down supported her shoulders. Un- 

 known to the patient he caused a board to be put under the first mattrass of this 

 edge of the bed ; and when she was placed on it, under her backside, or the os 

 sacrum, he laid another board, on which he put a straw cushion made compact 

 and covered with linen cloth. Two straps fixed to the ends of this board were 

 passed into the bars of the turned up chair, which supported the patient's body : 

 and these pieces, viz. the chair and the board with the cushion, were fastened 

 together by buckles fixed on the straps. The assistants, who were on each side 

 of the patient, had each a strong large swathing band folded double, and passed 

 into this fold in a slip knot: he used one of those strong woollen sashes or girdles, 



