L I T 



L I T 



tion the difplaced parts were reduced, and a cure fpeedily 

 enfued. Sabatiei's Med. Operatoire, torn. ii. p. 107. 



Treatmeii! after the operation. — Whatever method of per- 

 forming lithotomy has been felefted, the great danger af- 

 terwards is tlie accefs of inflammation of the bladder, 

 peritoneum, and parts within the pelvis and abdomen in 

 general. This alarming diforder is the common caufe of the 

 numerous deaths which follow the ordinary modes of ope- 

 rating. The bell method of preventing it is, as we have 

 repeatedly explained, to make a free and ample opening for 

 the paflage of the ftone, and to avoid all manual roughnefs 

 and violence in the operation. But fuppofing tendernefs 

 and tenfion to have begun about the hypogallric region, 

 attended with a fmall frequent pulfe, pain over the abdo- 

 men, ficknefs, thirft, &c. not a moment mult be loft ; as 

 ncthing v.-ill fp.ve the patient but the prompt and decifive 

 employment of antiphlogiftic nieafures. 



This much dreaded and fatal diforder is particularly to be 

 expected, when the patient is of a full fanguineous habit, 

 when the operation has been lung and difficult, when much 

 violence has been ufed in drawing out the i\one, or when the 

 bladder has been bruifed by the reiterated introduftion of 

 the forceps, whether for the purpofe of taking out one cal- 

 culus, or feveral, or the fragment of one that has been 

 broken. The perilous inflammation within the abdomen, 

 however, may come on, even when the operation has been 

 executed in^the moft expert and eafy manner. The moft 

 effectual means againil the complaint, are copious vene- 

 feCtion, and placing the patient for fome hours in a warm 

 bath. Thefe meafures (hould be taken immediately when 

 the complaint is indicated by the leaft pain and tenfion about 

 the lower part of the abdomen. But, befides bleeding and 

 the warm bath, an endeavour fhould be made to prjcure 

 ftools by giving the oleum ricini. When the patient is 

 removed from the bath, a bhfter, or elfe leeches and fomen- 

 tations, may be applied to the hypogallric region. 



Were we to judge from the obfervations derived from the 

 praftice which it has fallen to our lot to fee, we Ihould fup- 

 pofe, that the danger of hemorrhage after lithotomy has 

 been generally exaggerated ; for out of a va'l many opera- 

 tions which we have been fpedlators of, there has not been 

 one death from lofs of blood. But as wounding the pu- 

 dendal artery may happen more frequently with fome opera- 

 tors, whom we have had no opportunities of noticing, we 

 are inclined to believe, not that the danger is unjuftly mag- 

 nified, but that the particular furgeons whom we have 

 feen operate have generally eluded it. 



In order to ftop the bleeding from the trunk of the pu- 

 detidal or pudic artery, authors advife us to introduce into 

 the wound a cannula wrapt round with lint, for the purpofe 

 of making prefTure on the wounded part of the veflel. 

 Boyer is faid to have fupprefTed the hemorrhage in feveral 

 inftances, by introducing deeply into the wound a large 

 dolRl, round which is tied a ligature, the ends of which, 

 being feparated, are to be forcibly tied over a fecond dofTil. 

 The conllriftion tends to draw outwards the firtl doffil, at 

 the fame time that it propels inwards that which is more 

 external. Richerand, Nofographic Chir. t. iii. p. 533, 

 edit. 2. . 



Secotidar)' hemorrhages fometimes occur in old debili- 

 tated fubjecls feveral days after the operation, and may 

 prove fatal. They require the fame treatment as the fore- 

 going bleeding, though, notwithilanding the moll Hcilful 

 comprefiion, the blood will often continne to ooze from day 

 to day, till the patient falls a victim. 



Were a patient to bleed profufcly from a wour.d of the 

 pudendal artery, the veflel might be taken up and tied by a 



good furgeon, which would be a much fafer method than 

 compreffion. It feems, that in one example, Mr. Abcrnetky 

 tied the trunk of this artery, where it paflfes along the 

 inner furface of the tuberofity and ram.us of the ifchium. 

 See Medical and Phyfical Journal, vol. ix. p. 393. 



The drcflir.gs after the lateral operation are fuperficial, 

 and kept on with a T bandage. As feparating the thighs 

 pulls afunder the edges of the wound in the perineum, it 

 is alfo cultomary to confine them together, when the patient 

 is put to bed by means of a garter applied jjft above the 

 knees. 



LITHOXOS. See Col.\ptice. 



LITHOXYLON, in Mineralogy, Woodjlone, Hohjlein of 

 Werner, a fpecies of filiceous genus in the arrangement of 

 Kirwan. Its colour is generally blackifh, or blueilh-grey ; 

 the former frequently pafTma; into the greyilh-black, and the 

 latter into the greyilh white; and this from the light reddilh- 

 grey, into the blood or cochenille red. Seldom ochre yel- 

 low or mountain green ; fometimes rcddidi or yellowifh- 

 brown. Thefe colours commonly appear together in fpots, 

 blotches, or ftripes, in the fame fpccimcn. It always mani- 

 fefts its priftine Itate, either by its branchy form, or its 

 knots or roots. Its furface, like that of the wood from 

 which it originates, is fometimes rough, fometimes uneven, 

 fometimes coarfely ftreaked in the direction of its length. 

 Its internal lullre, i ; its trarfparency, 1.2. Its fracture 

 conchoidal ; fometimes imperfedtly, or approaching to the 

 fine fplintery, fometimes llaty ; and generally, by its inter- 

 laced fibrous flrudture, difcovers its origin Its fragments 

 3. Often fplintery ; its hardnefs, 10; the fpecific gravity 

 of different (pccimens extended, upon Mr. Kirwan 's trials, 

 from 2.045 '" --^IS- ^^ '* commonly, but not always, the 

 fubllance of petrified wood. It often withers by expofure 

 to the atmolphere. Its tranfitions are into quartz, _calce- 

 dony, and, as fome fay, into pitch ilone or opal. Kirwan's 

 EI. of Min vol i. 



LITHOXYLUM, in Botany, a term ufed by Linnseus 

 to exprefs a heterogeneous fubilance on marine productions, 

 which has fruftifications in impreffod points. See GoR- 



GOMA. 



LITHOZUGIA, in Natural Hipry. the name of a 

 genus of foffils, of the clals of the icriipi, compofed of a 

 cryftalluie matter a little deoafed, and containing witiun 

 them various extraneous bodies, as pebbles, &c. 



Dr Woodward has ranked this genus among the pebbles, 

 becaufe of the pebbles they contain ; which is by no means 

 a futticient reafon foi confounding two fuch different ioffils; 

 the liihozugia approachiiig to tlie nature of flint. 



Mercatus and other naturali'ls have called the lithozugia, 

 oculati lapiiles ; and among Englifli lapidaries they are known 

 by the name oi pudiling-ltcms ; which fee. ♦ 



LITHUANIA, \n Geography, a country of Europe of 

 coiiliderable extent, anciently a feparatc duchy, and after- 

 wards united to Poland. Its capital was Vilna or Wilna, 

 but its principal town was Grodno. When it was goveri;ed 

 by its own fovereigns under the title of Great-Dukes, a 

 rivalry fubfilled between this duchy a:^d the contiguous 

 llatts of Ruffia and Poland, which was the occafion of fre- 

 quent contells. At fo early a period as the nth century, 

 the Lithuanians, defcended from the ancient flock of the 

 Slavonians (fee the article Lettes,) are enumerated by 

 Neller in his chronicle, under the appellative Litva, among 

 the nations tributary to the Ruffian monarchy ; nor could 

 they find means to rensJer themfelves an independent nation, 

 till the time when dangerous intelline divifions fprang up in 

 Ru.Tia, under the fuccelfurs of Vladimir the Grwat, v,ho 

 died in the year 1C15. At this time they wers freed from 



the 



