HEMORRHAGE. 
geons can object to a trial of flyptics. At the fame time, 
it is proper to caution the inexperienced, that, what has 
been termed an hemorrhagic difpofition in wounds and 
ulcers is frequently-entirely kept up by the irritating na- 
ture o e drenings j 
the needle a ufed, than in amputations, or recent 
wounds. This difcovery was thought to be perfe@. M 
Faget, in his enthufiafm, believed, that the 
that it might be equally ufeful in internal 
boiled it, like the German peafant, who, in 
place of carrying the do¢tor’s prefcriptions to a laboratory, 
— it up and fwallowed it. Principles of Surgery, 
vol. i. p. 1 
After all the boafting about the wonderful effects of agarie, 
age; and whatever good effects 
had, are more properly afcribable to the compreffion always 
If it has any real virtue, 
difficu 
se 
‘tried, be- the veffel without obliterating its pervious fkate; a 
Ity, or, at P 
or the pur- cienc 
pofe of getting atit. But the employment of agaric is war- 
ranted by no fuch reafon; for its fuppofed fpecific virtues 
require ‘its application to be made dire€tly to the -divided 
rte ic has alfo the inconvenience of acting as an 
extraneous fubitance in the wound, and, like comprefles, it is 
liable to flip off the precife fituation which it ought to oc- 
cupy. 
When the wounded veffel is large, always prefer the liga- 
ture to agaric ; when {maller veflels bleed, compreffion is 
much better than this vainly extolled fubftance. Firlt Lines 
of Surgery, chap. 13. 
We need not fay much concerning the ufe of common 
fponge in the fuppreffion of hemorrhage. When ufed, im 
the way of agaric, it is liable to the fame objedtions as this 
latter application. Sponge, however, is in a certain degree 
ufeful in checking particular hemorrhage ; and this quality 
arifes from its expanding nature when expofed to any moif- 
ture. us, when it is introduced into any deep narrow 
wound, which bleeds, it foon undergoes a confiderable en- 
largement after it has imbibed the blood, fo that it clofely 
fills up the ftab, and entirely prevents a further lofs of this 
falutary fluid. It does this in fome inftances ; for, we would 
not have the reader to imagine, that the introduétion of a 
piece of {ponge into a punctured wound, attended with he- 
morrhage, is always the proper practice. When the artery 
is of large fize, the method will almoft conftantly fail, and, 
preflure will be made upon the mouth of the bleeding veflel. 
See HEmMorruoips. 
Compreffion—T his is executed by applying a bandage and 
comprefles, in fuch a mamner that they mechanically ftop the 
effufion of blood. Former ly fi = fed to fill th vities of 
wounds with charpie, and then make preffure on the pec : 
numerous {mall ones,compreffion is preferable to the ligature. 
‘The employment of the latter would render it necefiary t0 
tie the whole furface of the wound. In order to make effec- 
tual compreffion in this cafe, the wound is to have its opp 
fite furfaces brought into conta&t ; comprefles are then to be 
laced over the wound, and a roller is to be applied 38 
tightly as can be done without hazard of {topping the cit- 
culation in rt. Ee Spee 
If compreffion can ever be fafely praétifed in bleedings 
from large arteries, it is when thefe veflels run in the vici- 
nity of a bone, againft which they can be vabeicae: ot] 
tried Oy as 
the latter cannot be employed without an operation f0 | i 
artery. It is abfurd to adopt compreflion, in | a 
r 
