122 
THE APPLICATION OF NITRE IN CASES OF 
GANGRENE. 
Bi/ Mf\ King, Stanmore. 
I AM fully aware that practitioners often delude themselves 
as to the effect of certain measures, and, perhaps, I may have 
done so in the following cases: but the result was to me satis¬ 
factory, and not having heard of any one taking up a similar 
treatment, I send you their history. 
The first patient was a stage-horse, which had a small and rather 
pointed chaise shaft forced into the back part of the thigh, about 
midway down, and in a horizontal direction toward the back of 
the stifle-joint. The wound was treated by the horse-keeper, 
and said to have discharged well, and gone on kindly for four 
or five days, when, the discharge ceasing, and the limb suddenly 
becoming enormously swollen, the horse was sent to me. 
The thigh was enlarged to such a size that you would suppose it 
hardly possible for the skin to admit of farther distention. The 
discharge was trifling ; sanious, with escape of air-bubbles from 
the w'ound, accompanied by the peculiar gangrenous scent, and, 
what I consider one of the most decisive characters of existing 
mortification, a particular hollow drum-like sound in some cir¬ 
cumscribed spot, discovered by striking the surface. 
I considered any attempt at cure almost useless; but having, 
just at the time, noticed the effect of nitre on some grumous 
blood, I went to work, and made a perpendicular incision, at 
least eight inches in length, and as deep as I dared go, so as to 
keep clear of the artery. The interior of the wound presented a 
livid, mortifying mass ; and as I thought I could do no harm, 
I made on each side of the perpendicular wound two or three 
deep cross cuts. The whole of the cavity so made 1 filled with 
soft jdedgets of tow, saturated with a rather warm solution of 
nitre (perhaps three ounces to a pint of water), and confined 
with sutures. 
On the second day, the symptoms being no worse, the appli¬ 
cation was renewed. On the third day, I followed up the treat¬ 
ment. On the fourth day, the foetor was much changed, and a 
perceptible line of demarcation w^as beginning to be apparent, 
which became every day more and more distinct, until about the 
tenth day, when a considerable slough was thrown off*. The 
wound soon afterwards healed, leaj/ing an extensive depression in 
the thigh from the loss of substance : it was, however, attended 
