PREFACE. IF any apology be necessary for the publication of the following work, the author trusts that it will be found in the circumstance, that a treatise on the diseases of females, adapted equally for junior and senior students, is yet a desideratum in our medical literature. Many valuable monographs we possess, and even volumes of admirable essays on this subject, but the former are so scattered as to be out of the reach of the greater number of students, and the latter so little elementary as to be unsuitable except for the more advanced. To meet these objections, it has been arranged, in the present volume, that the text shall contain an ample outline of the history, pathology, symptoms and treatment of the diseases, without any detail of controversies or conflicting opinions, which are given in full in the notes appended to each page; so that the junior student, by confining his attention to the text, may acquire elementary information, which may be subsequently extended by consulting the notes and references. In the notes, likewise, will be found extracts from various authors, wherever the support of their opinions seemed desirable. I have preferred giving their views in their own words, as being less liable to be mistaken. Where extracts were not deemed advisable, references have been given, and considerable care has been taken to have them correct. Any remarkable and authentic cases, which bear upon the subject have been inserted, for the double purpose of elucidation and description. Altogether, it is earnestly hoped that the matter contained in the notes, as well as the text, may be found useful, and that by the division, the progress of the student may be facilitated. From the sketch just given, it will be evident that the volume has no higher pretension than that of being a compilation, with the addition of whatever information I may have acquired from hospital or dispensary practice. I have endeavoured to ascribe each opinion to its true author, and to appropriate none that are not strictly my own. If, however, any mistakes have occurred, and in a work like the present it is very possible,—I shall thankfully receive intimation of such errors, and shall take the earliest opportunity of correcting them. There yet remain two classes of the diseases of females not included in the present volume, viz. those occurring during gestation, and in childbed. These will form the subjects of another volume, should the plan of the present one be approved. In conclusion, I would offer my best thanks to those friends who have aided my investigations, by affording me access to the patients under their care, and especially to the medical and surgical officers of the Meath Hospital; to Dr. Croker, of the Incurable Hospital; to Surgeon Ferrall, of St. Vincent's; and to Dr. Hunt, of Jervis-street Hospital. 104, Stephen's-green, Dublin. TABLE OF CONTENTS. F'age. 1 PART I-DISEASES OF THE EXTERNAL GENITALS. CHAPTER I.-Phlegmonous Inflammation of the external Labia Pudendi, II.-Inflammation of the Glandular Apparatus of the Cervix Uteri, OUTLINES OF THE PRINCIPAL DISEASES OF FEMALES. PART I. DISEASES OF THE EXTERNAL ORGANS OF GENERATION. CHAPTER I. Phlegmonous Inflammation of the External Labia Pudendi. THIS disease consists essentially in inflammation involving the cellular tissue beneath the skin, as well as the skin itself. It attacks females of very different ages according to the peculiar circumstances in which it originates. It occurs occasionally during pregnancy, without any assignable cause; and after delivery, from the pressure of the child's head, in its passage through the lower outlet. The disease may occupy one or both of the labia.* Blows, falls, forcible intercourse, injuries In our examinations of diseases of the external organs, we should always bear in mind the congenital malformations to which these parts are subject. The labia and nymphæ may be of very different sizes, and one side may be much larger than its opposite. The clitoris may be unusually prominent (in infants it is always proportionately more so than in adults,)—the orifice of the vagina may be smaller than usual—it may be closed by adhesion of its sides or by the hymen—or it may be altogether wanting. In the latter case, the vagina itself is frequently absent. B |