PROBABLE EPITHELIOMA, rvaio by ASTRINGENT WASHES. PROBABLE EPITHELIOMA. CUBED I1Y ASTRINGENT WASHES. INTERESTING Medical and Surgical Cases IN THE PRACTICE OE SAMUEL W. FRANCI\A. M-. M. 1)., FELLOW OK THE NEW YORK ACADEMY' OF MEDICINE; VICE FKESI- DENT OF NEWPORT MEDICAL SOCIETY; VICE PRESIDENT OF N EWI*ORT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY ; MF.MHEK OF BOSTON GYNECOLOGICAL SOCIETY J LIFE MEMBER OF NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY ; MEMBER OK NEWPORT CHAR- ITY ORGANIZATION ; MEMBER OF RHODE ISLAND STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY', AND ANNIVER- SARY' CHAIRMAN FOR 1*83; FORMERLY PHYSICIAN TO NORTHERN DISPEN- SARY, NEYV YORK, FOR HEAD, ABDOMEN AND SKIN DIS- EASES, AND ATTENDING PHYSICIAN TO NEW- PORT HOSPITAL J MEMBER OF ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, NEW YORK J EX-PRESIDENT OF NEWPORT SOCIETY FOR PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS, AND MEMBER OF (N. Y.) AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR P. C. T. A. J MEMBER OF NEWPORT SANITARY PROTECTION ASSOCIA- TION J AUTHOR OF MOTT’S CLINIQL'ES ; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED LIVING NEW YORK PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS; WATER, A MEDICAL ESSAY; CURIOUS FACTS CON- CERNING MAN AND NATURE ; REMI- 0 NISCENCES OF REV. E. M. P. ' S\ • — WELLS; AND ORIGINAL IN- VENTOR OF THE TYPE #\ (A WRITER AND CALI- / OvV\ W \ Grapher, &c. AyyA) NEWPORT, R. 1.: DAVIS A- PITMAN, PRINTERS. PROBABLE EPITHELIOMA, CURED BY ASTRINGENT WASHES. Read before the Rhode Island State Medical Society, Sept. 20, 1SS3, and reprinted from their transactions. The following note from an excellent surgeon whom I have seen operate, with skill, but whose modesty forbids my mentioning his name, ex- plains itself: My Dear Doctor: Mrs. E. B. consulted me in regard to her cheek on, or about July 6th. I was uncertain as to diagnosis, but prescribed the removal of the molar tooth which seemed, by its jagged edges, to have been the exciting cause of the disease, and gave a simple mouth-wash. I saw her again, on July 13th, when the inflam- matory swelling had somewhat abated, but there remained an indurated area about the ulcerated surface which seemed to me due to cancerous infiltration. The patient came to me again on July 20th. Bv this time the ulceration and induration had extended considerably, and I felt quite sure that the disease was an epitheli- oma. This diagnosis having been arrived at, I 6 explained to the patient my view of her condi- tion, and strongly advised her to let me excise the growth. The subsequent improvement of the case, without operation, under your skillful treatment, is most instructive to me. Very truly yours, September 12, 1883. To Dr. S. W. Francis. Br. Brackett’s letter is most interesting and comprehensive. 102 Touro Street, Newport, R. I., Sept. 6, 1883. My Dear Dr. Francis: I must tell you of my great surprise and grat- ification at the condition in which I have to-day found Mrs. B.’s mouth. It is just two months since she came to me with a very ugly-look- ing cheek, plainly having, for the exciting cause of the diseased condition, the peculiarly sharp-jagged edge of a buccal cavity of decay in the right inferior second molar. There was at that date, July 6th, in the cheek a rather circum- scribed induration as large as an almond, hav- ing its mucous surface much eroded by the fric- tion of the sharp edges of the tooth cavity and with considerable diffused irritation all about in 7 the neighborhood. I at once extracted the offending tooth and waited the result, hoping that with this great local irritant removed there might be resolution, although I had very grave doubts of this on account of the patient’s age. forty-five ; of the recurrent and rapidly-growing epulis in the front of the upper jaw, and more than from all else of the particularly bad appear- ance of the inner cheek itself. As time passed after the extraction the growth in the cheek, instead of subsiding, grew rapidly worse. The swelling and induration became greatly increased and extended forward so as to invoke the lik*. and produce very marked external deformity. Several physicians and surgeons of skill and reputation saw the case, and so far as I know it seemed to all as one of carcinoma with most unfavorable prognosis. When I saw the patient on the 19th of August there had been no cessa- tion in the progress of the growth locally and the general systemic condition was becoming impaired. Imagine, then, my surprise and delight at the condition in which I find the mouth today. Seven-eighths of the enlargement and induration are gone, the cheek and lip have become thin and flexible, and all of the angrv appearance has vanished. The parts seem on the high road to perfect health and nearly arrived there. There can hardly be a doubt that they will not very shortly become perfectlv 8 normal. I rejoice with you and with the patient upon this most gratifying result of your skillful treatment. Accept my heartiest congratulations and believe me to remain always sincerely yours, C. A. BRACKETT. The prescription I used was : B Tinct. Opii, . . § ss. Tinct. Myrrhae. Glycerine, . . . aa 5 j- Squibbs Liquor Ferri Subsulphatis, 5 ss. Aquae Rosae, . . . ad § iv. S. External use. M. Apply one teaspoonful of mixture to inside of affected cheek four times a day. S. W. F. Milk diet, with strong broth, and twenty drops of the Syrup of the Iodide of Iron, three times a day, in water. I have published this case, at the request of members of the profession, in order to impress on the minds of all the necessity of first employ- ing mild measures before resorting to the knife. Most of us who have practiced, have seen how often fingers are cut off; legs and arms amputated ; 9 and tumors excised, when, after experience, with similar cases, has proved that conservative treat- ment might have saved the limb, &c. I am not bold enough to claim for my astrin- gent wash the properties of a specific, for cer- tain forms of cancer, but the speedy arrest of morbid growth, the lessening of size, and finally rapid disappearance of the tumor and diseased surface, most certainly call for a careful test of its merits. After the cure my friend Dr. J. Marion Sims saw the case and pronounced it “ now all right.”