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Treatment (Procure several bougies)

Procure several bougies of different sizes. Take the largest one, dip it in sweet oil, and pass it into the urethra till it meets with the stricture, then make a mark on the bougie, so that when it is withdrawn you can tell how far down the passage the obstruction exists, and having ascertained this, take the smallest one, well oiled, and endeavor to pass it an inch or two beyond the stricture. If this can be accomplished, let it remain so a few minutes. This must be repeated every day, letting the instrument remain somewhat longer each time it is passed, and after a few days using one a little larger, and so on progressively until the largest one can be introduced. If this fails, apply to a surgeon,, who may destroy it with caustic or the knife.

Syphilis, or Pox.

Symptoms. Chancres and buboes are among the first symptoms of this dreadful malady, which, if not checked, goes on to cause an ulcerated throat, nodes, a destruction of the bones and cartilages of the nose, and the palate. The voice is lost, the hair falls off, foul spreading ulcers show themselves all over the body, the stench of which is insupportable, and before he dies the miserable victim to it becomes a loathsome mass of corruption. A chancre at first resembles a pimple, with a little pit or depression containing matter, which soon becomes an ulcer, with an irregular thickened edge, covered with a tough, ash-colored matter, the basis of which is hard and surrounded by inflammation. It is generally found on the foreskin or head of the yard. A bubo is an enlargement of a gland in the groin, beginning in a small hard lump, not bigger than a bean, and increasing to the size of a hen's egg.

A node is a hard tumor formed on a bone.

Treatment. Apply at once to an intelligent physician. If this be impossible, confine the patient to a simple diet, and keep the part clean. Two or three grains of blue mass may be used daily, and all stimulating substances must be avoided. Every one has some infallible receipt to cure this disorder; but in nine cases out of ten the remedy proves worse than the disease. As for the chancres, touch them freely with lunar caustic, and apply a little piece of rag to them, smeared with red precipitate ointment. If they are situated under the foreskin, which is held over the head of the yard by a permanent phymosis, it (the foreskin) may have to be slit up. If there is a bubo, apply thirty leeches. If this does not prevent its increasing, and the formation of matter is inevitable, apply poultices to it, and as soon as a fluctuation can be felt, let out its contents by several small punctures through the skin with a sharp lancet. To assist in the evacuation, press a soft sponge gently on the tumor.

Cancer of the Yard.

Symptoms. A small tumor, like a wart, upon the head of the yard or foreskin, followed by inflammation and ulceration, which discharges a thin, disagreeable fluid; after a time a cancerous fungus is produced, attended by a most intolerable burning and darting pain. Treatment. Apply at once to a surgeon, who will cut it out; death is the only alternative.

Venereal Warts.

Crops of these animal mushrooms sometimes spring up round the head of the yard or on the foreskin. If flat, they may be destroyed by caustic or nitric acid; if mounted on a stem or foot-stalk, by tying a piece of thread tightly round it.

Dropsy of the Bag.

Symptoms. A collection of water, which is first perceived at the bottom of the bag, increasing in size as it advances upwards, and forming a tumor of the shape of a pear. If examined as directed for dropsy of the belly, the wavy motion may be felt, and if a candle be placed behind it, it becomes partly transparent.

Treatment. The only certain cure is an operation, for which, as there is no pressing danger, apply to a surgeon. There are three species of this dropsy, in one of which the water is contained within the lining of the bag; another, within the covering of the spermatic cord; and the third, in the cellular membrane of the bag. The first we have mentioned. The second occurs most frequently in children; it sometimes, however, is found in adults, and very much resembles a rupture. The treatment is the same as in the first. The third may be distinguished by a doughy feel and irregular shape. It is to be cured by punctures to let out the water, and by suspending the testicle.

Enlarged Spermatic Vein.

Symptoms. A hard knotty and irregular swelling of the vein, which sometimes increases to a large size. When lying down the swelling diminishes, which distinguishes it from a dropsy of the parts.