Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/216

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Lachrymalis,’ 8vo, London, 1757; 2nd edit. 1758; 3rd edit. 1769; 5th edit. 1775. This tract, according to present ideas, is quite obsolete. 4. ‘Observations on the Nature and Consequences of Wounds and Contusions of the Head and Fractures of the Skull, Concussion of the Brain,’ &c., 8vo, London, 1760. This tract does not appear to be reprinted in the collected editions of Pott's works. 5. ‘Practical Remarks upon the Hydrocele,’ London, 8vo, 1762; 2nd edit. 1767. The cause of the affection is clearly defined, due credit is given to Professor Monro and to Samuel Sharp for their work upon the subject, and a rational line of treatment is laid down. A dissertation upon sarcocele, then a mysterious affection, concludes this pamphlet. 6. ‘Remarks on the Disease commonly called Fistula in Ano,’ London, 8vo, 1765; 2nd edit. 1765; 3rd edit. 1771; 4th edit. 1775. Pott advocates a return to the old and good practice of simple division, in preference to the more complicated methods of procedure adopted in England by Cheselden, and in France by Le Dran and De la Faye. In this treatise he points out the lessons which regular practitioners may learn from quacks. 7. ‘Observations on the Nature and Consequences of those Injuries to which the Head is liable from External Violence,’ 8vo, London, 1768; 2nd edit. 1771. This is one of the classical writings of English surgery. It abounds in interesting cases well recorded, and some of the conclusions are still regarded as axioms in practice. With the first edition of this work was published: 8. ‘Some few Remarks upon Fractures and Dislocations,’ London, 8vo, 1768; 2nd edit. 1773. This treatise was translated into Italian (Venice, 1784) and into French (Paris, 1788). This, on the whole, is the most important contribution by Pott to the surgical practice of the last century. Dr. Hamilton, the greatest American authority on the subject of fractures and dislocations, writing in 1884, says that ‘the work is distinguished for the originality and boldness of its sentiments, and was destined soon to revolutionise, especially throughout Great Britain, the old notions as to the treatment of fractures, and to establish in their stead, at least for a time, what has been called, not inappropriately, “the physiological doctrine.” The peculiarity of this doctrine consisted in its assumption that the resistance of those muscles which tend to produce shortening can generally be overcome by posture without the aid of extension; and that for this purpose—for example, in the case of a broken femur—it was only necessary to flex the leg upon the thigh, and the thigh upon the body, laying the limb quietly on its outside upon the bed.’ In a modified form this doctrine was accepted by the majority of the great surgeons who succeeded Pott in Great Britain, and, owing to Dupuytren's influence, it was extensively adopted in France. It never gained much ground in America, and of late years it has been considered to be incorrect, and, except in a few cases, the treatment of fractures by flexion has been replaced by the method of extension. 9. ‘An Account of a Method of obtaining a Perfect or Radical Cure of Hydrocele,’ 8vo, London, 1771; 3rd edit. 1775. This tract is an expansion of, and forms a conclusion to, No. 5. 10. ‘Chirurgical Observations,’ 8vo, London, 1775; translated into German, Berlin, 12mo, 1776. The observations are: (i) ‘Remarks on the Cataract,’ an attempt to maintain the operation of “Couching” in opposition to that of the extraction of the opaque lens. (ii) ‘A Short Treatise of the Chimney Sweeper's Cancer,’ which was reprinted in 1810, with additional notes by Sir James Earle, F.R.S. Although this work only consists of five octavo pages, it is still quoted for the accuracy of its clinical details, and it has led to the production of much good work in the fields of pathology and surgery. (iii) ‘Observations and Cases relative to Ruptures.’ A monograph of great interest, in which the best cases are put last. (iv) ‘Observations on the Mortification of the Toes and Feet.’ We owe to this short, clear, and modest tract that treatment of gangrene by opium which has maintained its ground uninterruptedly until the present day. (v) ‘Some few Remarks upon the Polypus of the Nose.’ Pott himself suffered from nasal polypi. 11. ‘Remarks on that kind of Palsy of the Lower Limbs which is frequently found to accompany a Curvature of the Spine,’ 8vo, London, 1779. Translated into Dutch, Leyden, 8vo, 1779, and twice into French, first at Brussels in 1779, and afterwards at Paris in 1783. The influence and importance of this tract may be estimated by the fact that the particular form of spinal disease here described is now almost universally known as ‘Pott's disease.’ Although one of the best known of Pott's works, it is one of the least satisfactory according to modern ideas. The clinical description is admirable, but the treatment adopted was unnecessarily severe, and was not founded upon rational principles. One of the specimens illustrating this paper is in the museum of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, No. 1097. 12. ‘Farther Remarks upon the Useless State of the Lower Limbs in consequence of a Curvature of the Spine,’ London, thin 8vo, 1782. 13. ‘Remarks on the Necessity and