The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-04-30
JOBS CoMFoRTERs.

Interesting Facts Concerning the nature
az e~fbhhcles atitI BOils.
Whoever has reflected as to the
real nature Of carBdncular infam-
nation viii, I think, see reason to be-
lieve that its causes are to large ex-
tent local ones. Respecting both boils
and carbuncles, it is the fact that the
most efficient measures are those which
appeal to the local condition. This is
true Of all the different measures in re-
pute, however dissimilar at first sight
they may appear. Some have for their
object the protection of the infiamed
area from further irritation, as when
we cover up boil or commencing ear
bunele with leather plaster, others the
subdtal of the Inflammation by means
of cold and the like, as when we use an
ice bladder or a strong spirit lotion.
Nor do those who adopt a time-hOnored
practice of an early free incision de-
part from this principle, for their OBJ
ject is still the mitigation of the local
Inflammation by the relief of tension,
and by permitting the escape of con-
terminating matters. From acne, i'm
| petigo and ecthyma to bOils is in many
] CiSCS Il llldblCI VI uc0IG6s anu lIldb BuCLG
| is little or no real distinction between
a large boil and a small carbunGle; all
will, 1 think, admit.
The age of the patient, and his spe-
| cial diathetic condition at the time;
| their site, the influence of different
modes of local treatment, are tondi=
tiOns which determine the final result.
| If a boil occurs in an elderly person, on
| the nape of the neck, where it is likely
to be irritated by the shirt collar, and
especially if, instead of being system
| atically protected from the first, it be
further bullied by premature sqe6zing
and the like, it is very likely to pass
into tarbuncle. | claim the strong
testimony which has been borne by Sir
James Paget and others to the efficiency
of simply protective measures in pre-
venting the development of small car
! buncles, and obviating the supposed
necessity for incision, as proof that local
spreading is in the main due to local
causes; and has no necessary connec-
ton with the general health. In other
words, it il not a thing which Is newt
able. On the other hand, we know OF
no internal remedy which possesses any
! marked power in arresting carbunculaE
! Inflammation.
If we now ask in what does the pc
culiarity of carbuncular Inflammation
consist? in what does Il carbuhcle diff
fer from a boil? l should be Inclined
to reply that it is solely in this ten
dency TO spread. The spreading IS oc-
casioned by contagion of continuity,
and it has certain marked resemblance
| to what we observe in erysipelas. A
| carbuncle might almost be defined to
be an erysipelatOus boil, with the pro-
! visO that the expression is not intended
to imply identity of inflammatory type,
but only close similarity.
Throughout its whole course, and
however extensive it may be, carbun-
Gle, in combination with its erysipe.
latOds method of spreading contains
the characteristics of the furunculaI
process. Its sccretions and It's core
or slough, are exactly like those of &
boil, excepting that they are much
more abundant. In a general way
there appears to be a natural tendency,
Independently of treatment, to arrest
the process, and this is not generally
observed in erysipelas. In other
words, erysipelatous Inflammation is
more intensely infective than carbun-
cular. | must, however, qualify even
this admission of difference by stating
that carbuncular inflammation has such
an injurious influence on health thai
in all cases in which its spread con
tinues in spite of treatment the pa
tient quickly dies. Thus many cases
occur In which no proof is given o.
tendency to arrest. 1t may easily be
the fact that in some states of system
and some types of carbuncle, there i;
as little tendency to arrest as there i:
| in phlcgmOnOus erYSipelaS.
HutchiHS0n, n d., IN A. 7. Herald.