One doctor against laudable pus!

[NH Civil War Gal]

Unlike many of his colleagues, Confederate surgeon Dr. John J. Chisolm was ardently against the notion of laudable pus: viewing some post-operative infections as a sign of healing.

In his "Manual of Military Surgery," he put the following passage in italics:

"This process of suppuration is not necessary to the healing of the wound, and should be kept in subjection as much as possible."

Source:
Chisolm, John Julian, "A Manual of Military Surgery, for the Use of Surgeons in the Confederate Army," Richmond: West & Johnson, 1862, via HathiTrust Digital Library, accessed June 4, 2020, <https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001586484>.

Image credit:
Waring Historical Library, MUSC, Charleston, SC, via Medical College of the State of South Carolina, "Julian John Chisolm: Class of 1850", <http://waring.library.musc.edu/exhibits/civilwar/Chisolm.php>.

 

[dlofting]

Interesting. I wonder what he thought were the signs of a properly healing wound.

 

[John Hartwell]

The May 1864, shrapnel wound of private Nelson Tiffany (25th Mass.) suppurated for 34 years. It finally closed up in 1898, and within days he was dead of blood poisoning.

Pvt. Nelson Tiffany, died of wounds, 1898 | Civil War Potpourri

I'd like to share a little story, if you're in the mood. There are a whole lot of really dreadful stories from the CW -- many with sufferings lasting long after the war's end. Pvt. Nelson Tiffany, Co. A, 25th Mass. Vol. Inf., was wounded in the groin by shrapnel during a small action...

civilwartalk.com

(one of my first threads.)

 

[Kathy the history sleuth]

Did Chilson invent a device for delivering cloriform?

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

The May 1864, shrapnel wound of private Nelson Tiffany (25th Mass.) suppurated for 34 years. It finally closed up in 1898, and within days he was dead of blood poisoning.

Pvt. Nelson Tiffany, died of wounds, 1898 | Civil War Potpourri

I'd like to share a little story, if you're in the mood. There are a whole lot of really dreadful stories from the CW -- many with sufferings lasting long after the war's end. Pvt. Nelson Tiffany, Co. A, 25th Mass. Vol. Inf., was wounded in the groin by shrapnel during a small action...

civilwartalk.com

(one of my first threads.)

Makes you wonder why the wound/body decided to close after all those years!

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Interesting. I wonder what he thought were the signs of a properly healing wound.

I wondered that too and wish we could ask him. He obviously had more insight then the rest of the doctors and got it from somewhere.

 

[Library Lady]

Makes you wonder why the wound/body decided to close after all those years!

Build up of scar tissue such that it finally walled itself off? Kind of like this lady's burst appendix.

A story of a burst appendix and its owner who lived

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, right? Common Health blog begins a narrative post on one woman's burst-appendix survival with …

scopeblog.stanford.edu