Book 2
6
The cause of Ileus is a continued corruption of much multifarious and unaccustomed food, and repeated acts of indigestion, especially of articles which are apt to excite Ileus, as the ink of the cuttle-fish. And the same effects may be expected from a blow, or cold, or the drinking of cold water largely and greedily in a state of sweating; and in those cases, in which the gut has descended into the scrotum with fæces, and has not been replaced into the belly, or has been restored to its place with violence, in such cases it is customary for the lower intestines to get inflamed.The substance of all the information to be found in the works of the ancient authorities on the subject of Hernia, may be seen in Paulus Ægineta, b.vi., 65, p. 66, Syd. Soc. Edit. I may mention, however, that although there be nothing in the works of the medical authorities which would lead us to suppose that the ancient surgeons were in the practice of operating to relieve incarcerated Hernia, the following passage in one of Martial’s Epigrams would almost lead us to suppose the contrary, Mitius implicitas Alcon secat enterocelas, Epigr. xi. 84; which might be thus translated, The surgeon Alcon inflicts less pain in cutting for incarcerated intestinal hernia. This affection is customary with children, who are subject to indigestion, and they more readily escape from the mischief, owing to their habits and the humidity of their intestines, for they are loose. Old persons do not readily suffer from the complaint, but rarely recover. The season of summer engenders the disease rather than that of spring; autumn, than winter; but the summer more than both.
