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Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery
Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery
Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery
Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery
Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery
Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery
Begg, John R. [women's health]

Idiopathic Gangrene of the Four Extremities, Nose and Ears: Amputation of the Extremities: Recovery


Dundee: James P. Mathew & Co., 1870.

Blue printed wraps, 8vo, 15pp. Frontispiece albumen print after a full-length portrait of the subject, bound-in with remnant tab between 14-15 (complete). Offprint from the 'Lancet' of the 17th September 1870. Very Good with light soil and a faint vertical crease throughout volume. "7" marked on cover, residue along spine, possibly disbound. Pencil note at the end of the text: "The husband spoke of [?] her - he [?] a [pardoner?]." Rare; not in OCLC.

An account of Mrs. Elizabeth R, who was admitted to the Dundee Royal Infirmary in 1869 after giving birth to a son. Previously suffering from poor circulation in her extremities, malnutrition after giving birth led to severe progressive gangrene necessitating the amputation first of her legs, then the tip of her nose, the lobules of her ears, then both her arms. The woman was only 21 years old and it is reported she made a strong recovery and was able to "walk, use a knife and fork, knit, crochet, and perform the minutest of manipulations, even to the picking up of a pin," thanks to prosthetics and assistive mechanical devices.

The publication was cited by Arthur Stein in "Puerperal Gangrene of the Extremities," published in the Journal of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics (1916, p 433) noting other cases of childbirth and obstetric surgery linked with gangrene. He also noted Begg's case "resembles very much" a case of Raynaud's phenomenon, first described in 1862.