Page:Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, volume 1.djvu/93

 Good, or the voluminous species and varieties of Sauvages; and no notice is taken of it by Hawley, in his classical "Definitiones Morborum." Should a second edition of Good's physiological system of nosology be required, the editor may adopt this as a fifth variety of paruria, under the denomination of paruria retentionis hymenalis; or it may, with propriety, be incorporated in the common systems, under the title of ischuria hymenalis.

In the following case, the ischury attracted the first and undivided attention of the patient and medical attendant: the preceding symptoms of vaginal obstruction, having escaped observation.

March 25, 1832, I was requested to visit a young lady, aged 16, who resided at a considerable distance from this town. She had been ill three days and nights, with retention of urine; and her medical attendant had been under the necessity of relieving her by the introduction of the catheter, twice daily, during that period. The existence of so distressing a disease excited great apprehension; and my opinion was solicited respecting its nature and treatment. I found the cause of the ischury to consist of an imperforate hymen, which, by totally preventing the discharge of the menstrual fluid, had produced a mechanical obstruction in the urethra. The external orifice of the meatus urinarius was situated in a cul-de-sac, and the hymen was tense and slightly protruded. The bladder having been evacuated, I proceeded to examine the hypogastrium, where I discovered an obvious and considerable enlargement of the uterus of an oblong shape, extending nearly to the umbilicus. The lower part of the abdomen had been increasing in