Mission

I was entering my notes from Matthias Gottfried Purmann's excellent period book Chirurgia curiosa and I came across this lovely fairy tale of a prince, a princess, a team of surgeons and a dental fistula. So I thought I'd share it. It even has a moral, like all good fairy tales do. (Sort of.) [Note, I have preserved the period grammar and spelling for you enjoyment.] “August the Seventh 1693. a Great Princess with the Prince her Husband, came to Breslaw out of Austria, who had a Fistula in the Lower Part of the Right Side of her Neck, which gave her Intolerable Pain. The bottom of this Fistula was near the furthermost Teeth, and the Orifice about half a Hand’s Breadth toward the Mouth, the Cavity was so crooked, bending upwards towards the Teeth, that a Probe could reach no farther than about a Thumb’s Breadth into the Fistula, which caused the Matter to continue longer there, and the Putrifaction to be greater. Towards the Ear it was sometimes extremely Swelled and Inflamed, and gave the Princess a great deal of Pain, who was otherwise in very good Health, and at that time about Twenty-eight Years of Age. Great Diligence had been already used to cure it, by the Advice of the most Learned Physicians and Chirurgeons sent for from several Places, who agreeing, That the Tooth over the Fistula ought to be drawn __ out; a very expert Tooth-Drawer at Ulm, was the Operator; but it happened so unfortunately, that the Crown, or Head of the Tooth broke off, and the Stump remained behind. Upon this unhappy Accident the Fistula grew every Day worse and worse, so that her Highness resolved to go to Breslaw, where she arrived the Seventeenth of July in the Evening, and brought with her that Famous Chirurgeon and Burgermaster of Prague, Mr. Christian Schutzbredt, and immediately sent for me and Dr. Tralles; but we could do nothing that Evening, but only search the Fistula, and apply Dr. Fabricius’s Plaister, which was sent her Highness from Nurenberg. July the Twentieth we all met in the Princely Court Oelsse, Dr. Agricola first search’d which way the Fistula went. Afterwards Mr. Schutzbredt and my self search’d it with a Probe, but could not reach so far as the Tooth, tho’ at that time there was no Inflammation or Swelling, and nothing came out of the Outward Orifice but Two or Three Drops of Matter at a time. The Pus was also well digested, nor was there an ill Smell from the broken Tooth, and the Gums thereabouts vvere in good Order. Upon vvhich, others as vvell as Dr. Agricola, were of Opinion, That the Fistula did not reach the broken Tooth, but time taught us better, for tho’ I kept it open above three Weeks with a convenient Tent [folded bandage inserted into the wound], took away the Spongy Flesh, seringed it often, and blew into it the Powder prescribed in the Fistula Lachrymalis, insomuch that every thing seemed to heal, and that on the Twenty fifth of August the Fistula was quite closed up, and remained so till the Eleventh of September following. Yet on the Twelfth, about Ten a Clock in the Morning, the Princess found great Pain in the Tooth again, and an Extension and Swelling toward the Ear; which Symptoms increased towards the Evening, because the Princess vvent that Day to Great Peterwitz, and had taken no Medicines vvith her to apply to it. In the Night it grew so painful, that she was forced to return back in the Morning. Then I perceived a great Swelling and Inflammation towards the Ear, and in the Inside of the Mouth about the Teeth; to which I immediately applied Internal and External Remedies, and upon the Ear and Cheek a proper Cataplasm. But on the Fourteenth of September it again possessed all the same Places where the Fistula was, which opened in the Afternoon, and let out half a Spoonful of well concocted Quitter, and it continued Running very fast till the Twenty first in the same Month; then the Matter decreased, the Wound was so well closed, that the smallest Tent could no enter it, and the Fistula healed up again the same Week, to our great Admiration. No Arguments could prevail with this Princess to suffer the stump to be drawn, though her Highness was daily told she must never expect a perfect Cure till the Tooth was out. October the Fourteenth all the former Symptoms unexpected broke out again, and gave us opportunity to shew the Princess her Danger and continual Affliction, unless she would consent to have the Stump drawn; but she persisted in her Obstinancy, and said she would not consent to it whatever she suffered. However, we sent again for Mr. Schutzbredt, and prevailed with her Highness to send for Two more Chirurgeons from Vienna, in hopes that __ the concurring Opinions of so many in the same thing, might induce her Highness to comply with her own Advantage. This being done, in Twelve days came Mr. Bernard Norbert of Zeidler, Chief Chirurgeon to the Emperor, and with him Mr. Bouchard, Chirurgeon of Vienna, Mr. Schutzbredt came the Day before; who with Dr. Tralles and Agricola all unanimously agreed, That the Stump of the Tooth ought to be pulled out, the Place Cauterized where the Bone was Rotten, and then we should proceed to the Cure of the Fistula. This Agreement was the same Evening related and proposed to her Highness, who after discovering some faint Unwillingness, courageously resolved it should be done, and accordingly was performed by Mr Adam Plahue a Tooth-Drawer in Breslaw, who, after two violent Onsets, not without giving the Princess great Pain, brought it out. We suffered it to bleed a while, to give the Lady time to recover her self. After her Highness was a little composed, I searched the matter very diligently, and twice Cauterized the Jaw-bone with a Hot Iron made for the purpose. Three Days after the Chirurgeons all returned to their respective Homes, and in Three Weeks time I so perfectly cured the Fistula, that her Highness has never been troubled with the least sign of it since. Hence you may see how absolutely necessary it is, that the Teeth should be drawn in these kind of Fistula’s, which I would have done at first if I had been left to my own Liberty; but in such great Persons one dares not act alone what he thinks he ought to do; which gave these Great Chirurgeons, all my Intimate Friends and Acquaintance, the Trouble of coming from Vienna and Prague to Breslaw.” (Purrman, p. 104-6)

That's an interesting point. I had forgotten about the hallucinogenic properties of some frogs. (I mostly just think it's funny that they made a medicine that included frogs. Of course they also made them out of various animal dung, new welpt-puppies and other odd animal bits.)

Purrman is reciting cures recommended by other surgeons for tooth-aches and he includes this one: "Dr. Bartholinus makes an Unguent of the Feet of Green Frogs and Opium, of which he puts a little into the hollow Teeth, or anoints the Gums with it, and thinks he can never say enough in its Praise." Somehow I think the Opium is the active ingredient here.

I can't believe I missed Skullwench's birthday this year! I'm sure she is going to be SO disappointed! Oh, well. Happy Birthday, Skullwench - a day late this year.

I didn't leave it out - you mentioned it already. And it keeps getting funnier... every time I see it!

Yes... But where are Mike, Crow and Tom?

OK, added that last four sites suggested.

Ants? I thought it was that sugar-glitter stuff they put on cookies. Ah - a joke. :)

Happy birthday, Quartermaster. We missed you in Key West!

You might actually be surprised at how easy-going Ed really is.

Stynky's always demanding something of me. "Drink this!" "Come up with a new name for Captain Twill!" "Tote that bale!" "Lift that barge!" Etc. Hey, lla, email me a piece of that cake, would you? It's looks good.

Alright, so who said it and what the hell does it mean? What do you get when you cross and elephant and a rhino? (You left out "Buck Box." Buck Box! Hahahahahahaha!)

Thanks all. Glad you enjoyed the Journal, Jon. Both of my fellow twins contacted me separately to note that my birthday was 6 months off from theirs for some reason. (It's that twin mind-meld thing.) How can this be? Yet another unique third twin facet. (Funny that Raphael came up. I actually have 5 IDs (Raphael MIssion, Misson, Caraccioli and another one) here and I thought I had xx-ed out all their birthdays but the currently functioning ID.)

Happy Birthday Ed, you old salte. (That's spelled all English-like.)

Good luck, Jim. You have to get down to Key West so we can celebrate all the December birthdays in fyne pirate style.

Welcome, Mike!

Great pics, DB! I look forward to seeing more!

Hey, you guys are stealing one of my third twins jokes! Cut it out! "The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven." -John Milton

Hmmmmmm...........curious about the definition of a unit??? It's probably not nearly as interesting as you might be thinking. My favorite Edward/Keith quote (that I can recall) was something along the lines of, "Of course I always bring the keys to the reactor to Key West." In other news... Cannibal Chrispy does start with a Q, doesn't it?

Cheers! Have a great b-day, Matt!

Weren't you the one who made the Occupy comment, too, Edward? It seems to me that was said when we were returning to the fort after bringing Lily her food at the gate.

No, I do remember. His name starts with a Q and he used to play in a rock-and-roll band. Well, he used to hang around with people who used to play in a rock-and-roll band. I also remember who made the comment about his hat smelling like sheep, but the reason for the comment either wasn't funny enough or it wasn't told well, because that I don't remember.

I also said "You DO have hairy arms." It was in reference to Joe, some guy I don't know. Either that or I said it to Mae and Brig who told me they had hairy arms when I was sober enough not to make a comment. (Now everyone on the pub who meets them is going to try and sneak looks at their arms. Brig, you brought this upon yourself, girl.)

My Christmas gift? I don't think so, this one is all yours and I must say you look extremely happy. If I remember correctly a drink, maybe that apple pie stuff got spilled on one of your hands. . . to be honest I'm not sure. Your Christmas gift. I wasn't sure I was even going to post this. Now you can blackmail me forever.

All right, I finally finished sifting through all my photos and posting whatever is going to be posted (outside of the Surgeon's Journal which will be done some day). Below are the links to the actual photo albums. I put the photos in separate albums because... well, I really don't know why. I started out posting them day-by-day, but that became too much work so I stopped. Whatever the reason, it sure makes it a pain in the neck to find stuff. PiP 11, November 30th PiP 11, December 1st FTPI 11, December 2nd FTPI 11, December 3rd FTPI 11, December 4th, Day FTPI 11, December 4th, Evening