Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/379

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LITHOGRAPHY.
335
LITHOTRITY.

1839) ; Bergman, bas Giiine des Hteindrucks, nebst Inhang von der Zinkographie (Weimar, 1843) ; Weishaupt, Theorelisch-praktische An- Jeitung zur Cliroinolithographie (Quedlinburg and Leijizig, 1847); Das OesammtgeUet des Bteindrucks, nebst Anhang von der Zinkographie (Weimar, 1865) ; Bregeant, Xouveau mnnuel eomplet de I'imprimeur-lithographie (Paris 1850) : Richmond, Grammar of Lithography (London. 1885).

LITHOL'OGY. See Petrology.

LITHOMANCY. See Supeb.stition.

LITH'OMARGE (from Gk. XWot, lithos, stone + Lat. marya, marl). A name given to the (-om- pact earthy varieties of halloysite. kaolinite, and pinite. They are essentially hydrated aluminum silicates, also containing iron oxide and other coloring substance.s, and are either white, light yellow, or red in color, according to the amount of impurity. These minerals are soft, greasy to the touch, and adhere strongly to the tongue. They are found in Germany, Russia, Cornwall, England, and at various localities in the United States.

LITHONTRIP'TICS ( from Gk. Wo», lithon, ace. sg. of l$oi, lithos, .stone + rpf/Seir, tribein, to rub, to wear out). An old term applied to remedies which, whether taken by the mouth or injected into the bladder, act as solvents for urinary calculus or stone.

Various medicines have at different times been recommended and employed. Rather more than a century ago, lime-water and soap, when swal- lowed in sufficient quantities, had a high reputa- tion as .solvents for urinary calculi. These were the only active ingredients in Miss Stephens's Receipt for the Stone and Gravel, which was re- ported on so favorably by a committee of profes- sional men that the English Parliament, in 1739, purchased the secret for £5000. The treat- ment doubtless afforded relief: but there is no evidence that any calculus was actually dis- solved, for in the bladder of each of the four per- sons whose cure was certified in the report the stone was found after death. At present no sub- stance is known which, taken by the mouth, has the power of dissolving calculi. The relief which, in many instances, has followed the administra- tion by the mouth of substances supposed to be lithontriptics has been derived not from the solution of the calculi, but from the diminution of pain and irritation in the bladder.

LITHOPHYTE (from Gk. l$os, lithos, stone -f (pvrbv, jihi/ton, plant). A plant that grows on rocks, sometimes underneath the water, as marine algie. See Benthos; Rock-Pi,ants.

LITHOSPHERE. See Crust or the Earth.

LITH OSTRO'TION (Xeo-Lat., from Lat. lithostrotus, mosaic, from Gk. XiffAo-TpoiTos, paved with stone, from l8os, lilhos, stone + aTpt^rbt, St rot OS, covered, from aTpuvvivat, sironnynai, to spread). A characteristic fossil coral of the Carboniferous limestones, found in all parts of the world where those rocks are known. This coral, allied to Cj'athophyllum. forms a rounded mass of more or less closely packed cylindrical or polygonal tubes, the upper ends of which have cells with numerous strong radiating septa and Tisually also a prominent central conical ele- vation or columella. About fifteen species are known, of which the more common are Litho- strotion Canadense, of the Mississippi Valley States, and l-itho.strotion junceum, of Europe and Asia. Sea Cohal.

LITHOT'OMY (Lat. lilholomia, from Gk. ieoTOnla, lithotomy, from MSos, lithos, stone + TO/j.-^, tome, a cutting, from W/iwi', temnein, to cut). The technical name for the surgical opera- tion popularly called cutting for stone. As most of the symptoms of stone in the blad- der (see Calculi-.s) may be sinuilaled by other diseases of the bladder and adjacent parts, it is necessary to have additional evidence regarding the true nature of the case before resorting to so serious an operation as lithotomy. This evi- dence is afforded by sounding the patient — ^a sim- ple preliminary operation, which consists in in- troducing into the bladder, through the natural urinary pas.sage (the urethra), a metallic in- strument, by means of which the stone can be plainly felt and heard. From the .shortness of the female urethra and the extent to which it can he dilated, and, additionally, from the compara- tive rarity of calculous affections in women, the operation of lithotomy is almost exclusively re- stricted to the male sex.

Lithotomy has been perfiunied in various ways at different times. The earliest form of lith- otomy is known as cutting on the gripe, or Celsus's method. It received the former name from the stone, after being fixed by the pressure of the fingers in the anus, being directly cut upon and extracted; and the latter, from "its having been first described, so far as is now known, by Celsus, although it had probably been practiced from time immemorial. At a later period this operation received from Mari- anus the name of the apparatus minor (from a knife and hook being the only instruments used), to distinguish it from his own method, which he called the apparatus major, from the numerous instruments he employed. The .Marian method was founded on the erroneous idea that wounds of membranous parts would not heal, while their dilatation was comparatively harmless. The ob- ject was to do as little as possible with the knife, and as much as possible with dilating instru- ments; and the necessary result was laceration and such other severe injury that this became one of the most fatal operations in surgery. Nevertheless, it was the operation mainly in vogue for nearly 200 years. .t present, surgeons, operating by cutting through the perineum (the body between the rectum and the bladder), use a median, or a lateral, or a slightly curved trans- verse incision, according to individual preference. But either of these methods is suitable only for the removal of a small stone: therefore it is most frequently advisable to remove the calculus by an abdominal incision (suprapubic lithotomy) .which was first employed by Franco in 15(il. By this method the opening is made first above the pubes, and the bladder is entered without cutting the peritonenm. For details of the operation and of after-treatment, consult Dennis and Billings, .1 Si/slcm of Surgerif (Philadelphia. 1803).

LITHOT'RITY (from Gk. XWot, lithos. stone -f Lat. Iritus. p.p. of tcrerc. to rub, to grind). The surgical operation of breaking up a stone in the bladder into such small fragments that they may readily be expelled through the urethra. Although the importance of such an operation has been recognized from the earliest time, a French surgeon, Civale, who commenced his re-