Livorno : Tipografìa Be. Ortalli, 1881.
Description : [1]–72 p., [1 l.] pl., [1 l.] fol. tbl. ; ill.: 1 phot., tbls. ; 23 cm.
Photograph : 1 albumen mounted on leaf — profile view of the clinical subject, a 66 year-old male.
Photographer : Ugo Bettini (1843-192?) — attributed.
Subject : Parotid gland — Sarcoma ; thermocautery.
Notes :
La risultante e vastissima ferita era ricoperta non da escare, ma dalla solita patina giallognola; ed in 40 giorni i lembi, con lieve reazione flogistica e scarse suppurazioni, si erano perfettamente cicatrizzati; siccome può rilevarsi dalla annessa fotografia.—Page 48.
Non posso dissimulare che la festosa accoglienza da me fatta al Termo-Cauterio, e l'espressione franca e sicura dei suoi singolari vantaggi nella pratica Chirurgien, a fronte di gravi discussioni che tuttavia si agitavano intorno al medesime, mi tenevano preparato a sostenere qualche seria polemica: ma la mia aspettativa fu cortesemente delusa dall favorevole accoglienza che le suddette mie Relazioni Cliniche incontrarono non solo in Italia, ma in special modo all'Estero, da dove, fra le diverse approvazioni, mi pervenne quella dell'illustre Si. Prof. Muller concepita nei termini seguenti. "Le résultat que vous avez obtenu avec le Thermo-Cautére, et que montre la photografie joint à votre travail, est bien joli, et a été admiré par la Societé de mêdicine d'ici." —Page 40.
By 1867, Grilli was on record as the health director of the Bagni Pancaldi, a luxury seaside health institute in Livorno. Four years later he published statistics compiled on 228 cases of successful thalassotherapy, conducted at the baths in a "breathing hall" he designed and furnished with steam pump nebulizers of purified salt water, simulating ocean spray. To further heighten the salubrious effects of the marine experience, he equipped the baths with water jets to simulate ocean waves and even laid down seaweed, freshened daily, beneath perforated wood floor mats. Treatment included douching with the latest purveyances from the Mathieu firm in Paris, but Grilli also tinkered in materia medica and invented a hand-held combination nebulizer and cauterizer that he introduced under the title, "Speculum polverizzatore e termo-cauterio: Relazioni cliniche" (Livorno, B. Ortalli, 1880). Grilli's thermocautery was an adaptation of Claude-André Paquelin's (1836-1905) instrument used in the surgical cases of this report. Marvelling at Paquelin's contribution to the armamentarium, Grilli writes, "The only intention of this publication was to express my full adherence to a real advancement in surgical science and practice, as the Paquelin thermo-cautery had revealed to me through its application" (p. 30).
