In the French language it signifies a wax candle, and is applied to a machine which (as the wax candle formerly was) is introduced into the urethra for removing obstructions there. Mons. Daran, a French surgeon, lately boasted of his introducing them as an improvement in his art, and acquired considerable profit by making and selling them. Scultetus, about the middle of the 17th century, used bougies in diseases of the urethra, and Mons. Daran probably took the hint from him. Different compositions have been used, and generally mercury was a part of them. Rivieres made a platter as follows: 1. ol. oliv. 2. ceres citrin. 3. ol. miny. & ceruss. 4. ol. oliv. tereb. venet. & rez. alb. 5. iii. Whether the bougies are made up of this or any other composition, they must be of different sizes, from the bigness of a knitting needle to that of a goose quill. They are made of linen rags, spread with a proper matter, and then rolled up as follows. Having spread any quantity of the linen rag with the composition that is chosen for the purpose, cut it into slips from six to ten inches long, and from half an inch to an inch broad; then dextrously roll them on a glazed tile into the form of a wax candle; and as the end of the bougie that is to be entered first into the urethra should be somewhat smaller than the rest, it would be as well to cut the slips a little tapering. It should also be observed, that when the bougies are rolled up, that side must be outward on which the platter is spread.

Mons. Daran, and some others, attributed the action of their bougies to the composition they made use of in forming them. Mr Sharp apprehended, that as much of their efficacy was owing to the compression they made on the affected part, as to any other principle; and Mr Aiken very justly says, As it is evident that bougies of very different compositions succeed equally well in curing the same disorders in the urethra, it is plain that they do not act by means of any peculiar qualities in their composition, but by means of some property common to them all. This must be their mechanical form and texture, therefore their mode of action must be simple compression. The efficacy of mere compression in many cases of constriction is well known, from the use of sponge tents for widening parts that are straitened by cicatrises; and admitting obstructions in the urethra to be from a contraction formed by cicatrizated ulcers, or a projection of the spongy substance of the urethra into the canal, we may easily conceive, that a gentle continued elastic compression will in time overcome the disease. We may also readily account for the inferior efficacy of metallic and whalebone bougies, from their not having the property of swelling with moisture, and therefore not making so equal a compression. As to bougies procuring a discharge of matter, there is no doubt but the mechanical stimulus of a foreign body in such a tender part, though free from disease, must produce it in some degree; and that this will be varied according to the chemically irritating quality of the composition, and the irritable state of the urethra: but it seems an absurdity to apply a topic, made uniform throughout, to the whole length of a canal, with a view of producing extraordinary effects upon a particular part of it, by means of some powerful quality in the ingredients. As to that part of the bougie which was in contact with the diseased part, being particularly covered with matter; this circumstance is probably owing to the greater irritation of that part of the urethra where the disorder is, than any other.