A report of the trial of Cooper v. Wakley, for an alleged libel, taken by shorthand writers employed expressly for the occasion : with an engraving of the instruments, and the position of the patient / together with B. Cooper's "Prefatory remarks" on the evidence, and a copious explanatory appendix, by Thomas Wakley.

Date:
1829
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report of the trial of Cooper v. Wakley, for an alleged libel, taken by shorthand writers employed expressly for the occasion : with an engraving of the instruments, and the position of the patient / together with B. Cooper's "Prefatory remarks" on the evidence, and a copious explanatory appendix, by Thomas Wakley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    iterden. If tlie operator had been aware of the position of the stone, he done those tluogs at iirst? At first, after gctling into the bladder, Lord Tenterden. would have my Lord. Cross-examined hy Sir James Scarlett. Mr. Partridge, did you make the report to the Editor of The Lancet' No Have you attended any meetings since of Mr. Wakley and his witnesses' I saw the attorney last night, for the first time, at eight or nine o'clock. Had your opmion ever been taken upon it before last night ? Never : did vou mean my opmion liad ever been taken by Mr. Wakley ? Yes? Never; I never saw Mr. Wakley, before to-day. A great many persons were present at this operation,were there not? Yes there were, ot pupils; there were others, too. Who was the assisting surgeon ? Mr. Callaway. Do you know Mr. Callaway ? \'ery well. Is he a man of skill ? I always thought so, and I hr.ve no reason to think the contrary now. Did you ever know, in the course of your practice before—ever recollect, any case where the stone was found to rest upon the pubes? I make use of that term because it laid very hign. I liave met with it three or four times myself, and I have in variably extracted thestone bydepressino; the handleof the forceps, and using pressure above the pubes ; therefore, I conclude, it laid high up. Exactly so ; I am not questioning the grounds of your o°pinion. Pray, Mr. Par- tridge, allow me to ask you,—the first part of the operation, I beheve, is to intro- duce the staff'? Yes. What you call the straight staff, is an instrument which Mr. Key uses very much? .Yes, it is; it's called Mr. Key's staff. Do you know Mr. Key? No, I do not know him ; I have not seen him since I left the Borough, I think I should not know him. I knew him when 1 was a pupil. But you know him to be a man of reputation and skill ? O yes. The first operation is to introduce the staff, whether straight or crooked is not now material, through the urethra, through the prostate gland, and into the blad- der ? Yes. Lord Tenterden. The first through the urethra(Sir James Scarlett.) Yes, ray Lord ; which passes through the prostate gland, then into the bladder. {Wit7iess,) Passes through the whole canal into the bladder. The urethra passes through the prostate gland ? Yes. The staff has a groove in it ? Yes, it has. For the purpose of catching the knife that is inserted into it? Yes ; the knife is made purposely to go along the groove; and some knives have a probe point, but I believe this one was used without a point. Not the first knife ? Tlie first knife was used without a probe point; it has a long point to be carried along the groove. 1 am not speaking of this operation? O, if you mean any operation Yes, the o])eration in general; the cut is made in the perineum with a knife ? Yes, With a knife, and the object is to get the point of the knife into the groove of the staff; is it not ? Surely. Just so: when \he point of the knife is inserted in the groove of the staff, it has then penetrated the ureihra in some part of it? Of course it must. Lord Tenterden. Stop; when the knife gets to the staff, it must have cut some portion of the urethra.'' (Sir Jumes Scarlett.) Yes ; for the staffis in the urethra. Then the staffis brought forward to become more parallel with the knife ? Yes. And then the staff' is forced on to carry the knife into the bladder? The handle is depressed. Yes; to bring it near the bladder ? To bring it in a line with it. Then the knile is run along the curve, when it must necessarily make a large incision through the urethra, and into the bladder No ; not necessarily. Eh? It depends upon how you carry your knife, whether you make a large or small angle with the knife. But the object is to make a larger incision into the bladder ? Yes.