Abdominal surgery past and present : opening address / by John Knowsley Thornton.

  • Thornton, John Knowsley.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Abdominal surgery past and present : opening address / by John Knowsley Thornton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    we may well believe that from his venture the operation really sprang into being. Lizars attempted ovariotomy in 1823, but found no tumour, and publishing this case in 1824, he appended the record of McDowell's work, which the latter had sent to him several years earlier (1816). He performed ovariotomy successfully in 1S25, using the long ligature for the pedicle. In tlie same year he had a fatal case with the short ligature. In his successful case he transfixed the pedicle. He had some other unsuccessful and incomplete cases, and the result of his work seems to have been, that the operation was thoroughly discredited in Scotland, and was not again attempted till 1845, when Dr. Handyside operated in Edinburgh. From this time up to 1862, the operation was rarely attempted, and only once with success. But in 1862, Keith appears upon the scene, and henceforth Scotland must take the foremost place in the history of successful ovariotomy; it seems in his hands to have mattered little whether the clamp, the short ligature, or the cautery were used—brilliant results were obtained by all; and, as I know from personal conversations with him ten or twelve years later, he sometimes thought the one method best, and sometimes the other; but I am anticipating, and must return to Keith's work later. In the sister isle, the operation had been only three times per- formed up to this time, and always with a fatal result. In England Dr. Granville operated in London in 1826 and 1827, but the first case was abandoned on account of adhesions, and the second proved to be a uterine tumour. Ten years later, Jeaffreson, of Framlingham, had a successful case, introducing the use of a very short incision, and the same year King and West had successful cases ; the latter bad another in 1839, and also a failure which is noteworthy as having been performed in a large London hospital—the London Hospital. In 1846 Mr. Caesar Hawkins first operated successfully at St. George's Hospital. Dp to 1842 there had been no successful case in London, though ten successful cases had been recorded in the provinces. In this year (1842) Charles Clay, of Manchester, commenced his operations, and saved three out of his first four cases, and iD the same year Mr. Walne had the first Buccess in London. Jeaffreson, writing in 1844, remarks that, if not the originators of the operation, British surgeons at least deserve the merit of having placed it on any- thing like a sure foundation. I am afraid, however, the remark