James Marion Sims / [Hubert Ashley Royster].

  • Royster, Hubert Ashley, 1871-1959.
Date:
[1922]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: James Marion Sims / [Hubert Ashley Royster]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SURGERY, GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS position air will rush in and balloon the vagina as soon as the vulvar orifice is opened, especially when a bent pewter spoon (the first Sims’ speculum) was used to retract the perineum; the other was the accidental sight of a spiral brass wire discovered while walking along the street, and suggesting the use of a fine silver wire to close the denuded edges of the fistula. The bent spoon exposed the opening and the silver wire sutures held tight without sloughing—thus were removed two previously insuperable difficulties in the way of relieving these suffering women. This operation now is so easily performed and the results so uniformly fortunate that we can hardly conceive of the conditions under which Sims worked. Month after month for 4 years he labored to gain access to the site of operation, finally using his speculum in the latero-prone position (since named after him); time after time witnessing the breaking down of the wounds closed with silk sutures; persisting until he was rewarded with success in the case of a colored woman after thirteen successive operations. Small wonder that under the terrific strain of work, accompanied by anxiety and worry, the body, never very strong, broke down. He was compelled to give up his practice for a time. In 1853, 4 years after his wonderful contribution was given to the world, he resolved to locate in the city of New York, where he might command a larger audience and a wider opportunity for professional service. The usual opposition met by a newcomer was his lot, but after a few years his triumph was complete, resulting as his chief vindication in the founding of the Woman’s Hospital, of which Sims was the creator and which now stands as the highest type of this class of institution, a lasting memorial to him. His noble figure in bronze stands in Bryant Park. Eight years in New York sufficed to spur Marion Sims onward, seeking other worlds to conquer. In 1861, just as the Civil War in this country was beginning, Sims sailed for Paris and asked the eminent surgeons of that city (then the surgical center of the world) for patients that he might demonstrate his method of cure in vesicovaginal fistula. The first of the surgeons he sought was Velpeau, then at the height of his fame, and a pleasing account of the interview is given by E. Souchon, of New Orleans, who was then a medical student in the French capital. Doubt, haughtiness, and cold demeanor marked the Parisian surgeon’s manner toward the American claimant, but, with Souchon playing the part of interpreter, after several days a patient was found and operated on by Sims in the presence of masters like Velpeau, Nelaton, Ricord,and Malgaigne and of medical students in large numbers. The result was a perfect cure. Then case after case, both hospital and private patients, came in abundance and, with the exception of two who were near dying under chloroform, nothing happened to mar the continued round of successful operations, most of which were done without any anaesthetic, and all of which resulted in cures. His fame and fortune were made.