The endoscope as an aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease / by Francis Richard Cruise.

  • Cruise, Francis Richard, 1834-1912.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The endoscope as an aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease / by Francis Richard Cruise. 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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    I succeeded in making the endoscope practically available, therefore I i have no positive results to show. However, my friend and col- 1 league, Dr. Robert M'Donnell, submitted my instrument to a ( test upon the dead body, which I think may fairly be considered t an experimentum crucis, and, in illustration of its capacity, I I record the trial, for the veracity of Avhich Dr. M'Donnell is as i responsible as I am myself:—He first prepared a subject by opening I the bladder and introducing into it three substances of a nature the I most unlikely to be thought of, and respecting which I was in total !; ignorance. He then brought me to the body, and challenged me i to tell with my endoscope what the articles in the bladder were, i! In a few minutes I was able to do so, and to demonstrate them to him. I The articles were—a brass screw with a milled head, a short Mini^ \ bullet, and a mass of plaster of Paris. i In conclusion, I have to apologize to the readers of the Journal j for the length—far exceeding what I originally purposed—to which i this communication has extended, and to ask their indulgence for i| the too obvious haste with which the materials at ray disposal were ij thrown together. I feel that I must depend on their consideration, : and kind allowances for the fact that I am myself but a neophyte I in the unexplored study of endoscopy, and for the difficulties which I have experienced in stealing a few hurried moments from other i engagements to record briefly my experiences in tliis somewhat ncAv, but I hope not uninteresting, field of inquiry. If I have made it \ clear that with the endoscope it is easy to see portions of the body supposed to be wholly invisible, and thereby added even the smallest new facility towards accurate diagnosis, I shall be perfectly satisfied. If, however, I have succeeded in aiding, directly or indirectly, in the relief of one iota of human suffering, and in inducing others to work with the endoscope and labour to extend its usefulness, then indeed the object of my ambition shall have been most fully i realized.