An inaugural essay, on carcinoma or cancer : submitted to the examination of Charles Alexander Warfield, M.D. president, and the medical faculty of the College of Medicine of Maryland ; on the 1st of May, 1812 ; for the degree of Doctor of Physic / by John O'Connor--of Baltimore, member of the medical and chirurgical faculty of the state of Maryland, and honorary member of the Baltimore Medical Society.

  • O'Connor, John, 1791?-1819.
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural essay, on carcinoma or cancer : submitted to the examination of Charles Alexander Warfield, M.D. president, and the medical faculty of the College of Medicine of Maryland ; on the 1st of May, 1812 ; for the degree of Doctor of Physic / by John O'Connor--of Baltimore, member of the medical and chirurgical faculty of the state of Maryland, and honorary member of the Baltimore Medical Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    26/33
    2i advanced to a certain size; and I am ready to confess that, in many instances, I have mistaken the one for the other and have removed, by operation, tumours which at the time had the appearance of being cancerous; and upon examination, after their removal, found them of a scrofulous nature. On the other hand, I have neglected to remove tumours, from the circumstances making it probable that they were scrofulous; which afterwards became cancerous, and destroyed the patient. In all such doubtful cases, it is the safest rule to advise the removal of the tumour, if it be situated fairly, for the operation; as it is a much less serious inconvenience to lose a scrofulous gland, than to retain a cancerous tu- mour, which probably might cost the patient his life. There is reason to suspect that many surgeons, who boast of their extraordinary success in extirpating can- t cers, have sometimes dissected out tumours which might very innocently have remained; for the surprising dispa- rity which we find, in the results of the practice o£ differ- ent surgeons, is not reconcilable on any other supposition. Thus Mr. Nooth asserts, that in one hundred and twoscirrhus cases on'which he operated in the early state of the disease, all remained free from any return of the complaint; whereas Dr. Munro, sen. says of sixty can- cers which he had seen extirpated, only four remained free of the disease for two years; and these became can- cerous afterwards. This account of the late Dr. Alex- ander Mum-o, is so very discouraging, that it will not be improper to suppose the failures in those cases, arose from some peculiarly unfavourable circumstances. But later practitioners have been a great deal more successful; and a late publication by Mr. Hill, surgeon at Dumfries, has put the usefulness of extirpation be- yond a doubt, when the operation is performed sufficientlv