Note on ovariotomy and ovarian tapping / by J. Matthews Duncan.

Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Note on ovariotomy and ovarian tapping / by J. Matthews Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    OVARIOTOMY NOTE ON AND OYARIAX TAPPING/ By J. MATTHEWS DUNCAN, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., LECTHBEE ON MIDWIFEKT, EDINBURGH, ETC., ETC. In the Lancet of February 28, 1857, 1 published an article entitled, Is Ovario- tomy Justifiable ? I there showed that the arguments hitherto used in justifi- cation of this operation were either loose and illogical or absurd. In the Lancet of March 21,1 find an answer to my paper by Professor Simpson, the gentleman whose arguments chiefly were impugned. My first impulse on perusing this paper was to lay it aside, as it contained much disagreeable matter, personal to me as a private individual, and nothing in the way of solid argument that demanded my attention; but further consideration has induced me to reply, even at the expense of some reiteration, and of the painfulness of controversy, however amiably conducted. The importance of the subject is an ample apology for this, and I shall avoid private matters carefully. I shall make my remarks under two heads. I. What Dr Simpson has done. 1. He complains that I do him injustice in excluding ovariotomy from among those operations, of which he says that (to use his own words) he particularly doubted whether surgeons were justified in so often subjecting patients to a great chance of speedy death, from a severe surgical operation, for the removal of a disease which might still allow of the continuance of life for many months or years, etc. Re-examination convinces me that I used this quotation justly. But if Dr Simpson even intended it to be used differently, I have no desire to chng to it. I never used it as an argument against ovariotomy, but only as an illustration of bad reasoning. He insists that these remarks do include ovario- tomy--that is, his labours to justify ovariotomy leave him particularly doubting whether surgeons are justified in so often subjecting patients to a great chance of speedy death from it. A curious result. The qualification he introduces with the words so often'' cannot be important; for I suppose all ^ From the Lancet, March 28, 1867.