The Hunterian Oration : delivered February 14, 1883 at the Royal College of Surgeons of England / by T. Spencer Wells.

  • Wells, Spencer, 1818-1897.
Date:
1883
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Hunterian Oration : delivered February 14, 1883 at the Royal College of Surgeons of England / by T. Spencer Wells. 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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    tures on inflammation, acknowledging that ‘ we find our- selves once more coming back to the notions, which at one time were thought obsolete, of the great father and founder of physiological pathology; ’ so we may be certain that Hunter foresaw much of that progress in ab- dominal surgery in which it has been my own pride and pleasure to assist. In 1762 William Hunter distinctly suggested that it might be advisable to expose an ovarian cyst by a small incision,—4 tap the bag and draw it out.’ In 1785 John Hunter said, ‘I cannot see any reason why .... we should not make an opening into the abdomen and extract the cyst itself. Why should not a woman suffer spaying without danger as well as other animals do ? ’ The influence of Hunter’s teaching upon John Bell, of Bell upon McDowell, and the history of ovariotomy since McDowell’s first operation, is a theme which I have treated at length in this theatre and elsewhere; and however strongly tempted to enlarge upon it, and upon the more recent extensions of peritoneal surgery—the removal of uterine tumours, of the spleen, of one kidney, of hydatids, of gall-stones, of omental and mesenteric tumours, of fibro-plastic and fatty tumours of various origin from the abdomen, of the entire uterus, or of part of the uterus with the foetus, of an extra-uterine foetation, of the pylorus, and of portions of diseased intestine—all operations which have been performed with increasing success—I regret very much that I have not time to do more than point to the preparations on the table, which show how our younger hospital surgeons are assisting the most recent advances of abdominal surgery. Mr. Treves’s specimens show how perfectly union between two portions of intestine may be effected after the removal of an inter- vening diseased portion ; and the three large gall-stones removed from the gall-bladder of a woman in the