On the improvements which have been introduced into the practice of surgery in Great Britain within the last thirty years / by James Syme.

  • Syme, James, 1799-1870.
Date:
[1853]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the improvements which have been introduced into the practice of surgery in Great Britain within the last thirty years / by James Syme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ON THE IMPROVEMENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED INTO THE PRACTICE OF SURGERY IN GREAT BRITAIN WITHIN THE LAST THIRTY YEARS. By JAMES SYME, Esq., PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL SURGERY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. [FROM THE MONTHLY JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE FOR APRIL 1853.] The great improvements which in recent times have been so pro¬ fusely contributed to the well-being of society by other departments of practical science, frequently suggest the question, Has the prac¬ tice of surgery advanced in a proportionate degree ? The older members of our profession, who have not quite kept pace with the march of progress, are apt to express doubts as to any real advan¬ tage having been gained of late; and our younger brethren, who are occupied more with learning present opinions than in tracing their origin, although inclined to believe that things are better than they used to be, feel rather at a loss, when called upon, to explain the grounds of their persuasion. In these circumstances, I have thought that it might not be improper for a member of this Society, who can speak from his own observation and recollection, to men¬ tion some of the improvements which have been introduced into the practice of surgery within the last thirty years. In attempting to execute this task, I do not propose to record those particular achievements of operative surgery which merely reflect credit upon the skill and intrepidity of the gentlemen who performed them, or those new modes of treatment which are either decidedly objectionable or of questionable expediency. The excision of ovarian tumours; the aperture of the large intestine to afford relief from obstructions of the bowels ; the opening of the abdominal cavity in search of internal strangulations ; the excision of the knee-joint in¬ stead of amputation ; the remedy of anchylosis by forcible rupture of the adhesions between the articulating surfaces,—and other less pro¬ mising proposals, have all had their respective advocates ; and it is not