Samuel Sharp, the first surgeon to make the corneal incision in cataract extraction with a single knife : a biographical and historical sketch / by Alvin A. Hubbell, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Buffalo.

  • Hubbell, Alvin A. (Alvin Allace), 1846-1911
Date:
[1904?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Samuel Sharp, the first surgeon to make the corneal incision in cataract extraction with a single knife : a biographical and historical sketch / by Alvin A. Hubbell, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Buffalo. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    indebted to the Advantage of an Education under You, for what¬ ever Knowledge I can pretend to Surgery, I could not in the least hesitate to whom I should dedicate this Treatise, though was it my Misfortune to be a stranger to your Person, that Merit which has made the World so long esteem You the Ornament of your Profession, would alone have induced me to shew You this Mark of my Respect, which I hope will not be unacceptable.” In his preface he says: “It has been very much my Endeavour to make this Treatise short, and therefore I have given no Histories of Cases, but where the uncommonness of the Doctrine made it proper to illustrate it with Fact, and these I have recited in the most concise manner I was able: on this account, too, I think I have not attempted to explode any Practice which is already in disrepute.” In following out this plan of limiting himself to the statement, in as few words as possible, of the “distinguishing ap¬ pearances” of surgical diseases, and the methods of treatment which he approved, he gave to the profession a most acceptable treatise. The first edition of 1739 was followed by a second in 1740, and in 1782 there had been ten English editions, one in French (1741), and one in Spanish (1773). Sharp’s next literary undertaking was his “A Critical Enquiry into the Present State of Surgery.” He published this in 1750, soon after his visit to Paris in 1749. In this work he says in the preface, “I have only considered either such Doctrines, which, though generally received, are in my Opinion ill-grounded, or such Improvements as are yet but little known.” In this “En¬ quiry” there are over three hundred pages of “criticisms” on the surgical practices of the time, particularly of the Parisian sur¬ geons, together with statements of his own conclusions and methods. This book, like the previous one, was concisely and clearly written, and was well received, both by the English and the Continental profession. It passed through four English editions up to 1761, and translations of it were made into French, in 1751; into Spanish, in 1753; into German, in 1756, and into Italian, in 1774. PAPERS READ BEFORE THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Besides these works on general surgery there were published three papers which Sharp read before the Royal Society of Lon¬ don. The first one was very brief, and was “An Account of the Event of Experiments made by Agaric upon the Amputation of the legs of two Women in Guy’s Hospital,” read December 14,