The principles and practice of operative surgery.

  • Skey, Frederic C. (Frederic Carpenter), 1798-1872.
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of operative surgery. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    surgerjj than the man who^ having acquii-ed the reputation of a dexterous operator, regards the world as tlie great field of his experiments. A man who has the reputation of a ''splendid operator is ever a just object of suspicion; and I firmly believe that the bad operator, conscious of his weak- ness, will be found to have ever been the larger contributor to scientific surgical knowledge. Two brief anecdotes will illustrate the principle. An eminent member of our profession is asserted to have said, I have achieved my present rank by wading up to my knees in blood, Of another, and no less eminent man, it is said, that on being told by a medical friend that he had just witnessed a beautiful operation, he looked at the observer with an eye of indignation, and replied, Sir, I do not comprehend what a 'beautiful operation' means. I have never seen the operation to which the term beautiful could apply. Both these great men were at fault. At the period adverted to, doubtless, the value of human blood (although John Hunter had already established its vitality) was not appreciated, any more than were the remaining components of the body. The other authority must have acknowledged that perfection in any art is a source of the highest beauty. Both these sentiments are in extremes. There is a position which Operative Surgery is entitled to hold in our esteem, and which, so long as it does not clash Avith, nor interrupt the studious and persevering effort of the surgeon to render its aid unnecessar}', must ever rank among the most valuable departments of scientific medicine.