Amputations / by William James Fleming.

  • Fleming, William James.
Date:
[1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Amputations / by William James Fleming. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    Reprinted from the Glasgow Medical Journal for April, 1899.] AMPUTATIONS.1 . By WILLIAM JAMES FLEMING, M.D. Amputations have always been looked upon as affording probably the best example on which to found comparisons of surgical work. This is because of their uniformity, when taken in large numbers, and because they involve, under all circumstances, nearly the same operative procedure and a similar extent of open wound. In addition to this the con- ditions which necessitate amputation are practically the same in any sufficient series of cases. For these reasons, I have selected them as a basis on which to bring before you to-night some statistics of the Royal Infirmary, and some conclusions which my recent ten years' sui-gical work there have led me to form. We have available the records of amputations in the Royal Infirmary for over one hundred years. These have been collected by Dr. Laurie from the years 1794 to 1838 ; by Dr. Steele, from 1838 to 1848; and by Dr. Thomas, from 1849 to 1873. The great uniformity in results which now obtains, and the immensely increased number of amputations per- formed, has made it unnecessary for me to attempt to complete the record from 1873 to the present date; but I have extracted the total amputations during the ten years 1885 to 1895, and also my own results during the same period. It will be noticed that those various sets of records group themselves naturally under three great surgical eras. The statistics collected by Drs. Laurie and Steele from 1794 to 1848 are part of the pre-anaesthetic era; Dr. Thomas' statistics, 1848 to 1873, cover the period of anaesthesia without antisepsis, while during the ten years 1885 to 1895, both those great surgical discoveries were uniformly employed. It is true that antisepsis had been initiated in our wards several years before 1873, but those of you who, like myself, were familiar with 1 Presidential address delivered to the Glasgow Pathological and Clinical Society on 15th February, 1899. A