Foreign correspondence : John Hunter, The Royal College of Surgeons, medical education, hospital practice, Samaritan, Guy's Westminster, medical societies, Royal Medical and Chirurgical.

  • Steele, A.G.
Date:
1883
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Foreign correspondence : John Hunter, The Royal College of Surgeons, medical education, hospital practice, Samaritan, Guy's Westminster, medical societies, Royal Medical and Chirurgical. 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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    cians and surgeons are polite and obliging, especially so, it seems to me, to American physicians. I cannot hope in the present communication (lest it become tedious) to give the re- sults of my observations, but will briefly refer to a few. Ovariotomies are of almost daily occurrence. I have wit- nessed three at the Samaritan Hospital ; two by Mr. Bantock, and one by Mr. Thornton. The former does not take any anti- septic precautions, whatever, but is cleanly and careful to a fault. In one large dermoid cyst, containing teeth and hair, the adhesions on all sides were quite extensive, and there was con- siderable oozing of blood. Hemostatic forceps were freely used, the cavity efficiently sponged, the pedicle tied with sim- ple silk, the external wound united with silk-worm gut, a glass drainage tube introduced at the bottom of the wound, the mouth of the tube covered with sponge—afterwards carefully enveloped in oil-silk, the external wound covered with thymol gauze dressing, and the many-tailed flannel bandage around the whole. Chloroform vapor was the anesthetic used, and a little morphine given after she was put to bed, barley water for twenty-four or more hours, no quinine. I saw her on the eighth and sixteenth days following; on the latter date she was up and about the ward, well. The second case was more simple, no hemorrhage, no adhe- sions, operative steps as before, except use of drainage tube. In cases demanding it, Mr. B. uses a wash composed of equal parts of alcohol and glycerine. Mr. Thornton’s case was an uni- locular cyst, in which the spray and other antisepsis were em- ployed, as is his practice, to the extreme. Methylene was the anaesthetic used. The annual report of the institution will be interesting as showing, between the two operators, the compar- ative merits of the carbolic spray. Visitors to the operations are registered, and must assert that they have not of late at- tended autopsies, cases of peritonitis or infectious diseases. At Guy’s Hospital, founded in 1721, and containing 700 beds, Mr. Bryant is the chief surgeon. He is somewhat past the mid- dle age, hair and chop whiskers iron-gray, of medium height, full of health and energy, good natured, self-confident, self-re- liant, speaks clearly and to the point, operates carefully and well, employs either chloroform or ether at will, no Listerism. He removed a carcinomatous breast, and, as the neighboring