Remarks on ovariotomy : being a postscript to the author's work on tumours / by George Macilwain.

  • Macilwain, George, 1797-1882.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on ovariotomy : being a postscript to the author's work on tumours / by George Macilwain. 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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    fi it, or where it is ulready interfering by its bulk Avitli the lunctioiis of important organs,—^with some others not material to our present purpose. Of late yeiii’^i^tlie'removal of diseased Ovaries by extiipa- tion has ‘ been- broiigllt' prominently' before' the profession. ■ A vast number of operations'have been performed, with dif- ferent results. 'DK Robert Lee, who is opposed to Ovario- tomjr, brought forward reports of ' 566 cases; of these, about one half-'•^ere-cases of^success; so ' far at least as regarded r^overy^lhom the''^Operation; 'bearly obe half, on the con- trary, terminated fatally. ■ Now, these are facts which urge the necessity of patient enquiry; ah'd-itis equally clear that results so different must have necessarily'' involfed the elements of the most valuable instructioh in diagnosis.- Nothingwoulcthaveheen more easy than to have organized a plan' for the' collection of all cases; and as this'cottld'''not be done by ahy individual, it was the paraihljiiht dut;^6f Medical Societies; ahd' a national duty in thol^^fMtff^'Ghart^'rsJ^td ha'V’e sUch a plan. In- stehd^lif -i^iiSh^^hbtllin^'ha^ d^bi *hnd‘'^^uestions'which might ® hii-#|^ witii ^a'^Very'^ i^sOnkble ^are -of industr}', ‘cliuple ofbhUny ^bthers^' of llke“^i|iii'‘i^y,‘^^t!d whith^ (So fai’ as' Surgical'tinterfei’enee'as the' safety^er destruction ef hundreds df '^e^,^i5iayfe'bete^^ be determined'atycme distant period by 'th'e'''dhcei!“taiii*^^d^''cdbflib'ting^ oscillations of individual ^ sla^ of ally’s' has^na^ui^ily led td^ cqiitrovei^Sy, inViiich ^l^s ^m^mpst^'^^^ character of judge has been ihplacea by tha^bf advocatej*^^^ a tone obsei4ed much more like a contest for victory,'tlian 'a desire for the elucidation of philosophical truth. Now, lest I should he held as directing any ohSCrvatibns I may offer as to the conditions necessary to be observed in operating, exclusively to Ovariotomy, I may at once remark that it appears to me, if operative surgery is to do anything but obscure the science, it should at least contribute to en-