History of a successful case of amputation at the hip joint / by J. Sampson Gamgee.

  • Gamgee, Sampson, 1828-1886.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of a successful case of amputation at the hip joint / by J. Sampson Gamgee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    our predecessors, and the scepticism in medicine which now prevails; as doubts are always apt to do, when the progress of knowledge has resulted in the demolition of predjudices, and is not sufficiently advanced for the full demonstration of truths to replace them; 6thly, after-dressing should not only be as simple as possible, but so lightly applied as to give no pain. The slightest twitch may excite spasm, which it may be very difficult to allay, interrupt commencing union, occasion secondary hemorrhage, or give rise to so much pain as to interfere with the appetite and rest, and turn against the patient, slightly perhaps, but still fatally, the balance of probabilities ; 7thly, it is of the highest importance that the surgeon should so master the disposition, and gain the confidence, of his patient, as to keep him tranquil, free from the horror of the instrument pocket case at the daily visit, and so reliant on the precautions taken to meet eventualities, as not to be intent on their possible occurrence. To return to our case. The weight of evidence and probabilities seemed to promise a fair chance of success; my reasons for the diagnosis and proposed removal were approved by my colleagues, and instructions were given to prepare for the operation. 6. Critical Observations on Medical and Surgical Statistics. The distrust, which I have incidentally expressed, of almost all the surgical statistics extant, must not be taken as evidence of my assent to the justice of the severe condemnation, which is, just now, pretty generally visited on the numerical method of medical and surgical investigation. The errors propounded after a faulty application of the statistical method are of unquestionable magnitude and frequency, and their pernicious influence is the greater because, advanced on the basis of a large number of observations with the parade of strict analysis, they command very general assent, and a good while elapses before evidence can be obtained in disproof. It must also be conceded that figures, like all other instruments, have a double operation, for good and evil respectively, according to the manner in which they are used; but it would be very deplorable if, in the presence of the misuse of statistics by some, of their exaggerated importance by others, we allowed thorn to fall in general estimation, as one of the most potent engines for the attainment of truth and the elimination of error, in the science of medicine almost above all others. D