Surgical lectures, delivered in the theatre of the Westminster Hospital / by Richard Davy.

  • Davy, R. L.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Surgical lectures, delivered in the theatre of the Westminster Hospital / by Richard Davy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    forming this operation, Mr. Davies-CoUey of Guy's Hospital being (so far as I know) the only surgeon who has as yet practised a somewhat similar operation with success. And here let me state once for all, that I am in no way indebted to any surgeon for the line of practice I have pursued, with the ex- ception of the late Mr. Solly of St. Thomas' Hospital, who, in my opinion, was right in performing ablation of the cuboid, as a step in the right direction for the treatment of confirmed varus. F. E., aged 12, Clapham, was admitted under my care on November 7, 1876. On November 14, 1876, I operated on the right foot, and he was convalescent on December 30. On January 16, 1877, I operated on his left foot, and he was convalescent on March 1, 1877. He shall to-day (May 18, 1877) walk, hop, run, and jump without any inconvenience and without any me- chanical appliance, in the presence of you all. [After these evolutions had been gone through, the boy left the hospital.] I will now state the line of argument that has led me to advise and practise this operation; and finish up by minutely describing the details of procedure. In a clinical lecture de- livered in this theatre,March 1876, and printed in the 'British Medical Journal,' April 29, 1876,1 gave my reasons for practis- ing ablation of the cuboid, and illustrated practically its results in four cases. My dissatisfaction at the ordinary treatment of talipes varus by division of tendons and manipulation was based upon five years' experience at the Surgical Aid Society; where constantly relapsed cases were brought before my notice, which had been treated by our best orthopoedic surgeons. In January, 1874,1 commenced attacking the tarsal arch by excising the cuboid bone; and to-day I am ready to defend not only ablation of the cuboid, but an accurate removal of a wedge-shaped block of the tarsal arch. I have performed this operation three times in hospital practice with most excellent results; and I will now show you my original instruments, and the method of procedure. In the first place, you must fix most securely the foot on which you operate, and no dresser I have ever yet met with can hold a foot sufficiently steady for the precise use of the chisel. For this reason, I have introduced an ordinary portable vice into our operating theatre, with its jaws defended by the common cork clamps (as used by gun- smiths).