Notes on the history of the mucous membrane of the body of the uterus : William and John Hunter / by J. Matthews Duncan.

  • James Matthews Duncan
Date:
[1858?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on the history of the mucous membrane of the body of the uterus : William and John Hunter / by J. Matthews Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/12 (page 2)
    scarcely fair to attach to its statements a value at all equal to what it would have possessed if published by its author. During his life- time it had lain long beside him, almost ready for publication, and wre have no right to assume that, had his term of life been extended, he would ever have consented to its appearance in the form in which it has become known to the world. It is from these two works, one published before, the other after, his death, that we draw all our most reliable information regarding this great man’s opinions. It has been truly remarked by M. Velpeau, himself a medical his¬ torian and obstetric anatomist of considerable pretensions, that no student examining this part of the human frame could fail to observe the membrana decidua.1 But, he adds, such obscure notions as were entertained, scarcely served any other purpose than to impede the researches of observers, and can in no manner be compared to the descriptions of William Hunter. William Hunter’s views, in regard to the decidua, are to be found with absolute authenticity in his plates and his own descriptions of them, and also in a less trustworthy manner in the posthumous volume entitled, u An Anatomical Description of the Human Gravid Uterus and its Contents.” We can do nothing more in regard to his plates, than appeal to themselves in corroboration of the most recent and incontrovertible descriptions of the decidua. They are all pictures of real objects, with the exception of figures 7, 8, and 9, of the 34th plate. These last are plans or diagrams intended to illustrate his views in regard to the decidua, and may even now be used with advantage for a like purpose. In the text explanatory of the plates, he yields to the custom, which still persists, of describing the decidua along with the contents of the uterus, although it be really, as he well knew, an integral part of that organ. For instance, in his explanation of plate fifth, he speaks of “ the inner surface of that part of the womb which was in contact with the decidua;” a statement liable to be misinterpreted if not to mislead, unless it be compared with more exact descriptions of the same parts. His positive assertions in regard to the decidua are, that it is con¬ tinuous with the substance of the womb (Descr. of plate 21); that it is the inside of the womb (Descr. of plate 29, fig. 1); that it forms the uterine part of the secundines (Descr. of plate 33, fig. 5); that it forms the uterine part of the placenta (Descr. of plate 33, fig. 5); that it is not extended across the passage in the neck of the womb (Descr. of plate 28, fig. 1) ; that it is continued down into the inner membrane of the cervix (Descr. of plate 25); that the fallopian tubes are not closed by it but open into its cavity (Descr. of plate 34, figs. 3, 5, 6, 7); that in the early weeks it is a thick membrane of a soft or gela- 1 Traite Coraplet de l’arfc des accouchraents.—Bruxelles 1835, p. 156.