Thomas Keith and ovariotomy / by J. Marion Sims.

  • J. Marion Sims
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thomas Keith and ovariotomy / by J. Marion Sims. 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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    Just before operation he had visited two bad cases of diph- theria. Spencer Wells requires all spectators at bis operations at the Samaritan Hospital to sign a pledge saying they had not at- tended any contagious or infectious disease, or been engaged in dissections or post-mortem examinations for a week. Keith believes that antiseptics protect his patients against all danger of infection, and does not exact from spectators any such pledge. The gentleman who gives ether for him is engaged in a large obstetric practice, and Keith never inquires whether lie has puerperal fever or septic cases in hand. For myself, however strongly I believe in the protective power of Listerism, I would certainly prefer to have assistants and spectators clear of all suspicion of contagion. The idea has gone abroad that Keith is a slow operator, sim- ply because his operations arc prolonged beyond the time that would be taken by most surgeons to do like operations. But this is a great mistake, for I have never seen any one cut down to the peritoneal cavity more quickly, though always cau- tiously, remove a tumor with greater celerity, or close up the external wound more rapidly than Dr. Keith. The time that he dallies is when he comes to arrest hemorrhage, by ligating bleeding points and clearing out the peritoneal cavity, and when the operation is finished, you involuntarily ask yourself, Could it possibly have been done better? And the answer comes spontaneously : “ Impossible.” Keith never hurries; he does nothing for display; he leaves no bleeding points. Never closes the wound till he is sure that all oozing has ceased ; till he is sure that the peritoneum is perfectly dry. When he performed his first operation in 1862, he was surrounded by old men in the profession, who had the dread of wounding the peritoneum continually before their eyes. He was obliged to break up extensive adhesions, and as a consequence there was a free exudation of blood. Before closing the external wound, he began to sponge out the peri- toneal cavity, and suddenly thrust a large sponge down in the pelvis and brought it up saturated with blood. Squeezing it dry, he was about to repeat this process, when they all united in begging him not to do it! As from their standpoint of view there would be more danger in irritating the delicate perito-