Clinical notes on uterine surgery : with special reference to the management of the sterile condition / by J. Marion Sims.

  • J. Marion Sims
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Clinical notes on uterine surgery : with special reference to the management of the sterile condition / by J. Marion Sims. 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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    would it be to arrange everything preparatory to such a procedure. Then, as to the temperature of instru uients; for the slightest variations of this, whether of heat or cold, are inimical to the life of the sj^ermatozoa. Then as to the quantity of semen to be introduced, whether much or little; the delicacy of the apparatus for this, and the proper time for the operation. When all these circumstances are taken into consideration, we can appreciate the difficulties of the practical execution of a thing that would at first appear to be theoreti- cally so simple Ever since the days of Spallanzani and Rossi, who, with a syringe, injected the semen of the dog into the vagina of the bitch, and saw impreg- nation follow, it has been supposed by many that in the human subject this mechanical process might be carried still further, by injecting the semen into the cavity of the uterus from the canal of the vagina. But I know of no published account of any experiments of this sort. Some years ago, I made a series of this kind, and actually saw conception follow this process in one instance. Dr. George Harley, Professor, <fcc, in Uni- versity College, London, informs me that he has repeatedly performed the experiment of injecting the ^semen into the cavity of the uterus, but with no result. I have given up the practice altogether, and do not expect to return to it again ; but as others may feel disposed to try further experiments in this direction, I shall here give them the advantage of my experience. Before undertaking this we must satisfy ourselves that the semen is perfectly normal, and that it does not and cannot enter the canal of the cervix in the natural way. In all my cases there was a contraction of the cana]