Fecal fistulae following laparatomy [sic], or, some accidents which have attended the progress of gynecology during the past ten years / by A. Palmer Dudley.

  • Dudley, Augustus Palmer.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fecal fistulae following laparatomy [sic], or, some accidents which have attended the progress of gynecology during the past ten years / by A. Palmer Dudley. 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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    gynecology and the gradually diminishing death rate at the* hands of him who is learned in that art. At the same time the conservative writer has been equally zealous in his efforts to show, by a long chain of evidence finely drawn out, that he who Avields the knife in gynecology is little short of a murderer. Each has worked his good and each has found his level in the profession. It is not ray purpose to tire you with a repetition of either side of the story, but to call your attention to some of the accidents that have attended their progress during the past ten years; it is only necessary for my purpose to go back so far. At that time displacements of the uterus were being treated with pessaries ; the knowledge of peri uterine dis- eases was very imperfect, and they were being treated main- ly by local applications per vaginam ; uterine fibromata had only occasionally received the mysterious influence of elec- tricity ; procidentia had not been relieved by utilizing the normal supports of the uterus from within the abdominal cavity; the primary laparatomy for extra-uterine pregnancy was not even in embryo; improvements in Cesarean work were dormant, and, in fact, intra-abdominal gynecological surgery was yet in its infancy. During this time intravagi- nal work has been but little improved. The master and teacher, Dr. Emmet, has brought the work to such a state of perfec- tion that little is left to be done. Sims, our country’s favor- ite, laid the foundation of modern gynecology and built well during his time ; but, with all that emanated from his bril- liant mind and also that of McDowell, another shining light in our profession while he lived, it remained for a foreigner to point out the pathway over which progress in the treatment of diseases of women would be made in the future. It is not every one that believes in prophecy, but time proves all things, and no truer prophecy was ever made than that by our honored FellOw, Dr. T. G-. Thomas, in his address upon gynecology at the first meeting of this Association, eight years ago, when he fearlessly predicted that an enlightened and conservative surgery would be the pivot around which would revolve the gynecology of the future. Let us see how this prediction has been fulfilled. 'What is the evidence ? Have the changes that have taken place in our-