A lecture on the expediency of establishing a medical college and hospital in the city of Albany : delivered January 11th, 1830 ; introductory to a course on anatomy and operative surgery / by Alden March, M.D. professor of anatomy and physiology in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, &c.

  • March, Alden, 1795-1869.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the expediency of establishing a medical college and hospital in the city of Albany : delivered January 11th, 1830 ; introductory to a course on anatomy and operative surgery / by Alden March, M.D. professor of anatomy and physiology in the Vermont Academy of Medicine, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    sician was sent for, to meet with him in consulta- tion, and to determine on the proper course of treat- ment. The result of the consultation was, to am- putate the limb above the situation of the diseased part. But neither the attending, nor the consult- ing physician had the necessary instruments for ope- rating. However, to turn necessity to the best ac- count, they sent to a house-joiner, and obtained a sash-saw, and to a shoe-maker, and procured a shoe knife-, and with these, together with a few oth- er domestic instruments, picked up, or prepared on the spur of the occasion, they proceeded to operate, and saved the life of the patient; though, we presume, the loss of the limb was entirely overlooked, when they reflected on the wonderful surgical feat they had performed. At the present day,a surgeon would be held respon- sible for a man's limb, thus unnecessarily sacrificed to sheer ignorance, as it inevitably appears that this must have been. Had they known that the femoral artery could be taken up, and that the hemorrhage could be thus arrested, and the limb preserved, in all probability the patient might have been a living and perfect monument to reflect honor upon then- skill, instead of being a mutilated object, to reflect disgrace upon these individuals not only, but through them, upon the whole profession. Since the facilities for obtaining medical and sur- gical knowledge are diffused throughout the civili- zed world, mistakes of this kind very rarely occur to physicians of the present day. And if any one thing has contributed more than another, to disse- minate medical and surgical knowledge among the common ranks of our profession, it is the circum- stance that medical instruction is now within the reach, and is carried almost to the very doors of all who may seek it. Numerous as are our medical schools, and as