Introductory for 1844-5 : on the present position of some of the most important of the modern operations of surgery / by Thomas D. Mütter.

  • Mütter, Thomas D. (Thomas Dent), 1811-1859.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory for 1844-5 : on the present position of some of the most important of the modern operations of surgery / by Thomas D. Mütter. 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.)

    19/36
    Several novel methods for the radical cure of reducible hernia, have from time to time been introduced, but as yet the surgeons of Europe have not decided that we possess any thing better than a well constructed truss. Probably injection of the sac as performed by my friend, Professor Pancoast, and subsequently by Velpeau, promises more than any thing else. Acupuncturation, the pins of Bonnet, the invagination of a portion of integument proposed by Gerdy, the plastic operation of Jamieson, the scarifications of the sac revived by Velpeau, the gelatine slips of Belmas, and hernotomy performed by Detmold, have all to bear the test of subsequent experience before they can be received into the ranks of useful and justifiable operations. You will all be anxious, I doubt not, to learn the estima- tion in which European surgeons, generally, hold what is cal- led Plastic Surgery. This department of our science although in reality old enough to speak for itself, may be considered a comparatively modern invention, for certainly the beautiful and perfect results obtained in our time through its agency, far surpass any thing that emanated from the hands of its original advocates and inventors, not excepting, even, the learned Taliacotius himself. These operations were for many years considered almost as fabulous, and have excited the ridicule of the wits of every age, inclu- ding Butler, Voltaire, and the polished Addison—and even now, notwithstanding the positive testimony of the first authorities, in their favor, are supposed by many to be bare assertions, destitute of truth, and useless as they are apocry- phal. But, gentlemen, both wit and opposition have been tried in vain, and the most distinguished men in Europe unite in awarding to the measure a high and commanding position among the most useful improvements of the age. When such authorities as Graefe, Dieffenbach, Zeis, Chelius Delpech, Dupuytren, Velpeau, Roux, Lisfranc, Lane, Blan- din, Labat and Jobert, on the continent, and Brodie, Law- rence, Liston, Stanley, Fergusson, Smith and others of hi°-h