Page:A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.djvu/184

dorn’s; and published a case that had been treated by it in the “Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences.”^[1] A remarkable circumstance in the surgical practice of Dr. Gibson was the performance of the operation of Cæsarean section twice successfully on the same individual. The details of the two operations have been published separately by Dr. Joseph G. Nancrede and Dr. George Fox, in the “American Journal of the Medical Sciences.”^[2]

Dr. Gibson published, in 1824, his Institutes and Practice of Surgery, being “Outlines of a Course of Lectures.” This work was intended as a guide to the students attending his lectures, and is marked for its accuracy of style and language. It passed through six editions, having been amended and improved; the last edition of 1841 being so enlarged as to constitute a respectable treatise on Surgery. He published, in 1836, a paper entitled, “A Sketch of Lithotripsy, with Cases;”^[3] and in 1841 was published his “Rambles in Europe in 1839, with Sketches of Prominent Surgeons and Physicians, Medical Schools, Hospitals, Literary Personages, Scenery, &c.” The sketches it contains are graphic and spirited. In 1847 Dr. Gibson again visited Europe, and for several successive years delivered occasionally to the class a lecture devoted especially to his observations and inquiries.

He died at Savannah, Georgia, on the 2d of March, 1868, aged eighty years.

Dr. Henry H. Smith was elected to the Professorship of Surgery, May, 1855.

In 1860 Dr. Wood resigned the Professorship of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, and was appointed Emeritus Professor; he was succeeded by Dr. William Pepper. In 1863 Dr. Wood was chosen a Trustee of the University.

1. No. VI., page 231.
2. Observations on the Cæsarean Operation, accompanied by the Relation of a Case in which both Mother and Child were preserved. By Joseph G. Nancrede, M. D.—Amer. Journ. of the Medical Sciences, Aug. 1835, vol. xvi.

   Account of a Case in which the Cæsarean Section, performed by Prof. Gibson, was a second time successful in saving both Mother and Child. By George Fox, M. D.—Amer. Journ. of the Medical Sciences, May, 1838, vol. xxii.

3. American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Aug. 1836.