Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/33

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

SURGERY xxiii

Among men of this type, Samuel D. Gross perhaps deserves first men- tion. His original investigations and monographs on "Wounds of the Intestines," "Foreign Bodies in the Air Passages, " Diseases of the Blad- der" and "Diseases of the Bones and Joints," all contributed greatly to the advancement of surgery, although not as likely to bring lasting fame as many other far less painstaking and laborious pieces of work. As a result of his investigations, Gross first advocated taking in the tough submucosa in the intestinal suture and the excision of the axillary lymphatics in cancer of the breast. As an organizer, he was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the American Surgical Association, the American Medical Association, and the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery. His influence as a teacher and inspirer of men is sufficiently shown by the fact that ten of his pupils held positions as professors of surgery in our medical colleges. (Keen, DaCosta and Hearn of Philadelphia, Rodman of Louisville and Philadelphia, Richardson of New Orleans, Yandell of Louisville, McGuire of Richmond, Conner of Cincinnati, Parkhill of Denver, Nancrede of Ann Arbor. ("Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin," 1906, vol. xvii.) While not having direct bearing on surgery, it is a noteworthy fact that Gross wrote the first book on pathology in the English language. At various times he edited several medical journals and probably published the first system of surgery to attract widespread attention outside of our country, it being translated into a number of foreign languages.

Among other students of surgery who should be mentioned are Jonathan Mason Warren, of Boston, whose "Surgical Observations" are of such interest and value that his book is still frequently referred to by writers on surgical topics.

Frank H. Hamilton was the author of a work on fractures ("A Prac- tical Treatise on Fractures and Dislocations," 1860), which still has a great deal of interesting information for students. This was the first complete and exhaustive treatise on fractures in English.

Henry J. Bigelow, of Boston, whose monograph on the "The Hip" (1869), and whose studies of litholapaxy are of original value.

John Ashhurst, Jr., whose monograph on "Injuries of the Spine" is well known and whose " Encyclopedia of Surgery " is still an important mine of information.

Marcy's "Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Hernia" thoroughly reviews the work of the old masters, covers the advance after the introduc- tion of antisepsis, and presents many beautiful cuts. Relatively few important advances have been made since its publication.

Others might be mentioned whose work was of equal and perhaps even greater importance.

The early surgeons seem to have been most active workers in organiz-