What has experimental physiology done for the advancement of the practice of surgery? : an address delivered before the Surgical Society of Ireland, at the opening meeting, 23rd November, 1877 / by Robert McDonnell.

  • McDonnell, Robert, 1828-1889.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What has experimental physiology done for the advancement of the practice of surgery? : an address delivered before the Surgical Society of Ireland, at the opening meeting, 23rd November, 1877 / by Robert McDonnell. 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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    WHAT HAS EXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY DONE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE PRACTICE OF SURGERY? KX Gentlemen: The topic on which I intend to address you this evening is, I conceive, not unsuitable for me to bring before you, now that I, as President of this College, am placed in the honourable position, calling on me to deliver the address which inaugurates the 47th Session of the Surgical Society of Ireland. In considering this question I do not mean to weary you by a dissertation on vivisection. I wish, as clearly and as briefly as I can, to indicate what share experimental physi- ology has had in bringing the practice of surgery to its present position. When we contemplate a stately pile of building—when, for instance, we look with satisfied wonder at Westminster Abbey, or Cologne Cathedral, or even with amazement at the exquisite detail of the Duomo at Milan, or the immense grandeur of St. Peter’s—we know that these edifices have been not merely the work of many hands, but of many varieties of skilled artificers; each—from the humble work- man who has carried mortar on his shoulder, to the refined artist who has toiled conscientiously with his chisel or his brush—has had his share in the completion of the work. So the healing art, as it at present exists, has been the slow growth of time, and the work of many sorts and con- ditions of men—the anatomist, the chemist, the patholo- gist, the histologist, the physiologist, the electrician, the physicist, etc., has each played his part; the practitioner seeks to bring to a focus light coming from every source. The successful performance of a single great operation A*