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History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

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224 <strong>History</strong> <strong>of</strong> Medical Practice <strong>in</strong> Ill<strong>in</strong>oischarge is under the most sacred obligation to perform this operation <strong>of</strong>transfusion. Moreover, once acqua<strong>in</strong>ted with his duty under such circumstanceshe should lose no time <strong>in</strong> acquir<strong>in</strong>g, if he has not already, bothmeans and skill to meet all emergencies <strong>of</strong> this k<strong>in</strong>d." Direct transfusionwas carried out by Freer by means <strong>of</strong> a rubber tube with a bulb attached tothe center permitt<strong>in</strong>g aspiration and expulsion <strong>of</strong> blood. 12Physicians were also <strong>in</strong>terested at this time (about 1875) <strong>in</strong> the diagnosis<strong>of</strong> sex <strong>in</strong> utero by means <strong>of</strong> the heart beat. Several papers written after acareful study <strong>of</strong> the subject condemned the method as useless.Dr. L. R. Slater, <strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong> Ill<strong>in</strong>ois. He quoted a mortality <strong>of</strong> 11876, made a study <strong>of</strong> mortality <strong>in</strong> placenta previa<strong>in</strong> every 3.6 cases <strong>in</strong> England us<strong>in</strong>gversion. About this time Simpson suggested the advisability <strong>of</strong> dilat<strong>in</strong>gthe cervix manually, detach<strong>in</strong>g the placenta and do<strong>in</strong>g a version and extraction;he reported a mortality <strong>of</strong> 1 <strong>in</strong> 14. Barnes at this time <strong>in</strong> England reportedan 1 1 per cent mortality when expectant treatment was used. Atampon was placed <strong>in</strong> the vag<strong>in</strong>a and the patient kept at rest <strong>in</strong> a horizontalposition until delivery. All the babies <strong>of</strong> these cases died. Slater also suggestedthat blood transfusion would be useful <strong>in</strong> such cases but had notused it.It was also <strong>in</strong>1876 that Dr. A. Reeves Jackson denied the universallyaccepted theory that ovulation and menstruation were co<strong>in</strong>cidental.based his op<strong>in</strong>ion on careful observations made at operations <strong>in</strong> which hefound evidence <strong>of</strong> rupture <strong>of</strong> follicles at times other than the menstrualperiod.The year 1876 is <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g also for a report by Dr. D. E. Foote <strong>of</strong> thecase <strong>of</strong> a physician who was called to attend an erysipelatous phlegmon.He opened this, developed a sore on his own f<strong>in</strong>ger, then attended twopuerpera both <strong>of</strong> whom developed fatal puerperal peritonitis. One <strong>of</strong> thesewomen was nursed by her husband who developed erysipelas shortly afterwardand was ill for a long time.Obviously at this time there was little major gynecologic operative workbe<strong>in</strong>g done, and much <strong>of</strong> the discussion <strong>in</strong> gynecology was concerned withthe use <strong>of</strong> various <strong>in</strong>struments for diagnosis, and the treatment for support<strong>of</strong> prolapse <strong>of</strong> the uterus and repair <strong>of</strong> obstetric lacerations. Dr. T. DavisFitch, <strong>in</strong> 1878, reported on a modification <strong>of</strong> the Emmet operation for repair<strong>of</strong> the lacerated cervix which <strong>in</strong>cluded bilateral denudation and repairwithout general anesthesia. He believed that the operation would aid<strong>in</strong> the cure <strong>of</strong> backache, leukorrhea, granulation <strong>of</strong> cystic degeneration <strong>of</strong>the cervix which recurs after treatment, hysterical neurosis and nervousHe12This might be considered the first artificial heart which is play<strong>in</strong>g so vital a role <strong>in</strong>surgical research on cardiac disease at the present time.

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