308 SURGERY 



attained by surgery, are compared with its notable achievements 

 in the present day, can the idea be fully grasped of how great, how 

 wonderful, how grand, has been the progress during the past cen- 

 tury. The advances which have been made in every department 

 of human activity, the victories gained in every field, the innumer- 

 able inventions, the marvelous discoveries, the daring exploits car- 

 ried forward to successful completion, the magnificent results 

 secured along all scientific lines, are all discussed and celebrated 

 in the meeting of this International Congress. But while the other 

 sciences have indeed thrilling stories to relate, and can point with 

 just pride to excellent deeds performed, the science of surgery 

 stands out in bold relief and conspicuous grandeur, apart from 

 and above the others, in that it deals directly with human life, 

 that most precious of mortal possessions, often lending to it not 

 only a helping but a saving hand. At the same time its story is 

 so simple and yet so grand that the child and savant may alike 

 participate in the pleasure which the wonderful narrative is fitted 

 to convey. 



Surgery as a science made no profound impression upon the 

 world until about a century ago. But from that time to the present 

 the almost miraculous works which it has wrought, increasingly mar- 

 velous with every passing year, have aroused astonishment and 

 admiration in every quarter of the globe. 



In order to appreciate what surgery has accomplished, it is neces- 

 sary to refer briefly to its status prior to 1800. A little over a cen- 

 tury ago surgery as a science had no existence. It had no definite 

 or dignified position. It received no aid or support from reigning 

 monarchs or kings. It was in the hands of charlatans and quacks 

 and barbers, and it was practiced with some few exceptions by 

 uneducated and irresponsible men. It was only in 1800 that surgery 

 was divorced from the traditions of the past and was given a place 

 among the sciences. It was in 1800 that the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons obtained its charter from Parliament, which had refused 

 over and over again to grant it. So bitter was the opposition to 

 granting a charter to the "Company of Surgeons" that Lord Thur- 

 low is said to have proclaimed in the House of Lords that "there 

 is no more science in surgery than in butchering." It was only by 

 an appeal to King George the Third that this charter was finally 

 obtained. In marked contrast to this attitude of Parliament was 

 the scene enacted at the Centenary of the College of Surgeons, a 

 few years ago. Here were assembled the foremost statesmen of 

 England, and the leading scientists of the world, to do honor to 

 the occasion. The King himself joined in the banquet as an honor- 

 ary member of the Guild. During all these centuries prior to 

 1800, as has already been stated, surgery had no established place 



