376 SURGERY 



made use of the following phrases in the Edinburgh Review, which 

 furnishes somewhat amusing reading in the light of to-day: "Amer- 

 icans have done absolutely nothing for the sciences. ... In the 

 four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? What 

 does the world yet owe to American physicians and surgeons? 

 What new substances have their chemists discovered?" The con- 

 tradiction of the first phrase that "Americans have done absolutely 

 nothing for the sciences" is found in the brilliant and wonderful 

 achievements performed by them, as recorded in this address, by 

 which millions of human lives are saved. "In the four quarters of 

 the globe, who reads an American book?" To such a challenge 

 facts reply louder than words. Were you to take from the world's 

 medical literature, alone, all that has been contributed by Amer- 

 icans during the past century, the result would be astonishing and 

 the loss incalculable. "What does the world owe to American phy- 

 sicians and surgeons?" To this challenge the record of new opera- 

 tions, bold and undreamed of, the invention of new processes, the 

 introduction of new instruments and methods, all of which I have 

 endeavored to outline rapidly in this address, is the abundant re- 

 ply to this unique interrogative viewed in the light of to-day. 

 "What new substances have their chemists discovered?" The suffi- 

 cient answer is, "anesthesia," which one discovery apart from all 

 the other noteworthy ones which our chemists have made, places 

 the civilized world under unspeakable obligations to America. 

 Anesthesia is by far the greatest and most far-reaching discovery of 

 the century, a gift to the world which cannot be estimated, a direct 

 benediction from God upon mankind for the saving of life and the 

 escape of humanity from pain. 



In a review of the statistics that have been presented, one pro- 

 minent fact stands out in clear and bold relief, and that is, that all 

 along the line constant and marvelous improvement has been made 

 in the science of surgery. To this statement there is not a single 

 exception in the entire surgical domain. Everywhere and in every 

 department there has been uninterrupted progress a progress 

 which has not been hindered or hampered by the loss of any past 

 discovery. 



In nearly all the other arts and sciences there is something which 

 has been lost. They have advanced, indeed, most gloriously, and 

 their present development is wonderful in the extreme; yet each 

 one has dropped some good thing by the way which can never be 

 recovered. Their votaries in bygone centuries possessed some se- 

 crets in methods and processes which not only died, but evidently 

 were buried with them. By these they secured certain remarkable 

 results which their modern followers, try as they may, are unable 

 to reproduce. Thus in the art of painting, sculpture, architecture, 



