460 ON DISEASES OF THE KIDNEYS. 



" weeks, till fuch time as the inflammation, 

 *•' &c. about the neck of the bladder, was quite 

 *•' difperfed and gone ; after which the people 

 *•' pifTed as well and found as ever, and fome 

 *• of them are yet living; though it is ten 

 " years fince I performed fuch operation upon 

 " them." 



Now Bracken challeno;es the invention of 

 this operation, as " a method never before 

 *' praftifed, nor even mentioned in any an- 

 " cient or modern author." I have read of 

 the ancient operation of Lithotomy, defcribed 

 by Celfus ; of the ufe of the Catheter, by 

 Romanis and Marianus ; of the high and low 

 operations ; of the improvement of Frere 

 Jacques, and the latter improvements upon 

 him, by various eminent men ; but of the ope- 

 ration through the abdominal mufcles, imme- 

 diately above the Qs pubis (or high operation) 

 as defcribed by Bracken, I only find it faid to 

 be a late difcovery, v/ith no notice whatever of 

 the inventor's name. I have fomewhere read, 

 that the famous Lord Peterborough underwent 

 the high operation, and nearly about the fame 

 period in which Bracken pra6lifed it. Profef- 

 fional critics can no doubt fet me right, as to 

 the truth of Bracken's pretenfion. Granting 

 him really the inventor, it is not difficult to 

 conceive that his cotemporaries, and even 

 fome writers fmce, would preferve an affefted 



filence 



