^>^>'^ OBSTETRICAL OFERATIONS. 



SepticaRmia is also to be apprehended ; and to prevent it, it is well to 

 remove every source of putridity, or anything likely to become putrid, 

 and to use plentifully a weak solution of carlDolic acid (1 to 100) or the 

 permanganate of potass in the interior of the uterus, and particularly 

 about the incisions in the cervix — even for some days after the opera- 

 tion. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

 Gastro-Hysterotomy, or Caesarian Section.^ 



Gastro-hysterotomy, Ca'sarian section, or ahdommal hysterotomy, is 

 an operation which has for its object the removal of the foetus or foetuses 

 from the uterus of the parent — when they cannot be delivered ^jer vias 

 naturales — by making an opening in that organ through the abdominal 

 walls, and thereby extracting them. 



This is a formidable and a serious operation, whether it is practised on 

 the human female or on animals. In the obstetricy of woman, it has been 

 resorted to from a very early period ; the Greeks knew it as va-reporoiJ-oroKn] 

 or efifSpioeXKr], though it is supposed that they only performed it after the 

 mother was dead, and to save the child. Persons thus born were 

 sacred to Apollo, and ^sculapius was designated the son of that god, 

 because it was believed he had been delivered by gastro-hysterotomy. 

 Some strange notion appears to have been attached to this method of 

 delivery, as among these old-world people the person who had been 

 born by means of the operation was esteemed remarkable and fortunate. 

 Hence Claudius Ctesar, Scipio Africanus, Cteso Fabius, Julius Caesar, 

 and other more or less illustrious personages of old Rome, received the 

 surname of " Cffisones " from being extracted by abdominal incision 

 from their mother's womb: "Quia caeso matris uteru in lucem pro- 

 discunt." At a later period these persons were designated " Caesares," 

 — a noble title ; though, as has been demonstrated, it is a mistake to 

 assert that it owes its origin to Julius Caesar- — this being merely his 

 patronym. 



Since these early times, abdominal hysterotomy has been often 

 practised on woman ; but when it was first attempted on animals is not 

 quite certain. Haller was led to believe that the Greek veterinarians — 

 Apsyrtus and Hierocles — knew and performed the operation on the 

 domesticated animals ; but this has been shown to be a mistake. 

 Until we arrive at the time of Bourgelat — the illustrious founder of 

 veterinary schools, in the latter half of the last century, we appear to 

 have no evidence that such an operation was ever proposed for animals. 

 And even Bourgelat- only suggests it in cases in which the dam is 

 attacked by a dangerous disease when the period of gestation has nearly 

 or quite expired, and its life may be beneficially sacrificed in favour of 

 its progeny, which is to be quickly removed from the uterus. In 1781, 

 Brugnone-"^ intimates that this operation may be performed on Mares 

 and other animals which could not bring forth ; but, hke Bourgelat, he 

 does not state whether he ever practised it. 



It was not apparently until 1813, that Morange, and in 1816 Goheir'* 



' It has been suggested that the term "laparotomy," or " laparo-hysterotomy," would 

 be a better term for this operation. 



- Traite de la Conformation Exterieure du Cheval, 1768. 



^ Trattato delta RazrA di Cavalli, p. 406. 



■* Memoires siir la Chirnrgie et la Medfcine Veterinaire, vol. ii., p. 40. 



