Wayne State University School of Medicine - Yearbook (Detroit, MI)

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- iii-... ire: The Bcttmann Archive representation of Caesarean operation. From a French translation of 15th century. Soranus of Ephesus of the second century A.D. is the authority on gynecology and obstetrics of antiquity. There were then no real additions to obstetrics until the time of Pare 1500 years later. Francois Mariceau in 1668 illustrated with exquisite copper plates the conduct of labor, version and the man- agement of placenta previa. This was a canon of the art of that time. During the 18th century care of labor passed from the midwife to the trained male obstetrician. For five genera- tions the Chambcrlens held a commanding position in English medicine. Peter the elder invented the iron tongs which were the forerunner of obstetric forceps. Forceps were regarded as a family secret until Peter Chamberlen C1560-16311 publicized their use. Cesarean section has its origin in mythology. Virgil described the delivery of Esculapius from the belly of his mother by Apollo. Abdominal cesarean sections are re- ferred to in the Talmud and are described in the living mother in the-jewish Mfiflflll written about 180 A.D. Antisepsis was employed in obstetrics before the time of Lister. The greatest single achievement of the New Vienna School was determination of the cause and prevention of puerperal fever. In 1843 the eloquent Oliver Wendell Holmes in Boston presented his classic 'fOn the Contag- iousness of Puerperal Feverf' In 1847 lgnaz Philipp Semmelweis recognized puerperal fever resulted from septicemia. With antisepsis he reduced the maternal mortality by almost 90 per cent on the first obstetric ward of the Allgemeines Krankenhaus in Vienna. This ward had such a high mortality women begged not to be taken IDIO II. i',i ' 1' 1-1 S E,- T 5-I-X1 in The Bettmann Archive Colonial childbirth scene in Pennsylvania. Both Holmes and Semmelweiss stirred up violent oppo- sition which was more effectively parried by the adept Holmes. Semmelweiss is one of medicine's martyrs. He died insane after the violent controversy arising from his observations on the cause and prevention of puerperal sepsis. Other important milestones in obstetrics are the artifi- cial induction of labor by Carl Wenzel in 1804, the study of the deformed maternal pelvis by Carl Naegele in 1839, and the use of ergot as an oxytocic by John Stearns in 1908. Sir james Young Simpson in 1847 first employed chloroform for delivery. He introduced the uterine sound and dilation of the cervix for diagnosis of cancer. Prenatal care evolved from the writings of john William Ballantyne on Diseases of the Foetusn in 1892. Modern Gynecology received its impetus from the pioneer work of Ephraim lVIcDowell and was further developed by the brilliant achievements of james Marion Sims in plastic surgery of the female genitalia. In Danville, Kentucky, in 1809, McDowell performed the first ovari- otomy on a 47-year old Mrs. Crawford who lived to be 78 years of age. He performed this operation 13 times during his lifetime with eight recoveries. Sims in 1852 described the technique for therepair of vesicovaginal fistula using the position and speculum which bear his name. The most recent important milestone in gynecology and obstetrics was erected by George Nicholas Papanicolaou. From 1928 to 1954 he established the importance of ex- foliative cytology in the diagnosis of uterine cancer and as a reflection of endocrine function. 39 t I 1. S, il i it.. ii'

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DEPARTME T or GY ECQLQGY AND CB TETRICS 'rs' ,V T. N. Evans, Chairman lf' Uu- '?ir SITTING Qleft to rightjz Harold C. Mack, T.N. Evans, Charles S. Stevenson. STANDING Qlefl Lo rightjz Kamran S, Moghissi, john Y. Teshima, Bernard Mandelbaum, Harold L. Fachnie, Charles C. Vincent, Charles R. Boyce.

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DEPARTME T OF EURGLOGY m i TV I -rpg-it-4-Sl r i l l John Stirling Meyer, Chairman SITTING flelt to rightl: I. Wiederholt, H. Tellez, E. Gotham, J. Gilroy, ul.T. MCI-Ienry, MLS. Meyer, R.B. Bauer, A.D. Ericsson, D. Garwacki, G.A. Dakoske. STANDING Qleft to rightj: S. Tadjpour, D. Lustig, A. Kitamura, F. Nomura, K. Sakamoto, M. Toyoda, A. Kondo, R. Boulos, H. Kim, A. Pugcl, P.P. Miller, L. Fratila, P. Rodprasert, L. Andaya, T. Onuma, L. Lee, R. Bennett, V.N. Samuel, D. McClellan, G. Minnis. V