The Conceptual Basis of Modern Surgery

Abstract

The broad pattern of surgical practice as we know it to-day was largely designed in the fifty years that centred on the turn of the century. This was a time of great vigour and high accomplishment, when surgical adventurers the world over were ready to exploit to the full the twin discoveries of anaesthesia and antisepsis. It was the era of the “anatomical” surgeon, and speed and manual dexterity wedded to courage and imagination were the qualities that led to success and fame—and fortune. It is small wonder that some came to believe that with their definition of the possible and impossible the ultimate goal of surgery had been attained.

The truth is otherwise; for though much was achieved, surgery was still largely a craft and much of its practice was empirical and ill-conceived. Nevertheless, the debt of the modern surgeon to his immediate ancestors is a substantial one. The experience and the knowledge that they gathered and disseminated has become for all time an important part of the fabric of surgical practice, though in our pride and our satisfaction in the surgery of to-day we are apt to forget it or ignore it or minimise it.