1817 MCDOWELL, Ephraim (1771 – 1830)

Three cases of extirpation of diseased ovaria.

McDowell was a pioneer ovariotomist. Although not the first to perform this operation, he deserves credit for putting it upon a permanent basis. The above records his first ovariotomy, performed in 1809, together with…

GMN 6023 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7235

1822 SMITH, Nathan (1762 – 1829)

Case of ovarian dropsy, successfully removed by a surgical operation.

Smith was the first in the U.S.A. after McDowell to perform ovariotomy, for ovarian edema. Smith was apparently without knowledge of the previous operations of McDowell.

GMN 6024 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7239

1825 LIZARS, John (1794 – 1860)

Observations on extraction of diseased ovaria.

Lizars performed the first (unsuccessful) ovariotomy in Britain. His book made generally known the practical possibility of this operation.

GMN 6026 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7246

1842 CLAY, Charles (1801 – 1893)

Cases of peritoneal section, for the extirpation of diseased ovaria, by the large incision from sternum to pubes, successfully treated.

Clay, pioneer ovariotomist in Great Britain, introduced the word “ovariotomy”. (See also his later paper, No. 6054.)

GMN 6032 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7323

1843 ATLEE, John Light (1799 – 1885)

Case of ovarian tumors – both the right and the left being removed at the same operation.

First successful double oöphorectomy. Communicated in a letter to the editor by J. M. Foltz.

GMN 6034 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7329

1851 ATLEE, Washington Lemuel (1808 – 1878)

A table of all the known operations of ovariotomy. From 1701-1851.

Atlee is said to have performed ovariotomy 387 times; with his brother John he firmly established the operation in the U.S.A.

GMN 6038 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7342

1863 KOEBERLÉ, Eugène (1828 – 1915)

De l’ovariotomie.

The introduction of ovariotomy into France was in part due to Koeberlé. He made great advances in gynecological operative technique.

GMN 6051 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7389

1863 KOEBERLÉ, Eugène (1828 – 1915)

Exstirpation de l’utérus et des ovaires.

First successful excision of uterus and ovaries for tumor.

GMN 6052 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7393

1864 CLAY, Charles (1801 – 1893)

Observations on ovariotomy, statistical and practical. Also, a successful case of entire removal of the uterus and its appendages.

For many years Clay was the most eminent ovariotomist in Great Britain. In all, he performed 395 ovariotomies, with a mortality of 25 percent.

GMN 6054 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7401

1870 THOMAS, Theodore Gaillard (1831 – 1903)

Vaginal ovariotomy.

First vaginal ovariotomy.

GMN 6061 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7424

1872 BATTEY, Robert (1828 – 1895)

Normal ovariotomy.

Battey’s ovariotomy operation for the treatment of non-ovarian conditions. This operation later acquired a greater significance in connection with more modern work on endocrinology. Preliminary communication in J. gyn…

GMN 6062 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7426

1881 TAIT, Robert Lawson (1845 – 1899)

A case of removal of the uterine appendages.

Oöphorectomy, February 1881.

GMN 6075 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7467

1884 TAIT, Robert Lawson (1845 – 1899)

General summary of conclusions from one thousand cases of abdominal section.

Tait was probably the greatest of the ovariotomists. He abandoned Listerian principles of antisepsis, relying on “scrupulous attention to cleanliness of every kind and in all directions”.

GMN 6081 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7481