The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-02-25

other organization Nearly every promi- nent surgeon and psychologist In the south Is member,
 Dr. Davis was a regular contributor to the leading medical journals both in America and Europe. His articles on abdominal surgery have attracted wide attention.
 He recommended an operation of the gall, bladder and ducts which has been adopted largely by the profession and has modified the technique in aanumber of abdominal and genealogical opera , ms.
 I he recent .a9var1ee made in gall-bladder surgery is due ta the work of Dr. Davis, who called attention to his experiments in an address delivered about year ago be- fore the surgical section of the American Medical association on "Peritonitis from Gaf Stones.'
 Liver Treatment We'll Known.
 All the leading abdominal surgeons of this country and European surgeons have generally endorsed pr. Davis treatment of the liver by drainage and he was pro- nounced a benefactor in this branch of surgery.
 Dr. Davis had Just completed book on "The Surgery of the Liver, Gall Bladder and Ducts." and was arranging for it's publication.
 The last issue of the Alabama Medical Journal contained the following editorial in reference to Dr. Davis forthcoming publications
 Editorial Endorsement
 "The announcement that pr W. F. B. Davis is preparing a book on The Sur gerry of the Liver, Gall-Bladder and Ducts will greatly interest the medical profession of Alabama. His name has been very closely associated with this de- partment of surgery for more than dozen years. The editor of the Alabama Medical Journal has published abstracts of his papers on gall-bladder surgery several times each year during the entire history of the Journal. Indeed, he has been deeply interested in Dr. Davis orig inal work on the liver and duets and has followed his contributions on this subject very closely. It is gratifying to note the general recognition now of his original work. which received only scant attention ten or eleven years ago.
 Tn May, 1892, he read a paper before the surgical section of the American Medical association on peritonitis from gall stones, in which he reported some experiments on dogs where he had tested the value of gauge in draining the bile after wounds of the gall bladder and ducts. He con- cluded that if an animal could get well. by packing with gauge, without any stitches, that 1t would be safe to depend upon the gauge and glass drainage tube in opening the common duct and removing the obstruction in the human subject. He took the position that suturing should not be resorted to in such cases from the fact that the pa- tient requiring such an operation was nearly always in very serious condition from cholemia, and that time was an im- portant factor in such cases; that an incision should be made in the duet, the obstruction removed, d glass drainage tube introduced down to the incision, and gauge packed around 1t. The crushing of stones through the duct with forceps, as recommended by Lawson Tait, was pro- nounced a risky procedure, as injury to the duct might be produced, and slough ing afterward result, being followed by extravasation of bile into the abdominal cavity. The method of puncturing with needles was also condemned. The plan of dislodging the stone either into the in- testines or back into the gall bladder was advised, if it could be accomplished
 In this article the opinions of several of the most eminent surgeons are quoted in regard to this valuable contribution to hepatic surgery.
 His Work EuIogized.
 In the clerical lectures in the leading hospitals the surgeons have taken the occasion to eulogize the work of Dr. Davis and have said that this operation-- patatomy--enabed the surgeon to deal with cases which up to that time had been beyond the reach of surgical pro- cedure. A
 Dr. Davis latest contribution to the surgery of the liver is a bloodless patatomy It Is pronounced an infallible measure for the control of hemorrhage of the solid viscera.
 That the work of the great physician
 lcontinued on SeelAd Paqel