PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.
Since the first edition of “Why Not?” was published, we have received many letters of approval, and of inquiry relative to its author. In issuing this new treatise, which we believe destined like the first to become a standard book, and to have even a greater circulation than that, we have thought that a few lines of information on our part would not be considered inappropriate.
Professor Storer’s writings are no inapt index to his own character. He is thoroughly alive to his duties; sagacious to discern the truth, fearless in asserting it. Progressive, without being too radical, he is still sufficiently conservative to respect the opinions of others, even though at variance with his own. Perhaps no American physician of his own age, holds at the present time a more prominent position in his profession. He has already been quoted as authority by European writers; and in this country he seems everywhere to have received the most flattering acknowledgment of his scientific labors, save here in his own city, where for many years he has met with uninterrupted opposition, and even personal abuse, from a professional clique—the result, doubtless, of jealousy upon their part, envy, and that spirit of antagonism which has long rendered the disagreements of physicians a by-word.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has happily described the present instance in the last chapter yet published of his “Guardian Angel,” where he says, “There is no possible success without some opposition as a fulcrum; force is always aggressive, and crowds something or other, if it does not hit or trample on it.”
There is one other reason which has undoubtedly gone far to render Prof. Storer no exception to the rule that a leader is seldom appreciated by those in his own immediate vicinity, until—as is rapidly occurring in the present instance—he has conquered renown. Resident for a long time at Edinburgh, in very intimate relations with the celebrated Sir James Y. Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform as an anæsthetic, Prof. Storer is peculiarly a representative of the Scotch school of obstetrics, and has zealously and successfully upheld its peculiar tenets, in opposition to the many disciples of the French and Viennese schools among his contemporaries.
It has been asserted of Dr. Storer that, when engaged in professional controversy, he is pitiless and unsparing. These statements seem traceable to opponents who have been worsted, and speak from bitter experience. There may, however, be some reason to believe, that, like his teacher, Dr. Simpson, he has profited by the advice of Polonius:—
The character of the weapons that have been used against our author may be judged by an extract from a personal attack contained—without a word of palliation or excuse from the editors—in one of the latest numbers of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
In attempting to save a poor invalid—sure otherwise soon to perish—Dr. Storer had performed one of the most tedious and difficult operations in surgery, hitherto successful in a most notable instance at his hands, namely, the removal of the womb by incision through the abdomen: an operation with which his name will be forever identified. In commenting upon it, the would-be critic used the following language: “Allow me publicly to protest, most solemnly, against such practice, and earnestly to beg of my professional brethren, everywhere, to use their utmost influence to prevent their patients and friends from employing or consulting such practitioners.”
Abuse like this is sure, of course, to react upon those who employ it, and to gain for its object the sympathy and active interest of all lovers of fair play and justice. By a happy coincidence, the article referred to chanced to be followed, on the same page, by another, which we also quote:—
“At a meeting of the Physicians and Surgeons in attendance upon Prof. H. R. Storer’s course of Lectures on the Surgical Diseases of Women, just delivered at Hotel Pelham, in Boston, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted:—
“Whereas, We, the attendants upon Prof. Storer’s first private course of Lectures on the Surgical Diseases of Women, being regular practising physicians and surgeons, have long experienced the disadvantages arising from the very imperfect manner in which these subjects have been treated in our text books, and by the professors in our colleges; many of the most important diseases and operations being entirely ignored by men who think deeply and reason candidly in all other matters pertaining to medicine and surgery; and, whereas, we cannot but feel that this class of diseases is the most important, believing it to be the cause of more suffering than any other, therefore—
“Resolved, That we tender to Dr. Storer our sincere gratitude for taking the advance step which he has, thereby giving us, as we hope he will hereafter give others, the opportunity of hearing these subjects discussed thoroughly and impartially.
“Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to Prof. Storer, and sent to The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, and The New York Medical Record, for publication.
| (Signed) | Chas. M. Carleton, | Norwich, Conn. |
| Daniel Mann, | Pelham, N. H. | |
| G. E. Bullard, | Blackstone, Mass. | |
| J. A. McDonough, | Boston, ” | |
| M. C. Talbott, | Warren, Pa. | |
| H. Gerould, | Erie, Pa. | |
| E. F. Upham, | W. Randolph, Vt. | |
| W. A. I. Case, | Hamilton, C. W. | |
| W. L. Wells, | Howell, Mich.” |
These resolutions derive their significance from the fact that the signers are neither students nor recent graduates, but practitioners, chiefly of many years standing, who have become alive to the importance of the special diseases of women.
It will be perceived, by our title page, that Dr. Storer, although as yet hardly forty years of age, has already attained the highest medical honor, save one, that can be conferred in this country—the exception being the Presidency of the National Medical Association, a position lately occupied by his distinguished father. The success of the son will not be wondered at, when the extent and variety of the contributions that he has made to medical science are taken into consideration. In reply to several requests that have been made of us, we append a list of the various professional works and monographs of Dr. Storer, so far as we have been able to collect them. This list is probably not entirely complete, in consequence of the author’s disinclination to give us all the aid we could have wished in its compilation, partly we suppose from a lack of leisure, and partly from a desire, as we have reason to believe, to avoid any imputation of courting publicity.
We are ourselves satisfied that the book that we now present to the community will in nowise lessen his wellearned reputation.
I.
The Obstetric Memoirs and Contributions of Sir James Y. Simpson, Professor of Midwifery in the University of Edinburgh. Edited by his assistants, Drs. W. O. Priestley (now Professor in King’s College, London), and H. R. Storer (now Professor in Berkshire Medical College). Two large volumes. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black. 1855.
Also, The Above. American edition. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1856.
II.
A Word in Defence of an American Surgeon. (Dr. J. Mason Warren, of Boston.)
Controversy with Dr. Gillespie, of Edinburgh.
Letter I. London Medical Times and Gazette, May, 1855.
Letter II. American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Philadelphia: October, 1855.
III.
Boston Lying-In Hospital Reports. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1855, 1856, &c.
IV.
Elm Tents for the Dilatation of the Cervix Uteri.
Read before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, May 1855.
Article I. Association Medical Journal of London, May, 1855.
Article II. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, November, 1855.
V.
Cases Illustrative of Obstetric Disease.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1856 to 1865.
VI.
New Form of Intra-Uterine Pessary.
Read before the Suffolk District Medical Society.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, November, 1856.
VII.
Review of Clay’s “Complete Handbook of Obstetric Surgery.”
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, November, 1856.
VIII.
Caustic Potash as an Application to the Interior of the Uterus. Its first suggestion.
Article I. Read before the Suffolk District Medical Society. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, October, 1856.
Article II. Ibid., October, 1858.
Article III. Ibid., July, 1859.
IX.
Cases of Nymphomania.
Read before the Boston Society for Medical Observation, July, 1856.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, October, 1856.
X.
Report of the Committee appointed by the Suffolk District Medical Society, “to consider whether any future legislation is necessary on the subject of Criminal Abortion; and to report to the Society such other means as may seem necessary for the suppression of this abominable, unnatural, yet common crime.”
| Drs. | H. R. Storer, Chairman. |
| H. I. Bowditch. | |
| Calvin Ellis. |
Read before the Society, May, 1857.
XI.
Cupping the Interior of the Uterus.
Read before the Boston Society for Medical Observation, February, 1857.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, January, 1859.
XII.
The Use and Abuse of Uterine Tents.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, January, 1859.
XIII.
Cases Illustrative of Criminal Abortion.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, April, 1859.
XIV.
The Uterine Dilator; a New Method of reaching the Uterine Cavity, and of inducing Premature Labor.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, July, 1859.
XV.
Report of the Committee of the American Medical Association, “to investigate the subject of Criminal Abortion, with a view to its general suppression.”
Rendered at Louisville, May, 1859.
Transactions of the Association, 1860.
XVI.
Is Abortion ever a Crime?
North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, January, 1859.
XVII.
Its Frequency, and the Causes thereof.
North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, March, 1859.
XVIII.
Its Victims.
Ibid., May, 1859.
XIX.
Its Proofs.
Ibid.
XX.
Its Perpetrators.
Ibid.
XXI.
Its Innocent Abettors.
Ibid., July, 1859.
XXII.
Its Obstacles to Conviction.
Ibid., September, 1859.
XXIII.
Can it be at all controlled by Law?
Ibid., November, 1859.
Also the above, from XVI. to XXIII., in a collective form, under the title of Criminal Abortion in America. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1860.
XXIV.
A Medico-Legal Study of Rape.
New York Medical Journal, November, 1865.
XXV.
The Abetment of Criminal Abortion by Medical Men.
Read before the Massachusetts Medical Society, May 30, 1866.
New York Medical Journal, September, 1866.
XXVI.
Subcutaneous Injection as a Cure for the Toothache of Pregnancy.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, October, 1859.
XXVII.
Studies of Abortion.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, February, 1863.
XXVIII.
Artificial Dilatation of the Os and Cervix Uteri by Fluid Pressure from above; a reply to Drs. Keiller, of Edinburgh, and Arnott and Barnes, of London.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, July, 1863.
XXIX.
On Chloroform Inhalation during Labor. A reply to Dr. Robert Johns, of Dublin.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, August, 1863.
XXX.
Report of the State Commission on Insanity.
Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jr.
Drs. Alfred Hitchcock,
and H. R. Storer.
Mass. Legislative Document, (Senate 72.) Feb., 1864.
XXXI.
The Employment of Anæsthetics in Childbirth.
Read before the Massachusetts Medical Society, at Pittsfield, June, 1863.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, October, 1863.
The above was republished, under the name of Eutokia; a Word to Physicians and to Women. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 1863.
XXXII.
The Medical Management of Insane Women.
Article I. Read before the Suffolk District Medical Society, December, 1863; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, February, 1864.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, April, 1864.
Article II. Ibid., October, 1864.
Article III. Ibid., November, 1864.
XXXIII.
The Relations of Female Patients to Hospitals for the Insane.
Transactions of the American Medical Association. 1864.
XXXIV.
The Surgical Treatment of Amenorrhœa.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, January, 1864.
XXXV.
Report to the American Medical Association of its Delegate to the Association of Superintendents of Asylums for the Insane.
Transactions of the American Medical Association. 1866.
XXXVI.
A new Operation for Umbilical Hernia, with Remarks upon Exploratory Incisions of the Abdomen.
Article I. New York Medical Record, April, 1866.
Article II. Ibid., July, 1866.
XXXVII.
Successful Removal of the Uterus and both Ovaries by Abdominal Section.
Read before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, November 14, 1865.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, January, 1866.
XXXVIII.
The Clamp Shield; an Instrument designed to lessen certain Surgical Dangers, more particularly those of extirpation of the Uterus by Abdominal Section.
Article I. Transactions of the American Medical Association. Vol. XVII. 1866.
Article II. Read before the Berkshire District Medical Society, July 25, 1866.
New York Medical Record, October, 1866.
XXXIX.
Vesico-Vaginal Fistula, and the Operations therefor. A Review.
American Journal of the Medical Sciences, October, 1857.
XL.
The Causation, Course, and Rational Treatment of Insanity in Women.
Transactions of the American Medical Association. 1865.
XLI.
The Unfitness of Women for Medical Practitioners.
Letter of Resignation as Surgeon to the New England Hospital for Women and Children.
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, September, 1866.
XLII.
Inebriety in Women; an Appendix to the Treatise on Methomania, or Alcoholic Poisoning, by Dr. Albert Day, now Superintendent of the New York State Asylum for Inebriates, at Binghamton. Boston: James Campbell. 1867.
XLIII.
On the Decrease of the Rate of Increase of Population now obtaining in Europe and America.
Read before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, December 14, 1858.
American Journal of Science and Art, New Haven, March, 1867.
We are happy to be able to add that Prof. Storer has half promised to prepare for us a book upon the Causation and Rational Treatment of Insanity in Women, his report to the American Medical Association having never been reprinted from the Transactions of that body, although permission has been given him to do so. For this work it is already well known that Dr. Storer is preëminently fitted. His opportunities both for private and official observation have been unusual, and his views are scientific, reasonable, and in great measure at variance with the antiquated ones hitherto generally entertained. The subject is one of intense interest to every member of the community, and we are sure that the appearance of the book will be eagerly looked forward to by thousands, alike of men and of women, and that it will do a great deal of good.
LEE & SHEPARD.
Boston, August 1, 1867.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] As contradistinguished from especialists, of whom there are many.