James Douglas and the Surgery of the Peritoneum

It is obvious that the surgery of the peritoneum, or any of the other serous membranes per se, would include only a very limited field. However, it is equally patent that it is because of their extent and relations that they came to play so important a part in the surgery of the cavities and organs which they enclose. It is appropriate on this two-hundredth anniversary of the paper published by James Douglas on the "Situation and Structure of the Peritoneum" to trace briefly the evolution of our knowledge of this membrane. The serous membranes have played a dominant role in the development of the surgery of the cavities which they surround. Even with modern technic, when nearly every portion of the anatomy can be made open to surgical manipulation with relative impunity, there is even now somewhat more concern when it becomes necessary to open the meninges, pleura, peritoneum, pericardium or the serous membranes of A