Early Surgical Operations *

In inviting me to give the Carmalt lecture, the Beaumont Medical Club has tendered me a signal honor, the more so because it is in such distinguished surroundings, for here exists a culture which is traditional. You have in New Haven not only one of our greatest universities, but you enjoy also a great teaching center of historical medicine. Therefore, I cannot fail to appreciate the privilege tha't has come to me. No words of mine can add to the lustre of William Beaumont's name, but I have always felt a proper pride in the fact that he was a member of that gallant band of early medical officers of the United States Army who paved the way for those who, like myself, came later. His was perhaps the first piece of medical research done by an -officer of the United States Army, and its success was so astounding that the names of Beaumont and of his patient, St. Martin, will live always. Is it not a curious thing that in ithat age, not much more than one hundred years ago, one of Beaumont's many worries may have been the fear that the fistula he was observing might close before he was through with his experiments? Now, had the accident occurred in this generation, the surgeon would have been more concerned with the closure of the fistula by operative measures than with the observation of its course. Once cured by operation, St. Martin would have ceased to be of medical interest or importance. Because this is 'the 114th anniversary of the birth of the Father of his Country, I hope you will not take it amiss if for a moment I digress from the main purpose of my talk to say a word concerning the surgical treatment that Washington received during his lifetime, and especially just prior to his death. It seems to me that the evid'ence points emphatically to the fact that today the poorest and most lowly placed can command far more assurance in the matter of medical treatment than the first President could secure in 1799. George Washington possessed, as we all know, a magnificent physique which was described by Lafayette in these words, "I