Bárány’s caloric test for labyrinthine function.

Bárány’s pointing test for the localization of circumscribed cerebellar lesions. Republished in book form, Berlin, 1906.

In 1914 Bárány was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine  "for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus."

“Bárány’s syndrome” – unilateral deafness, vertigo, and pain in the occipital region.

Lombard’s test for simulated unilateral deafness.

Jenkins suggested the modern fenestration operation of otosclerosis.

Finely illustrated, and beautifully produced, with several historical chapters. Includes a history of the development of temporal bone surgery.

Holmgren’s fenestration operation.

First demonstration of the phenomenon of loudness recruitment.

Dandy’s operation for relief of Menière’s syndrome.

Includes a brief history of the subject.

First successful attempt to restore hearing in otosclerosis by fenestration.

Hallpike and Cairns were first to describe the characteristic histological changes in Menière’s disease. Also published in J Laryng. Otol., 1938, 53, 625-55.

Lempert’s fenestration operation.

Kopetzky improved the technique of the fenestration operation. The above has a useful history of the development of this operation. See also his earlier papers in Ann. Otol. (St. Louis), 1930, 39, 996; 1931, 40, 157.

Shambaugh improved the technique of the fenestration operation. See also Ann. Otol. (St. Louis), 1942, 51, 817-25.

Tests of hearing in children.

The modern impedance test was developed by Metz.

Semi-automatic (Békésy) audiometer.

Tympanoplasty.

Transmeatal exposure of the middle ear.

The first tests for disorders of central auditory function were developed by Bocca, C. Calearo, and V. Cassinari.

Stapedectomy.

It is fitting that Politzer should have been the greatest historian of otology. He was Professor of Otology in Vienna and his teaching had great influence upon the advancement of the subject. The Geschichte is a masterpiece of historical research. Reprinted, Hildesheim, 1967. English translation of vol. 1, Phoenix, Columnella Press, 1981.

From antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century. 

Education for the deaf.

English translation, 1970.

Includes a comprehensive listing of manufacturers and the models each produced.

This translation by surgeon John Read contains the first printing of John of Arderne's writings on his operation for the cure of anal fistula, written originally about 1376. At one time John of Arderne practiced at Newark-on-Trent; he moved to London in 1370. See the edition by Sir D’Arcy Power, Treatises of fistula in ano, haemorrhoids, and clysters, London, Kegan Paul, 1910. See also No. 5557. Digital facsimile of the 1910 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Prefixed to the translation is A complaint of the abuses of the noble art of chirurgerie, written in verse by Read.

Read's translation also contains the first English translation of the Hippocratic Oath.

An early history of diseases, with extensive sections on ophthalmology (ff. 66-77) and urology (ff. 260-271). Lib. IV, Cap. iii, page 196 contains the first recorded case of gastric ulcer. Lib. VI. cap. iii contains the first description of angioneurotic edema (later described as Quincke's edema, No. 4081). Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive at this link.

Littré was first to suggest colostomy in intestinal obstruction – “Littré’s operation”.

First description of congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. Reprinted in Mark M. Ravitch, "The story of pyloric stenosis," Surgery, 48 (1960) 1117-1143.

First reported case of perforating gastric ulcer.

An early work specifically on hemorrhoids.

First description of congenital atresia of the ileum.

First recorded successful operation for intussusception in an adult. The paper is also included in Haller’s Disputationes, vol. 1.

First description of duodenal ulcer.

First description of parotid tumor.

Probably the greatest English classic of colon-rectal surgery. Pott recommended the practice of simple division rather than the newer, more complicated methods proposed by Cheselden and Le Dran, and audaciously pointed out that there were lessons regular practitioners might learn from quacks apropos of this subject.

This is an enlarged and more important (third) edition of his An essay on the diseases most fatal to infants (1767) No. 6324. Page 49: Important description of congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

First American case report on congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. Cases and observations by the Medical Society of New-Haven County…was the first American medical periodical. Only one volume was published. Beardsley’s paper was reprinted in Arch. Pediat, 1903, 20, 355-57. and also in M.M. Ravitch, The story of pyloric stenosis, Surgery, 1960, 48, 1117- 1143. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Baillie was a nephew and pupil of William Hunter. The above is the first systematic textbook of morbid anatomy, treating the subject for the first time as an independent science. See also Nos. 2736, 3167.1. Baillie was the last and most eminent owner of the famous gold-headed cane (No. 6709). His clear and comprehensive description of the pulmonary lesions of tuberculosis could hardly be bettered today; he differentiated the nodular and infiltrating types. Page 87: First clear description of the morbid anatomy and symptoms of gastric ulcer. Baillie is also credited with the first descritpion of transposition of the great vessels in this work.

Includes (pp. 33-56) an account of perforating duodenal ulcer.

Bayford reported a a fatal case of "obstructed deglutition" caused by compression of the oesophagus by an aberrant right subclavian artery. This he called Dysphagia lusoria. See the account by N. Asherson in Ann. roy. Coll. Surg. Eng., 1979, 6l, 63-67.

First successful construction of artificial anus, for congenital atresia, Oct. 20, 1793.

The first recorded colostomy for intestinal obstruction was performed by Fine in 1797. The patient survived 3.5 months.

The first serious attempt at repairing intestinal injuries in America, and the first use of dogs for experimental surgery in America.

Experimental excision of the pylorus.

Physick was the first, in 1805, to use a stomach tube for gastric lavage in a case of poisoning. He acknowledged the priority of Monro secundus in the invention of a similar instrument in 1767. For history of the stomach tube, see R. H. Major, Ann. med. Hist., 1934, n.s. 6, 500-09.

Travers’s researches on intestinal sutures recorded the first accurate knowledge on this subject.

Although Béclard and possibly others may have extirpated the parotid before Davidge, this was the first published case.

First excision of the parotid, 1823.

Description of what is now known as Lembert’s suture, which ensures that serous surface is applied to serous surface in suturing intestine – the foundation of all modern gastric and intestinal surgery. Dieffenbach (see No. 3441) was the first successfully to employ Lembert’s method.

Physick’s operation for artificial anus – colocutaneous fistula formed as a result of mortification from a strangulated hernia.

Dupuytren invented an enterotome to perform his operation for artificial anus.

“Dupuytren’s abscess” of the right iliac fossa.

Jobert, famous French surgeon, made his reputation on this book. He was at one time Consulting Physician to Louis XVIII.

“Brodie’s pile”. Reprinted in Medical Classics, 1938, 2, 929-40.

First operation for intussusception in the United States, performed in Rutherford County, Tennessee. The patient was a negro slave; the operation was a complete success. Reported by Wilson’s pupil, W.W. Thompson.

First account of a resection in which Lembert’s suture was successfully employed.

The first American treatise on colon–rectal surgery.

In 1839 Amussat performed the first lumbar colostomy for obstruction of the colon (“Amussat’s operation”). His work established lumbar colostomy as the method of choice. Translated in Dis. Colon. Rect., 1983, 26, 483-87. See No. 3443.

Pillore performed caecostomy in 1776, the patient surviving 28 days. Amussat went to considerable trouble to find the document describing the operation. See No. 3442.

First important treatise on parotid tumors.

“Curling’s ulcer”. Although not first to report duodenal ulcers as a complication of burns, Curling correlated the work of previous writers on the subject and directed attention to it.

Reports of a series of experiments upon dogs to determine the best way to treat intestinal wounds. First published in West. J. Med. Surg., 1843. 7, 1-50, [81]-141, [161]-224.

First intestinal resection for cancer.

First esophagotomy for relief of stricture of the esophagus.

Records the first operation for intestinal strangulation of the small intestine by Hilton at Guy’s Hospital. No anaesthetic was used; the patient died nine hours afterwards.

Discovery of the bacterial flora of the intestines.

First gastrostomy.

Fenger’s operation.

Classic description of ulcero-membranous stomatitis and its treatment.

A comprehensive account of peptic (duodenal) ulcer; includes a review of the results of more than 7,000 post mortems.

Discovery of Balantidium coli, the first parasitic protozoon to be discovered and recognized as such. German translation in Virchows Arch. path. Anat., 1857, 12, 302-09. English translation in Kean et al. (No. 2268.1).

First operation for tumor of the esophagus.

First gastrostomy in Britain.

Includes (pp. 310-31) original description of linitis plastica (“Brinton’s disease”). Brinton lectured on physiology and forensic medicine at St. Thomas’s Hospital.

First operation for gastric fistula.

The first systematic treatise on the subject, and a landmark in pediatric surgery. Includes an early account of colostomy and one of the earliest histories of that procedure. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

First authentic description of polyposis of the colon.

The first comprehensive study of duodenal ulcer. Commercial edition, Berlin: A. Hirschwald, 1865. Digital facsimile of the 1864 edition from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1865 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

In 1867 Kussmaul used the stomach pump for gastric dilatation due to pyloric obstruction. Although his advocacy of gastric lavage established this method of treatment in medical practice, the instrument had already been used many years previously.

First gastrostomy for obstruction of the esophagus performed in America.

First resection of the esophagus.

In 1871 Hutchinson was the first successfully to operate on a case of intussusception in a two year-old infant. Preliminary account in Med. chir. Trans., 1876, 41 (2nd ser.), 99-102.

Successful human gastrostomy by the older (Sédillot’s) method. Reported by S. Osborne.

A practical method for excision of the pylorus, as demonstrated in dogs, was published by these two assistants of Billroth.

Verneuil’s gastrostomy operation, a modification of Sédillot’s method.

First recorded operation for volvulus.

First excision of the rectum for cancer.

An important work on disorders of digestion. With Boas, Ewald devised the test breakfast and he utilized intubation for exploring the contents of the stomach. English translation of vols. 1-2, 1891-92.

First gastrectomy for carcinoma; unsuccessful.

Kocher’s operation of radical extirpation of the tongue for carcinoma.

First extirpation of carcinomatous pylorus. Death after 12 hours. German translation in Dtsch. Z. Chir., 1881, 14, 252-60.

First successful resection of the pylorus for cancer, the Billroth I operation.

Mikulicz was the first to use the electric oesophagoscope invented by Leiter in 1880. He was among the most distinguished of Billroth’s pupils and contributed much to cancer surgery.

Wölfler perfected the operation of gastro-enterostomy.

First pyloroplasty, 1882. Abstract in English in Brit. med.J., 1885, 1, 372-74.

First description of gastrosuccorrhoea (“Reichmann’s disease”). German translation in Berl. klin. Wschr., 1882, 19, 606.

First successful operation in Britain for treatment of volvulus, performed 20 February, 1883.

Billroth was a pioneer in visceral surgery. Above is an account of many intestinal resections and enterorrhaphies carried out by him.

Finkler and Prior isolated Vibrio proteus from stools in a case of acute gastro-enteritis.

Jacksonian Prize essay.

An encyclopedic work containing considerable history and a comprehensive bibliography. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

First detailed description of ulcerative colitis.

Abdominal section and ileostomy for intestinal obstruction; surgeon’s report on pp. 130-35.

Billroth II pylorectomy, reported by von Hacker. Also published in Arch. klin. Chir., 1885, 32, 616-25.

Important description of enteroptosis and gastroptosis.

Splanchnoptosis (“Glénard’s disease”).

Von Hacker’s method of gastrostomy.

Von Mikulicz was the first to make a plastic reconstruction of the oesophagus after the resection of its cervical portion for carcinoma.

Halsted set down some of the fundamental rules regarding intestinal anastomosis.

Hirschsprung’s diseases (congenital megacolon).

Hirschsprung first made the medical world aware of congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis as a distinct clinical entity. In this paper he made no suggestions concerning therapy.

Kraske introduced the sacral method of resection of the rectum for carcinoma.

Coeliac disease (non-tropical sprue, idiopathic steatorrhoea) was first described by Gee. Later Thaysen (No. 3550) studied the disease, which acquired the eponym “Gee-Thaysen disease”.

First successful colostomy.

“Menetrier’s disease” – giant hypertrophic gastritis.

Description of Mikulicz’s important operation for complete prolapse of the rectum.

Senn’s method of detecting intestinal perforation by insufflation with hydrogen.

Einhorn devised the method of exploration of the stomach by means of a tube – gastrodiaphany.

Duodenal aspiration.

Boas, who devised the test breakfast, became the foremost gastroenterologist in Europe. He founded the Archivfür Verdauungskrankheiten, the first journal devoted to the subject of gastroenterology.

Important study of gastric syphilis.

Paul’s tube introduced.