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“…bombastic pretension.”
“…a presidential galaxy of previous speakers.”
“…not even just imputations of poor taste…”
“Standing in line…”
“…his vision was not of a falling star…”
“…yet another God-granted insight…”
“…the frequency of sterility…”
“…amiss with their husbands?”
“…penance for her original sin.”
“Only the toy microscope…”
“…the vagina was a largely unhealthy environment…”
“…the womb that cradled it…”
“…succeed where others had failed…”
“…who had not required surgery at all.”
“…bombastic pretension.”
“Silver Sutures in Surgery, By J. Marion Sims, M.D.,” anonymous, North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, Vol. II, No. 4, July 1858, p. 636.
“…a presidential galaxy of previous speakers.”
Sims, J. M., & New York Academy of Medicine. (1858). Silver sutures in surgery. New York: S.S. & W. Wood, p. 11.
“Silver Sutures in Surgery, By J. Marion Sims, M.D.,” anonymous, North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, Vol. II, No. 4, July 1858, p. 653.
“…not even just imputations of poor taste…”
This brief, unsigned, assessment of Sims’s lecture appeared in the transactions of the American Medical Association’s annual report for 1858, p. 214. The annual reports can be downloaded from the AMA website.
“Standing in line…”
See “…paid six cents…,” above.
“…his vision was not of a falling star…”
This is speculative—nevertheless, Sims’s experiments with microscopes, specifically on sterility and the process of fertilization, began shortly after the appearance of Donati’s comet, and an association from a comet with a tail to a spermatozoon with a tail would be almost impossible to avoid.
“…yet another God-granted insight…”
See “As the woman spoke…,” above.
Sims is now speaking to an audience of medical professionals, so his tone is more muted, but he frequently appealed to religion as an authority for justification of his practices.
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, pp. 380-81.
“…the frequency of sterility…”
See “…one in eight couples in New York…,” above.
“…amiss with their husbands?”
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 364.
“…penance for her original sin.”
See “…the pains that were inflicted on woman…,” above.
“Only the toy microscope…”
See “…a mere toy—the microscope,” above.
“…the vagina was a largely unhealthy environment…”
“Illustrations of the Value of the Microscope in the Treatment of the Sterile Condition,” J. Marion Sims, British Medical Journal, October 31, 1868, p. 466.
“…the womb that cradled it…”
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, pp. 385.
“…succeed where others had failed…”
Sims, J. M. (1990). Silver sutures in surgery; together with Clinical notes on uterine surgery. Birmingham, Ala: Classics of Obstetrics & Gynecology Library, p. 375.
“…who had not required surgery at all.”
This is precisely what he would find, and in typical Sims style he first acknowledges scores of unnecessary procedures, followed by an immediate caveat attesting to a far fewer number of unnecessary surgeries.
“Illustrations of the Value of the Microscope in the Treatment of the Sterile Condition,” J. Marion Sims, British Medical Journal, October 31, 1868, p. 466.