Spectino- the Award of the Royal Medal, Two Separate Reports" Oh
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29 complete division of the anterior part of the stricture, he now On the 3rd of July, the Committee of Physiology met, when pushed forward the staff and knife together for a short dis- Sir B. Brodie, Dr. Sharpey, Dr. Todd, Mr. Bowman, and Mr. tance. He then introduced into the bladder a No. 11 catheter, Gray, were present. Mr. Beck’s paper was referred to Dr. placing the left index finger in the wound as a guide. This Sha.rpey and Dr. Todd. My supplement, however, was not re was necessary on account of the great depth of the incision ferred, and where it actually was kept from that time till the through the indurated perinseum, which measured full two 27th of October, is not known, except to Dr. Roget. Had this inches. The catheter was provided with a stop-cock, and the supplement been referred to be examined, and reported upon .end curved downwards to prevent the inconvenience of the in the manner invariably followed with all papers, a com- trickling of urine upon the body. Everything went on favour- parison of the two mutilated specimens of Mr. Beck with my ,ably, the urine being discharged from the wound entirely for a dissections must have taken place, and the whole course of the a week, and then gradually resuming its natural course, so future transactions now to be narrated would have been that a fortnight after the operation, a few drops only escaped arrested. Mr. Lawrence having carefully examined the dissec- by the wound, the swelling of the perinaeum had entirely dis- tion described in this supplement, at my request attended the appeared, he no longer suffered from incontinence, and passed next meeting of the Committee of PhysiologyCIY to watch the his urine in a good stream. The operation was performed on proceedings. the 27th of November, and the patient was discharged fit for This meeting of the Committee of Physiology took place duty on the 16th of December.] on the 27th of October, 1845, pursuant to a summons, which stated that, besides other business, the recommendation of a paper for the award of the Royal Medal in Physiology for 1845, was to be considered. Mr. Thomas Bell, who was then PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY secretary of the Committee of Physiology, before issuing this must of have been RELATIVE TO THE summons, necessity previously acquainted with the following announcements, published in a conspicuous DISCOVERY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM place in the " Philosophical Transactions" for 1842, 1843, and and known to all men of science in of the OF THE UTERUS. 1844, every quarter globe :- , " Her the BY ROBERT LEE, M.D., F.R.S., Majesty Queen Vict01’Ía, in restoring Royal Medals, has been gmciously pleased to approve of the following regula- FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON; PHYSICIAN TO tionsfor the award ofthe1n: that the Royal Medals be given for THE BRITISH LYING-IN AND OBSTETRIC PHYSICIAN TO ST. HOSPITAL, such as have been to the GEORGE’S HOSPITAL. papers only presented Royal Society, and ivzserted in their’ ’Tran8actioiis.’ (Continued from page 4.) " The Council propose also to give one of the Royal Medals in the year 1845 for the most intportantitnpublis7ted in Physio- 0 the 29th of May, 1845, a paper, " On the Nerves of the u 7ogy, including the ‘Natzcral History of Organized Beings,’ Uterus," by Mr. Beck, was presented to the Royal Society by communicated to the Royal Society for insertion in their Sir Benjamin Brodie, Chairman of the Committee of Phy- ’T1’wlsactions’ after the termination of the session in June, siology. On the 6th of January, 1855, I requested Sir Benj. 1842, and prior to the termination of the session in June, Brodie to read Dr. Herschfeld’s statement, given in my last 1845." , and to inform me if he was aware that Mr. communication, At this meeting of the Committee of Physidtogy, held on Beck had removed the neurilemma from the uterine ganglia the 27th of October, 1845, thus regularly summoned by Mr. and nerves when this paper was presented to the Royal T. Bell, Mr. Lawrence took the chair, there being present Society, and that no allusion had been made in the paper to Dr. Todd, Dr. Roget, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Kiernan, Dr. Sharpey, this fact. Sir B. Brodie then stated that he was not cognisant Mr. T. Bell, and Dr. Bostock. After the Committee had de- of such a been proceeding having adopted. termined to recommend a Copley Medal to be awarded to Mr. On the 19th of the title of this was read to the June, paper Owen, and transacted some other business, Dr. Roget stated to but no the and it was not Society, part except title, published the meeting that a mistake had been made in the summons, and till 1846. that there was no Royal Medal in Physiology for 1845; con- The to On the Nervous following supplement my papers, " sequently no further business remained for the Committee to Ganglia of the Uterus," was read to the Royal Society on the transact. Upon this announcement being made by Dr. Roget same June the evening, 19th:- in the presence of Mr. T. Bell, Mr. Lawrence then put the " In the first part of the Philosophical Transactions’ for question whether there was any further business, and being 1841, I have described and represented in two engravings the informed that none remained, he duly dissolved the meeting, nervous ganglia situated on the sides of the neck of the uterus, and left Somerset House. in which the great sympathetic and third sacral nerves unite, Immediately after Mr. Lawrence had left the apartments of and from which branches proceed to the vagina, bladder, the Royal Society, Mr. Bowman, of King’s College, to whom rectum, and the whole of the lower part of the uterus. In an a Royal Medal had been awarded in 1842, referred to the appendix to that paper, published in the second part of the announcements in the " Philosophical Transactions" above , Philosophical Transactions’ for 1842, there is contained a fur- quoted, and pointed out, as actually stated in the summons, ther account of the nervous structures situated on the fundus that a Physiological Medal did fall to be awarded in 1845. and body of the uterus, and an engraving, in which the ap- This discovery having been thus most opportunely made by pearances they present at the full period of gestation have beenMr. Bowman, all the members of the Committee of Physiology accurately delineated. From the form, colour, vascularity, who had been present at the meeting duly convened, but and general distribution of their structures, and from theirwhich Mr. Lawrence had dissolved a few minutes before, branches actually coalescing, and being continuous with those again sat down, and placed Dr. Todd in the chair, when they of the great sympathetic and spinal nerves, I inferred that proceeded to consider what paper should be recommended to they were true nervous ganglionic plexuses, and formed thethe Council for the award of the Royal Medal in Physiology, nervous system of the uterus enlarged by pregnancy. as if they really constituted a legal meeting. Fifteen papers " In a gravid uterus, at the full period, I have recently, andwere put in competition for the Medal, one of these being my with still more care, traced the great sympathetic and spinal supplement; read to the Society on the 19th of June; kept nerves into the two hypogastric ganglia, and from thence oversomewhere out of view during the recess of the Royal Society; both sides of the uterus to the fundus. A lens, which magni- afterwards taken out and put in competition for the Medal; fied six diameters, was employed in the dissection, whichnext referred to Sir B. Brodie; then black-balled; and at last, enabled me, with unerring certainty, to distinguish and toI a year after, printed in the " Philosophical Transactions." At separate the nervous filaments from the fine cellular membranethis meeting it was resolved that the Council be recommended. by which they are so closely surrounded, and from all theto award the Royal Medal in Physiology to Mr. Beck for his ’ other contiguous structures. In this minute dissection, manypaper " On the Nerves of the Uterus." of the details of the nervous system of the uterus are more; " The Committee of Physiology," says Dr. Roget, in a letter perfectly shewn than in any previous dissection made by me, to myself, " had received, before they came to the decision re- and they confirm, in the most complete manner, the accuracyspectino- the award of the Royal Medal, two separate reports" oh. of all that is contained in my previous communications on thisMr. Beck’s paper, drawn up by the referees to whom it had been subject to the Royal Society. To this preparation I can nowsent for examination, and for their opinion upon its merits; and appeal, as affording a perfect demonstration of the truth of allthe recommendation by the Committee of the award of one of my statements respecting the ganglia and other nervous struc-. the royal medals to the author of the paper was made after these tures of the uterus." reports had been read to them, and taken into their considers 30 tion at one of the fullest meetings of that Committee we have trophy of the bone, causing great disfigurement, and necessi- ever had." tating its entire removal. The swelling did not arise from, and These two reports here specified must have been either in the was not confined within, the cavity, but was, in truth, a portion possession of Dr.