A remarkable case in the history of obstetrical surgery: a laparotomy performed by the Dutch surgeon Abraham Cyprianus in 1694.

In 1700 the Dutch surgeon/medical doctor Abraham Cyprianus (1655/1660-1718) published his Epistola historiam exhibens foetus humani post XXI. menses ex uteri tuba, matre salva ac superstite excisi, a 94-page book in which several remarkable case histories are described and illustrated. The most spectacular case in the book is the accurate and detailed description of the delivery of a dead full-term child (ectopic tubar pregnancy) by a laparotomy he performed in a living woman in December 1694. The woman survived the operation and gave birth to three more children in following years. This remarkable, well-considered, brave and life-saving operation, performed in a time without antisepsis and anesthesia in a domestic situation is seldom mentioned by medical historians describing the history of obstetrics. This particular case is reviewed in this article.

Lawson Tait: the forgotten gynecologist.

The development of gynecology as a specialty, although primarily American in origin, was influenced in large degree by Robert Lawson Tait, a brilliant Scottish/English surgeon who practiced in the late 19th century. Tait, a self-proclaimed gynecologist, is perhaps most widely known as the first to perform salpingectomy to treat ruptured tubal pregnancy. He was also the first to record removal of an ovary for relief of pelvic pain and to induce menopause, perform salpingectomy for the treatment of tubal disease, and develop the technique of transverse transperineal repair of low rectovaginal fistulas. His scrupulous cleanliness was undoubtedly the forerunner of our modern aseptic methods. Tait's bold, innovative surgical techniques led to a significant decrease in surgical mortality, and his prescient, aggressive approach was at the forefront of changes in the practice of obstetrics, which resulted in a marked decrease in maternal morbidity and mortality. This master teacher, whose contributions inspired the next great generation of abdominal and pelvic surgeons, deserves greater recognition within our specialty.

[In the light of a petroleum lamp the operation could begin. Richard Frommel (1854-1912): pioneer in treatment of ruptured extrauterine pregnancy]. / Beim Schein einer Petroleumlampe konnte die Operation beginnen. Richard Frommel (1854-1912): Pionier bei der Behandlung der rupturierten Extrauteringravidität.

Richard Frommel (1854-1912) can be called an outstanding German gynaecologist during the late 19th century. This article is intended to give a picture of his life, work, and personality. Frommel was director of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the university of Erlangen from 1887 to 1901. Science owes to him, amongst other contributions, an important impulse for changing the therapy of ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Up to the present day Frommel's name together with that of Johann Chiari (1817-1854), serve as eponyms for a special form of the amenorrhoea-galactorrhoea syndrome, namely, the persistent one-post partum. It remains puzzling why Frommel resigned office, when he was just 46 years old, giving up gynaecology completely only a short time later.