[Item #47963] A Reply to Dr. Jacob Bigelow's Second Letter [At head of title: "Supplement to the May Number of the Journal of the Gynæcological Society of Boston]. MEDICINE, OBSTETRICS, GYNECOLOGY.

A Reply to Dr. Jacob Bigelow's Second Letter [At head of title: "Supplement to the May Number of the Journal of the Gynæcological Society of Boston]

Boston: Journal of the Gynæcological Society of Boston, 1870. First Edition. Octavo (ca. 22cm.); stitched self-wrappers; 19pp. Wrappers a bit chipped and soiled, spine mostly perished, long closed tear to upper cover touching text without loss; Good only overall.

Deathbed missive by the Scottish obstetrician in response to American physician Jacob Bigelow's "gratuitous attack upon me" (p. [1]). Bigelow had gained notoriety for his attack on the medical profession's reliance on certain drugs while Simpson was the first physician to use chloroform as an anaesthetic. From the note from the editors, dated April 28, 1870: "The appended letter was received after the May number of the Journal had gone to press...Dr. S. lies very ill, possibly never to recover, and the letter was written by dictation. Under these circumstances, it will be read with the more interest, and will be found a bitter pill to swallow, though an effective one, by the gentleman to whom it is addressed." Indeed , Simpson succombed to his illness on May 6 of that year. OCLC locates four separately catalogued copies as of March, 2020, at Yale, Harvard, the NLM, and Duke.

Price: $75.00

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