Excerpt from A Contribution to the Surgery of the Spinal Cord

The second consideration to which I refer is that, acting under strict antiseptic precautions and aided by modern know ledge, surgeons will probably, in the near future, open the spinal canal with as little danger and as little hesitation as they now operate upon the cavity of the cranium; but that in order to permit of such an extension of therapeutic art it will be necessary still further to increase the accuracy of our diagnostic methods.

On these grounds, then, I feel that no contribution, however slight, which may aid in the elucidation of the points referred to, ought to be withheld from the medical public, and the only question with me is whether the importance of the following observations is sufficient to justify their collection in the present form. Whether this is so or not must now be left to the judg ment of the reader; but, whatever this judgment may be, at least I cannot plead that my Opportunities for undertaking the work have not been ample. Having entered upon my medical educa tion just at the time when the diseases of the nervous system began to be studied in Manchester, with an enthusiasm which has made itself widely felt, I have from the first been thrown under the influence of teachers and friends for whose assistance and advice I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude; and further, during the last four years my position as Surgical Registrar to the Manchester Royal Infirmary has given me access to an almost unrivalled field for clinical observation, in which I have had the singular good fortune to work under a staff, who have not only afforded me every Opportunity for observing their cases, but have also given me permission to publish them as freely as if they were my own. To the large-minded generosity of these gentlemen the Physicians and Surgeons of the Manchester Infirmary - I am unable adequately to express my obligation.

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